Merry Christmas - nearly...

I've just been Christmas shopping and not surprisingly most of the gifts I've bought are books!
I had intended on giving my daughter the Twilight series for Christmas...but after her amazing school report, we decided to give her the first book early - that was a week ago. She's now read all four books three times and I suspect has started them a fourth . So much for that Christmas gift.
Now I get the 'Team Edward' and 'Team Jacob' thing and when she relinquishes her hold on them, I'm looking forward to reading them, too.
In the 80s (the olden days!!), there was a vampire film called The Lost Boys. I loved it!! Owned the soundtrack, watched the video again and again, and still quote lines from it. Tragic aren't I? Anyway, with the release of Twilight, I decided to watch it again last week. Apart from the seriously scary mullets, it's as good as it was. Sure, cheesy, but terrific fun. My daughter enjoyed it too. Of course, between introducing her to The Lost Boys and The Young Ones, I am in danger of turning her into an 80's tragic.
As for reading, again I've been nostalgic. Years ago I read a Ken Follet book, Pillars of the Earth, which I loved. For my birthday I received the sequeal World Without End and am loving that - the baddies are so bad, the history fascinating and the priory...well that's a whole other story. Worth the read though.
Once I'm finished with that it's Twilight!

November already?

This year has just flown! I've visited so many schools, met terrific people and had a ball.
A few weeks ago I spent the day in beautiful Balmoral. It was Halloween and the primary kids were dressed up. Now let me tell you, giving an author talk to a room full of ghouls, ghosts, witches, Harry Potters and assorted freaks was, well, a freaky experience.
The secondary guys were dressed normally, thank goodness - enough of the witches and ghouls! - and were a fantastic help with research questions . Thanks to Paul especially and the rest of the crew. I wrote pages of notes after talking to you!
Apart from school visits, I'm working on my next novel, which I'm excited about, and I've been reading heaps.
Have you read Digger J Jones yet? It's fantastic! I laughed out loud and read bits to my husband and daughter. Find it and read it. You'll love it - and it's a fantastic insight into race relations in Australia in the 60s.

Montevideo Maru - Finding Bill!

In my book, Finding Darcy, Darcy explains to her family that she doesn't care how her great-grandfather died, she cares how he lived.
Darcy's words are my feelings - after years of silence, I feared who my grandfather was had been lost to us. That has changed in the last few weeks.
Last week I did an interview with ABC Local Radio about Finding Darcy. We talked about not only the book, but about the 2/22nd Battalion, the sinking of the Montevideo Maru and my grandfather, Bill McLennan, who died aboard the ship. I mentioned in passing that Bill was from Stanhope, Victoria.
As a result of the interview, I'm now in contact with a man from Stanhope who is compiling information about the Stanhope residents who died during World War II, and so about Bill.
I know now he captained the 1935 Stanhope footy side, where the family farm was and best of all, there are a few old people around who still remember him.
So I guess now, I'm finding Bill!

School Visits

Last term I visited the Year 3/4 students at PLC. What a warm, enthusiastic and friendly group of girls. I had a fantastic time and must thank their fantastic librarian, Jan Robertson for inviting me and for making my visit so enjoyable.
The Year 3s were reading Tessa as a class novel, so I had to be careful not to give away too much about it.
The Year 4s participated in a workshop with me - what sensational story ideas!
I also visited Penleigh and Essendon Grammar towards the end of term and worked with the Year 10s. Colac is sensational, guys, thanks for asking!! ;)
During term three I'm off to Yarrawonga, Strathfieldsaye, Geelong, Port Fairy, Dennington and Melbourne to visit schools, and am very much looking forward to it.
I also have a September deadline for my next book - it doesn't freak me out if I say it quickly!

Finding Darcy Launch

Well, Finding Darcy is officially out!

I was so lucky to have two launches. The the amazing Jackie French launched Darcy at the CBC Conference in Melbourne, and the multi-talented Lili Wilkinson did the honours at the Centre For Youth Literature's It's Different for Girls session.

Jackie's speech totally blew me away and for the first time in my life, I found myself speechless. Believe me, that's a rare day!

Huge thanks to Jackie and Lili for their enthusiasm and support.
I'm one very proud cookie!

The It's Different For Girls day was fantastic. It was somewhat overwhelming to be working with JC Burke, Julia Lawrinson and Maureen McCarthy. Not only are they sensational authors, but they are gorgeous people.
Before we spoke, Jenny and her girls from Monash uni performed pieces from our books. They did a fantastic job. We were thrilled to see our work dramatised.

Must say hi to Jenny and the crew, plus a big hi to the girls from Waverly and Drouin, particularly!

Montevideo Maru

I'm very excited to hear that Channel Nine has raised awareness of the sinking of the Japanese vessel, the Montevideo Maru.
My grandfather was one of the 1056 Prisoners of War who died when the ship was sunk off the coast of the Philippines in 1942. The men were captured when the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Rabaul in January, 1942.
Even though this event is Australia's biggest maritime disaster, with more Australians dying than did during the Vietnam war, it remains shrouded in mystery and controversy.
Want to know more about this little known incident and its far reaching effects?
Read my new book, Finding Darcy, which is coming out this week.
I'm hoping it will also help to raise awareness of this important World War II incident.

Short

Short - an anthology published by black dog books, with Royalties being donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters

I'm very excited. My advance copies of the black dog books anthology, Short, edited by the fantastic Lili Wilkinson, arrived today.

The book not only looks great, but is a sensational read, filled with stories, cartoons and poems from your favourite authors, like Michael Gerard Bauer, Jeni Mawter, Karen Tayleur, Carole Wilkinson, Andy Griffiths and me. And there's one other author I really wanted to tell you about - Esther Crowley. Esther is just 12 years old and is an amazing talent. We write together every Tuesday afternoon, and she constantly blows me away with her skill. She's from a very talented (and simply fantastic) family - her mum and dad are gifted musicians and her aunt, Cath Crowley has written sensational books like Chasing Charlie Duskin and the Gracie Faltrain series. Grab a copy of Short and read Esther's story. It won't be the last story of Esther's you'll read, that's for sure.

Need another reason to buy it? Royalties go to the Big Brother, Big Sister charity. You can find out more about Short at http://www.bdb.com.au/ and about Big Brother Big Sister at http://www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org.au/

Enjoy Short!

Countdown to Finding Darcy

I am so excited. My copies of Finding Darcy arrived on Friday. I'm blown away by how fantastic they look and can't wait to see them on the bookshelves in May. The crew at Black Dog Book are seriously talented people and just fantastic to work with.
Finding Darcy has been a labour of love as Darcy's great-grand father's experiences are based on what happened to my grandfather. I'm very proud of the book and hope it helps to highlight what happened to the men of the 2/22nd Battalion during WWII.
Finding Darcy hits the bookshops in May, so keep an eye out for it. I know you'll love it.

Somerset Literature Festival

This is the gorgeous Meredith Costain, Jeni Mawter and Jacqueline Harvey, waiting at the Raddison Resort for the bus to the festival.

This year, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Somerset Celebration of Literature Festival in Queensland.
What a completely fantastic experience. The school, organisers and the students that attended were terrific. I ran three sessions, one each day, and participated in the student dinner, which was a hoot! Ten students and I had to come up with a short presentation on the topic - Family Matters. After much laughter and chocolate cake, we came up with a short play based on a family trip. My group were sensational!
If you haven't heard of The Somerset Celebration of Literature Festival, you can check out more information at http://www.somerset.qld.edu.au/cofl/
Queensland is one lucky state having this festival and Voices On The Coast. I often wonder why no Victorian school has tried to run a similar festival.

Narre Warren

On Friday I was lucky enough to meet children from at the Narre Warren library at Fountain Gate (yes, the shopping centre loved by Kath and Kim!).
The library was packed! Thank you to everyone who came and congratulations to those 1,000 kids who participated in the Summer Reading program.
Those kids read 9,000 books. How cool is that??

I've had a break over the summer, which has been sensational. Now I'm fired-up and ready for 2008.
On my to do list is the final edit of Finding Darcy, to be released in May, and I workshops and talks around Victoria and Queensland. Yay!