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Just say yes
No, this isn’t a reference to the Great Virginity Debate. It was a new year’s resolution of sorts, and so far it’s bearing fascinating fruit. Chess Nuts! is my tenth publication in ten years. Last year I was overwhelmed by the dayjob and other projects, and I was...
Have you got your Vplates?
When I read this by Alexandra Adornetto, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry, or wonder whether I’d woken up in 1950. (I will try to put down some of the more naive comments to her youth, but Tony Abbott has no excuse.) All of my YA novels have dealt, to greater or...
Where I’ve been lately
in which there was this, which was gobsmackingly amazing, and highly recommended. There was also a swimming pool which had hairballs like tumbleweeds. You have to work hard to let something get that filthy. But I won’t hold that against you, Canberra.
“Violence is one of the most fun things to watch”
The quote in the title is, perhaps unsurprisingly, attributed to Quentin Tarantino. It no doubt refers to film rather than real life violence, but lately I have been pondering the massive apparent increase in violence of all kinds, whether it’s drunk guys smashing...
For a sneak peak …
of Chess Nuts, click here. The official publication date is the first of February, and I’m getting excited. This book is entirely different to anything else I’ve done, and I’m proud of it. My mother, who has never played chess and does not dispense praise unless...
Why it’s okay not to be okay
I haven’t read this book by Barbara Ehrenreich yet, but I intend to. I have long held a deep suspicion about the cultish spin-offs of the ‘think positive’ movement (in business, in alternative health care, in management models), not least because of the way they do...
Why I love kids’ writers
I know, I know, one shouldn’t generalise. But it seems to me that the main characteristic of children’s and ya writers is their unflagging, generous-spirited support of their peers. When one of our number gets big, we celebrate (sure, there may be the odd green-eyed...
Burning books
I have been cleaning up and cleaning out lately (at the ripe old age of 40, I’m about to get a writing room of my own for the first time), and have come across stacks and stacks of old journals, bits of writing, photo albums and housebooks.* Many times I have heard...
It’s almost holidays!
Which is reason enough to celebrate with my favourite ever piece of music (besides, maybe, this and this.). I will be doing my best to finish the V Girls, and on February 19 Chess Nuts will be launched at the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre by the fabulous...
Chess Nuts!
nally, I have written a book that the publishers can describe as ‘light-hearted’! I need a Bex and a lie down, truly. The book will be launched by an actual chess nut in February (seeing as he is a minor, I’d better check before I put his name here). By which time I...