Perth Writers’ Festival wrap…

I don’t know what it is about writers’ festivals, but I always get on the homebound plane feeling bereft, as if someone’s taken an ice-cream scoop to my lower belly. This post is likely to be brimful of post-festival love, but I’ll try to be professional. Wednesday, 20th: I stepped out of the airport to […]

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Rant: Honesty or diplomacy? That is the question:

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to band with fellow YA writers To deflect the slings and arrows of adult criticism Or to take arms against shitty writing and wooden people (and glitter) And by opposing it (or them) end them.   Sorry, Shakes. If there’s one question I hate to be asked, it’s this: […]

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Is reading overrated?

This question will be posed to a panel of authors, including me, at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival in August. I imagine the discussion will be decidedly against—like asking a scarecrow if he really needs all that straw. Well, yes. The essence of the scarecrow is in the straw (I’m gunning hard for the Bad […]

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A sighting in the wild…

Friday Brown is almost ready to fly. It’s like seeing my youngest off to school. The house is too quiet. I don’t quite know what to do with my freedom. I’ve had this baby swaddled like a papoose for so long and now it’s out there. Think Mork (Robin Williams before he got craggy) launching […]

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