Melbourne, Australia. May 2018 Weather? Yeah, right. Big weekend for the children’s book industry. Kid Lit Vic. Scribbles Masterclass. Book launches (Jess Racklyeft, Lucinda Gifford). I cooked roast lamb. Himself cooked parsnip soup. As I said, BIG. Following the ruckus, there have been heaps of posts and comments and ruminations flying around the Duck…
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Hello! I like writing blog posts at Christmas. No one expects much. Do they? Writing: I finally finished Truly Tan: Baffled! (book seven) and delivered it to my publisher on time (working right up until December 15, the day it was due). Phew! Next year I’ll be waaaay more organised. Ahem. Finalising: We signed off…
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Up until a couple of months ago I had severe website shame. My author website was a shambles. It was out of date. It was clunky. It was a technical nightmare, built around grids and tables, unwieldy fecking boxes that made me wail every time I tried to tinker with them. Because I couldn’t access…
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Sometimes we refer to people as ‘real characters’. How weird. Is this uniquely Australian? Is it an Australianism? ‘Oh, my great aunt was a real character!’ Either way, it’s nearly always a term of endearment. There are loads of characters in my daily circle. The old bloke who wears a duster coat, drives a 1950s…
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I run a business. It’s called girl & duck. It feels weird to call it a business. I didn’t know you could love a business. But I do. I adore it. I’m obsessed with it. When I’m creating stuff for girl & duck, I’m in my genius zone. (Have you read that book? The one…
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A while back, I wrote a blog post. You know why? Because I had a nice photo of bulbs in pots. You know. Flowers and stuff. Here it is. Pretty, hey? I thought, how can I write a blog post around this image? I love this image. I want to use this image! I must, I must,…
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Early in 2016 I decided it was time to start teaching creative writing again. I’d taught a few years earlier and loved everything about it—the connection, the conversations, the sharing, reading, writing, coffee! Heaven. This time though I wanted to commit more fully, and build something for my students that was rich and supportive. Something with staying power. I…
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