Three things

This is not a post about things coming in threes. I do not believe in that notion at all. Rather, this post is simply about three things that happened a week or so ago, which all represent positive steps along the twisty track that is my journey as a writer. And they are all “firsts”.

So, as they say on reality TV, in no particular order, here they are:

1.     For the first time ever, I have my own dedicated CREATIVE SPACE/STUDIO. Pete bought me a beautiful desk a few years back, but I have never had a space for it that was ALL mine; it was always housed in a multi-use space, one that I frequently had to move out of when family members came and went (as they tend to do these days). But I now have MY space, complete with what I like to call my “thinking board”. My creative juices have become a torrent!

2.     For the first time ever, I have signed with a literary agent – Pippa Masson from Curtis Brown. This, I believe, is an important career move, one that feels very right.

3.     For the first time ever – drum roll please – one of my books has WON an award. A SWIM IN THE SEA, illustrated by Meredith Thomas, won the Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards for the 3–5 years category. Yee- ha! As an ex-literacy teacher, winning this award was extra-specially sweet.

Safari, anyone?

Book Safari 2009 started off with an early morning flight to the Gold Coast to attend the announcement of the CBCA Book of the Year winners and honour books.


It was my happy duty to look after our talented Walker Books' winners: Bob Graham (Winner, Early Childhood category for How to Heal a Broken Wing) and Mark Greenwood and Frane Lessac (Honour Book, Eve Pownall Award for Simpson and his Donkey). Speeches were accompanied by the barks and coughs of the neighbouring sea lions and a wild time was had by all.


Next stop was Brisbane to the CBCA Qld Branch's Book Safari dinner where the highlight was Glenda Millard's poignant and heartfelt speech, entitled, Getting Naked, which dealt with the use of raw emotion in writing. It was truly wonderful.


Saturday morning I trekked to Cafe San Marco, South Bank, for a wild Book Safari brunch with a great bunch of kids. It was lots of fun celebrating Book Week Queensland-style. (Thanks Beth!)

(I also had the chance to catch up with my sister and nieces and nephews, which was an added bonus!)

Lots of Fab Stuff

While I have been busy flitting around the place sugar plum fairying, some other fab stuff has been happening.

In no particular order:

1. The Firefighters has been shortlisted for Speech Pathology Australia's Book of the Year Award. You can view the shortlist here. As a former literacy teacher, this is sweet news indeed.
2. It has also been listed by Brisbane's Book Garden Bookstore as one of the top ten books for children for the holidays at ourbrisbane.com.
3. I received a great review for the Sugar Plum Fairy at Aussiereviews. The words "sheer delight" were kinda cool to read!
4. Australian Women Online magazine did a feature article on me. How exciting is that! You can read it here.
5. I received a lovely thank you letter and a whole pile of kid-made postcards from the kids at Rossmore Public School. I did a school visit there a few months ago and had a ball! What a great school, and what a wonderful surprise to receive in the post. Thanks, Mrs McGregor! Thanks kids!

Here are some snippets from the postcards:

"Thank you so much for coming to our school. We had a fun time when you were here. I've read 'Battle of the Rats'. It was gross but at the same time amazing. I think you are an amazing writer. I love 'Freaky'. I am reading it again ..." Tianna

"We really enjoyed the time you were here. I thought you were very funny." Taryn

"... I enjoyed making a book and hearing your stories ..." Andy

"... It was so funny I nearly died (which you wouldn't want me to do, I hope). Thank you very very much." Hunter

"... We learned many new writing skills and were inspired to write our own stories. One of my favourite parts was Cooking up Books because it was an easier way of remembering the writing process. It was fun and interesting. We are reading Battle of the Rats in Library and loving every minute of it." Lauren

Wow - doesn't get much better than that!

Now, on the down side, I have to admit to only adding 2 500 words to my current WIP during the last month. That will teach me for bragging about getting to 25 000!