10 favourite quotes from Tinderbox 2015

1. "I write where my heart wants to write " - Susan Kaye Quinn (on Skype from Chicago) about "having a life that is fulfilling and creative and finding your place in the world."

2. "Get them to do what you want in a way you're not expecting" - Andy Griffiths on the trick to working with illustrators (actually, the whole of his speech was made up of quoteable moments).

3. "I'm pretty sure we all tell stories; we all gather and compose, whether in words or images; we share the same desire to create layers of meaning" - Penny Fitt, Toi Whakaari...

4. ... who also quoted from How to fly a horse by Kevin Ashton: "Creators must expect rejection. The only way to avoid rejection is to avoid making anything new. Rejection is not a ticket to quit. It does not mean the work is bad. It does not mean we are bad... Rejection is about as personal as gravity. At its best rejection is information. It shows what to do next."

5. "If you know your destination, it gives the journey more shape" - Mandy Hager's workshop on Iceberg thinking.

6. "Our job as writers is to feed the emotional word and take the reader's heart on a journey to the end of the story, so the character lives on in the reader's mind" - Mandy, again.

7. "Think of yourself as people who traverse both printed and digital worlds" - Alexandra Lutyens on the possibilities provided by social media.

8. "You've just got to be confident to let your imagination go wild" - a schoolboy involved in one of Kiwa Digital's Slam storytelling workshops.

9. "I don't ever write for children when I write for children" - Dave Armstrong.

And lastly, one of my favourites -

10. "That's awesome, Maureen!" (as we unveiled yet another Tinderbox surprise) or was it "that's awesome Maureen"?  - either would work!