Hey everyone

Wow, has it been that long since my last blog entry…right, well let’s start from the beginning then.

I left Adelaide with a finished final draft of Nothing’s Prefect, with a fresh beginning. I got closer to Scott and I hope it shows. My agent’s given me the green light, so it’s off to Penguin 🙂

Now it’s onto my next project, a story called Bookish. It’s all ideas and sketches at the moment, my fave part of the process. I’m also working on a new ‘mix tape’ of short stories to celebrate the first 5 books of my career. If Drake can do it, then so can I…it’s reserved for only the most special cHEwY gum gums…

Last week, I went to the Sydney Writers Festival for the school days program. Five powerhouse performances in the city, Parramatta and Penrith. I became more of a performer than a writer, it’s hard not to get swept up with the large stage and the arena style rooms, where kids are thrilled to be there. With Con-nerd and Punchlines selling out by Thursday, I picked up more cHEwY gum gums 🙂

I also met Oliver Jeffers for the first time, yay another Oliver! He’s cool and his quirky powerpoint and drawing on ipad skills are a delight to see. It was nice to team up with Tristan Bancks and Emily Rodda once more too.

I also featured on a panel for Western Sydney. It was interesting to say the least! I’m proud to be a writer in Western Sydney, and I love putting my characters in suburbs that I grew up in. But what does it mean to be someone from Western Sydney? It certainly gave me a lot to think about. All I know is, if you have a good story, it will find its way to the book shelf…no publisher looks at your address before they read your manuscript.

I got a chance to be on SBS TV news, with an interview about my own writing journey. It’s another chance to tell other kids out there that they can be a writer one day…and have fun with it too.

O.W