Hey ya

Okay, where did July go? You know how I said I was supposed to send off Nothing’s Prefect over to Penguin…yeah that hasn’t happened yet.

So what did I do? Well, I watched a whole lot of world cup games but it wasn’t because of that…honestly haha, I did live on a buzz of Germany winning their fourth World Cup but I think it’s just taken a lot longer than expected. It is getting somewhere, I’m almost at the end of another edit, so I’m chipping away while I do my school visits this term.

For many authors and illustrators, term 3 is when we’re busy visiting schools, for Book Week, Education Week and all those weeks in between…so many kids, so many questions.

I had a question this week from a Year 8 kid. “Don’t you get lonely being a writer?”

It’s the first time I’ve had this one. “Sometimes it can feel like that,” I say. “But that’s why I love travelling and doing school visits.”

Writing can be a lonely affair, cooped up in your house or hotel room…but I do a few things to starve off the loneliness. I bring my xbox 360 with me so I can game while I’m abroad (precious gaming time since I’ve been married haha), chat to other authors and teachers at different schools, and I like to write in libraries…sure nobody is talking to me but being around others in a study like atmosphere helps me write my stories.

I like jogging in the afternoons, exploring the city via foot…watching movies by myself, drumming up ideas and thinking about my stories…it doesn’t feel too lonely at all.

I like the balance of touring and writing from home. Too much of one thing is not good, I either get slack with writing or just burned out from talks and workshops.

Anyhoo, it’s back to Nothing’s Prefect to me. Gotta keep writing. Gotta keep going!

O.W