Day 1 – Hong Kong
Hong Kong was unexpected. All my anticipation and planning had concentrated on London. The Hong Kong stopover hadn’t slipped off my radar, but because I was visiting two schools while there, I was still in work mode, not holiday mode. So driving from the airport to our hotel was...
Top 10 Things I Saw in London
My stay in London was a time to see things. Some of them were well known landmarks, some of them were hidden treasures, some were stumbled upon on they way to something else. Here’s a selection....
I’m Back
I’m back after a rewarding month in London. I’ll be posting some highlights of my trip over the next few weeks – with photos, of course....
Rewriting: the basics
When we talk about the writing process, most attention is usually given to the planning and the first draft stages. This is natural – starting at the start is logical. With all this talkspace given to plotting, dialogue, characterisation, pacing, structuring and prose details, sometimes we neglect to discuss...
Name Dropping
It’s been a time and half, really, over the last week or so. First was the Sydney Writers’ Festival with all of its well-earned hooplah. I met Garth Nix, Morris Gleitzman, Belinda Jeffrey, Judith Ridge, Bernard Beckett, Sean Williams, Deb Abela, Jacquie Harvey and Richard Newsome, as well as...
Teen Book Video Awards
Id like to direct everyone to an exciting new development from the wonderful people at Random House. The Teen Book Video Awards are a fantastic opportunity to win $1000 for yourself and $1000 of books for your school, just for making a 90 second book trailer! Teachers, this is...
Twitter wishes
Spotted on Twitter: ‘Oh Aubrey Fitzwilliam, how I wish you were real…’...
Sydney Writers’ Festival
I’m appearing at the Sydney Writers’ Festival Schools Days on 17 and 18 May, along with Belinda Jeffrey, Bernard Beckett and Cassandra Clare. Come along – I’ll be glad to to meet you, sign books, or just have a chat after the presentation....
A Book from a Bygone Era
I was browsing Project Gutenberg, as you do, and came across a gem: The Empire Annual for Girls from 1911, a hundred years ago. Now, for those of you who don’t know, these publications were around for years, often associated with British comics for young people. They were chockful...
Doorways Trilogy download
I still have many people asking me about my ‘Doorways Trilogy’ (The House of Many Rooms, The Book of Plans and The Unmaker) even though it’s been out of print for some time. Second hand copies are hard to find, too. So I decided to do something about it....