Day 17 in the Burrow

More good times at the Adelaide Fringe Festival with my girl.

This time the highlight was Circolumbia - a fusion of Latin beats with hip hop street music, drama and circus stunts to stun. Awesome!

Day 16 in the Burrow

The Garden of Unearthy Delights is alive and filled with festival-goers at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. My daughter flew down for the weekend and here are some of the amazing acts we saw.

Sam Simmons in full flight at his stand up comedy show.

'That Man' glass ball illusion and other tricks. Amazing!!

I think all of Adelaide was here.

My daughter in the 'Garden'.

Day 15 in the Burrow

I spent the morning chatting kids literature, writing and picture books with children's author, Katrina Germein over a cuppa and some yummy muffins Katrina had whipped up. Her house is only a five minute walk from the Burrow and the weather was perfect for a stroll through the leafy suburbs. This is the place to own a bike - it's all so flat.

Katrina is one of those people you're glad to have met, not just because you have so much to talk about, but because she's a real sweetheart too.

Myself and children's authors, Elizabeth Hutchins and Katrina Germein

When I returned to the Burrow, I threw myself into my preparation for the May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust event at the Burnside Library that night at which I was the guest speaker. Like my blog, I addressed the 'Dream, Journey and Reality' of being a children's author, sharing with the audience anecdotes about my road to publication, the inspiration behind my stories and sample chapters from my works in progress - one I had written only the day before.

The wonderful ladies of the May Gibbs CLT had prepared an impressive spread of finger food and champagne with a bookseller from Dillon's in Norwood selling copies of Pond Magic. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Everyone was so supportive and I felt as if I'd known them much longer than a couple of hours.

I'd like to sincerely thank the MGCLT organisers and volunteers, Sally Chance, Alle Goldsworthy, Mary Wilson and Elizabeth Hutchins together with all the other people in attendance. This is the month of festivals in Adelaide, and with a choice of 900 other events to attend, I am so very grateful  to everyone who came to hear me speak.

Days 13 and 14 in the Burrow

I've had a couple of serious writing days where the word count on my novel jumped up by 4000. It's a relief to me as the muse has been reticent of late. On the 20th was my late dad's birthday and I played the writer's life, sitting in a cafe on the Parade with my brand new notebook, a gift from my daughter. The weird thing is, when I opened it, I also opened my mind to the possibility of allowing my father to 'have a chat' with me, just as I would with a character in my novel. And then my right brain took over and I wrote furiously for pages. The words came fluently and without any obvious thinking on my part. It was strange and I thought perhaps my dad is my muse.

Day 12 in the Burrow

Today was a highlight for me. It started with a cosy morning tea at the home of Fran Knight, a children's literature reviewer and writer of teachers' resources for major publishers. Over scrumptious homemade little scone cakes and a pot of tea, Fran interviewed me for the Readplus Blog. It was so much fun I could've spent hours chatting to her and the lovely Alle Goldsworthy who drove me today.

But we had a lunch date at the home of children's author and friend, Janeen Brian. Janeen's work room is inspiring and huge. With over 60 books published, she has a bookcase just for her own work and as a creative work space it is by far the most usable and inviting that I have been in. The time spent with Janeen over a relaxed lunch has left me encouraged and motivated to take on all the new challenges ahead. 

Thank you so much, Alle, Fran and Janeen for a great day.

Day 11 in the Burrow

And with the temperature peaking at 39.2 C today that's where I stayed most of the day (burrowed away in the air conditioning.) Even the little flower seedlings were trying to stay cool under the umbrella.
On the writing front I jumped out of bed and began another rewrite of the pic book, following the publisher's advice. I also sat and thought about my novel's 'story', writing a 3 sentence, 2 sentence and 1 sentence pitch. It really helps to condense your story into few words - what's' the character's problem, what do they want, what do they have to do to get it, and what or who is stopping them? For your own sake it clarifies the plot.

Days Nine and Ten in the Burrow

Or... Plot Holes and other Hazards on the Road to Publication

You might be wondering why two days are combined. Well yesterday I needed to vent a little, so it was laundry day and any other housework I could find in this little one bedroom flat. The amazing thing is a load of thick towels dried in 30 minutes in this super dry, very hot weather. Whereas at home in Queensland it's wet, wet, wet.

But I'm sitting pretty in the air con and today I moved ahead with the word count on my novel. This first week has seen me fixing plot holes, re-writing bits and and unravelling my thoughts. It's true. You really can think straighter when you're on your own to do so.

This coming Thursday, 21st Feb, I'm speaking at the Burnside Library here in Adelaide at 6pm. Come along if you can as I'll be talking about how fairytales inspire my writing and sharing with you what I've been up to, including a sample reading of my novel in progress.