I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I’ve finished the zero draft* of my book. There’s still a lot of work to do, but the worst is over. I think of this early complete draft as being like a pencil sketch for a painting. Now, I know what the story is [...]
If there’s one thing I love it’s a pop-up dragon book. I have a small collection of about four of them. My daughter Lili just bought me another one for my birthday. It’s called Dragons and Monsters and it definitely contains the best pop-up dragons I’ve ever seen. The paper engineering is done by Robert [...]
Last week I received an envelope full of letters from students who had read my book Dragonkeeper. This wasn’t unusual in itself. From time to time, I get letters from kids who have read the book as a class, or whose teacher has read it to them. This collection of letters was different, because it [...]
I went to the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum last week. I always love to see artifacts up close. Tutankhamun is from the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, the same as Prince Ramose, the main character from my Ramose books. In fact, Ramose was Tutankhamun’s great-great-great-great uncle. Even [...]
I have written a guest blog for fellow writer Gabrielle Wang, who has asked a number of writers to write about where they write and how they write. So if you want to see a photo of my very messy desk, go to Gabrielle’s blog. While you are their you can see how other writers [...]
This is an interview I did recently with author Carole Wilkinson. Me: So…you’re writing a new book. CW: Yep. Me: Going well is it? CW: Not especially. Me: Another historical novel? CW: Yes. Set in ancient China again. Me: So, you’ll be seeking out lots of information about the time when the book is set. [...]
I’m grumpy. Most of the time I like being a writer, but sometimes it isn’t much fun. I’m having one of the “not fun” times at the moment. I’ve been stuck in my writing for weeks. Just can’t seem to get it right. It makes me very cranky, ask my husband, ask some of my [...]
Guest blogging seems to be all the rage at the moment. I haven’t had time to do anything on my own blog, but I did do a guest spot on Gillian Polack’s Blog for Women’s History Month. It’s about how Sharon Penman inspired me to become a historical novelist. I sent it off to Gillian [...]
So I’ve started writing a new novel. It’s a Dragonkeeper novel. But it doesn’t follow on from Dragon Moon. It’s set about 400 years later. This is my fifth Dragonkeeper book. I suppose I thought it might be a bit easier, fifth time round. It isn’t. I spent about two months last year working out [...]
I have received my copies of the book I have written about the World War I Battle of Fromelles. It is part of the black dog books non-fiction series called The Drum and the book is titled Fromelles: Australia’s Bloodiest Day at War. It is about the first battle that Australians took part in on [...]
black snake Blood Brothers china climate change cooking dragon companion dragonkeeper trilogy dragons events Fromelles history inspiration jerilderie letter overseas editions pets ramose reading short stories sugar sugar the games the night we made the flag writing writing process writing process special series
BibliOdyssey
Fabulous blog of historical illustrations
Centre for Youth Literature: Writer in Residence Blog
A different writer blogs each month
Lili Wilkinson
My daughter’s blog
Andrew’s Black Dog Blog
My publisher’s blog
Yarra Climate Action Now
My local climate action group (of which I am a member)
Earthsign
The thoughtful and informed climate change blog of a fellow YCAN member
