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!