Introducing Read, Write, Draw
Read, Write, Draw is a Flipboard magazine collating selected recent blog posts by Australian authors and illustrators.
It replaces OZKYAI (Oz Kids & Young adult Authors & Illustrators) which I curated on Scoop-it. Finally I have found a better-fit name. I struggle with titles – just look at the titles of my books. Polar Boy. Samurai Kids.
I made the decision to move away from using Scoop-it as my curation tool because I noticed that some blogs would go “missing” and when I checked, they were still active with regular posting. I’d add them back and others would disappear. I can’t trust Scoop-it anymore.
It’s important to me that every author and illustrator has at least one post representation (If they have posted during the collation period and if I know their blog exists. Please contact me if you have a blog you would like added). Read, Write, Draw is an attempt to give back – hoping that when I publish and share it, others notice the Aussie talent inside.
I am loving Flipboard – so easy to read and collate on my iPad. Great to read on my MacBook too but unfortunately no curation features for PCs. It’s an added bonus that readers can share their love for a particular post if they sign up to Flipboard. Leaving a comment doesn’t require a sign up.
Finding the urls wasn’t easy. Unlike Feedly and the now defunct Google reader, simply entering the blog url didn’t enable Flipboard to necessarily find the rss feed. Often I had to paste the blog url into Feedly to find what I needed. In two cases I had to dig through website html.
I’ve read that Flipboard hopes to become a feed reader in the same sense as Feedly but given the issues locating feeds, I wouldn’t be recommending it to anyone unless they tech knowledge or a lot of time.
But for my purposes it’s perfect. Each issue I intend to have a new piece of artwork on the cover. The inaugural issue features Gabrielle Wang‘s wonderful cats (visit her blog and look for the equally wonderful dogs).
So here is Read, Write, Draw Issue 1. Enjoy.