Busy times with a new writing project



My work in progress. I needed to really spread out so took over the dining room table.

 Since August I have been very busy working on commissioned work for Walker Books. (I shall tell all when I can) So it has been head down and work, work, work.  This has kept me locked away in my study, and libraries  researching, writing and editing for months.   I have  completed the project before my deadline date (first stage at least) and will be back to editing for publication very soon. It has been a wonderful project to work on and so very interesting. It will be exciting to announce what it is when I am able to.

A few weeks ago, on the spur of the moment, I flew down to Melbourne to meet with my Publisher and was fortunate enough to meet up with lots of writing friends while I was there for the 2 days. (note*** they are all very brilliant Australian Authors) It was great to meet and have dinner and catch up on news.



Dinner  the first night with sensational children's authors and Publisher  (L-R)  Karen Tayleur, Claire Saxby, Sue Lawson, Maryann Ballantyne (Walker Books), Corinne King, Carole Wilkinson, Bernadette Kelly & me





My second night out- Meredith Costain, Boori Bryor, Frane Lessac, Mark Greenwood and me ( reflected in the mirror Paul Collins- Ford Street Publishing)



This past week has been devoted to other things. I started  on making over my study. It seemed like a great idea until I got in such a mess I wished I'd never begun anything. I sorted piles of papers, boxes, tidied manuscripts and also off-loaded and donated hundreds of books during the moving stage. Below is the chaos of throwing all the books you own on the floor. Not recommended for the faint-hearted.

The piles of books I removed from my shelves. Can't believe I owned so many.

 After two days of hard work it was - out with the old desk and shelving and in with the beautiful new desk and new shelving.

I still have some sorting to do, pictures to hang and rearranging of how I want things- but I'm loving my new work environment.

Literary Award winners Announced 2012

 Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards 2012

The Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards were established in 2003. The awards are presented annually for excellence in the development of children’s speech, language and literacy skills.

I must say how very honoured I have felt with my latest picture book  Nancy Bentley, The First Australian female Sailor  being shortlisted in the Lower primary category of these awards.  Thank you Speech Pathology Australia :)
It has been a long wait for the announcement but finally,last night at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, the wining authors and books were announced.
Congratulations to the winners!!

The winning titles in each of the categories are:

Young Children

• Come Down, Cat! (Sonya Hartnett, Viking)

 Lower Primary

• The Little Refugee (Anh & Suzanne Do, illus by Bruce Whatley, A&U)

 Upper Primary

• The Invisible Hero (Elizabeth Fensham, UQP)

 Indigenous Children

• The Snake and the Boy (Azmen Sebastian, Magabala).

 A Lifetime Achievement Award was also presented to author and illustrator Graeme Base. Base won the Lower Primary category in the Speech Pathology Awards in 2005 for Jungle Drums (Puffin) and in 2007 for Uno’s Garden (Viking). His most recent book, Little Elephants, was published by Viking this month.
 

While the Speech Pathology awards were underway in Melbourne, I was in a book store in
Canberra attending a literary event. Children's Author Tania McCartney interviewed award winning Children's Author- Graeme Base. While Tania managed to get Graeme to open up about the ideas and stimulation behind many of his books, there was not the slightest hint from Graeme or his Publishing House team that he was being bestowed with the prestigious Lifetime award in Melbourne at the same time!

However, it was lovely to hear Graeme talk about his journey to becoming an author and the mysterious moments of fate that sent him on the road to success. As an author it is always fascinating to hear other authors speak about their books, their ideas and why they wrote the book they did.

Tania McCartney is a wonderful, vivacious local Canberra author. Want to know more...  just go visit Tania's website.

                                http://www.taniamccartney.com/



While net surfing do pop in and visit the Kids Book Reviews site and read a recent review of my picture book  Max Meets a Monster.

 



Exploring Canberra

Over the past week I have been out and about enjoying the Capital.  On Tuesday, I had a wonderful afternoon at Floriade. 

Waiting for a day without wild wind and heavy rain seemed almost impossible, so braving the chilly overcast day and armed with an umbrella, I headed off to smell the roses... actually they were poppies.

The gardens were spectacular with thousands and thousands of poppies in the most beautiful displays.



Views of the garden from Poppy level



I loved this pansy. The perfect butterfly design caught my eye.

There was something for everyone. Cafes, restaurants, kids zones and stalls. The Gnome display was fun to visit. The garden Gnomes were all hand painted by local school children.

The Reptile Zone wasn't my favourite area.

It was far too scary with the staff standing

 in a small tent holding giant boa constrictors!

I prefer the animals to be in glass enclosures- so much safer to look at them.

I particularly loved the pancake stack of Monitor Lizards. What a bonding bunch. 

On Thursday, my adventures continued as I set off to explore the Museum of Democracy at Old Parliament House. What a fabulous and fascinating place it is. It houses a wealth of old pictures and information on Canberra and the history of Australian democracy.

 If you decide to visit allow a few hours to wander, read all the information, play with the interactive screens and spend some time just sitting to absorb the historic building.



The Duke and Duchess of York opened Old Parliament House on 9th May 1927




The crowds outside Old Parliament House on the day it opened.











The Senate



The House of Representatives








View from the Media gallery







An unusual displays of old typewriters used by the media to report on events during sittings.



Old and very tiny press room.

A replica of the Speakers Chair for people to sit in. Yes I did!
 It was surprisingly large and I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland when I climbed up.

I have to say it was fun sitting on the couch inside the Prime Minister's Office and having the whole place to myself. Oh the power...



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Carpet Court Storybook Challenge- Young NSW

 Below is an excerpt from  the Young Witness newspaper Sept 14, 2012

 A class from Bribbaree Public School is now the proud owner of $1000 worth of new books and a colourful reading mat thanks to one of their fellow students.

Grade 3 student, Alex Newell, won the inaugural Terry Bros Carpet Court Storybook Challenge. 

Alex submitted a story about what he loves the most in his community, winning the prize for his classroom, as well as a book package worth $250 for himself. Alex’s story talked about his quiet and friendly neighbourhood. 

There was an overwhelming response from the Young community to the competition with wonderfully creative stories and pictures submitted from primary schools in the local area. 

The entries were voted for by the community to establish five finalists, which were then judged by Peter Terry of Terry Bros Carpet Court along with author Tracey Hawkins. 

Mr Terry said Alex should feel very proud of his creative efforts and it was great to see his take on our community. 

“Congratulations to all the students that entered the Storybook Challenge, there were so many great drawings it was hard to pick just one winner!” he said.

Tracey Hawkins, author of Max Meets a Monster said, it was a pleasure to judge the finalist entries in the competition.

“I was delighted to discover common valued themes within the entries,” she said.

“Many of the children wrote of the fabulous community sporting facilities provided, the green space and parklands available for play, and how friendly people were in their community. Congratulations to all who entered,” Ms Hawkins said.

More than 1700 NSW children entered the Storybook Challenge, describing what they love about their community. 

The program, which is being run in conjunction with the National Year of Reading, aims to encourage more shared reading and creative writing in classrooms across Australia. 

http://www.youngwitness.com.au/

                                                              This is Alex's winning entry

To view all entries received, visit www.facebook.com/CarpetCourt. 

                                

Research and writing

Spring is here at last- hooray! The weather is warming, albeit with a few cold snaps to keep us on our toes, and cast a little doubt the weather report of a sunny 22 degrees the next day will be just that. 

Today it is 22 degrees and sunny, no wind and beautiful. However a few weeks ago we had giant flakes of snow spiralling from black clouds with gale force winds to boot. I was at the National Library and took some photos of the Parliamentary Foreshore and Lake Burley Griffin.



The Foreshore




Captain Cook Memorial Jet




The High Court and Embassy flag display


Spring in Canberra heralds strange unpredictable weather patterns and with the warm still days we are prone to sudden, wild storms and hail. The confusion for what to wear each day is understandable. One minute it is glorious and the next ingloriously freezing!

The birds in my back garden have decided it is springtime regardless of the weather and spend the day fighting, mating and singing.  It is beautiful to hear them sing and the constant hum of bees. On days like today, I can smell the grass growing.

                                  

No longer able to stay locked indoors, I have felt a buzz with the onset of warm days and have began to spend more hours outside once more. With a coffee in hand, armed with pens, writing pads, and my Ipad I love nothing more than to sit at my little Parisian cafe style table and chairs and enjoy.

After a long cold winter and having been locked away in my study for months, the freedom of choice for a work environment is refreshing. No longer tied to a room warmed by a heater, the heat of the sun on my back is divine.  A change of scenery is welcome as for the past 6 weeks I have been ever so busy with a new non-fiction book. The excitement of starting new work is pure bliss. Although it has involved hours and hours of research, all those scrawled sheet of ideas and notes to myself are slowly but surely leading closer to a new section of finished work. I am proud to admit I am a walking treasure trove of all sorts of odd and funny information, and very happy to share my wealth of knowledge with my grown up children. We chat over dinner and think on unusual snippets of history as a lead in to each new section of the book.

For me the best part of the writing process is the journey, not that the completed/published book isn't a joy to hold in my hand, it's just that whole start- to finish process that drives me each day whereby I can't wait to get started. From that blank page to a page full of scribbled ideas, sketches, and arrows, to plot points,and hastily written sentences that beg to be written. The pages fill with the strange coded thoughts of what looks like rot and rubbish, but it all makes sense to me. It is a written journal of my thoughts and vision. This jumbled script paves the way for longer paragraphs, crossed out sentences and lines that quickly fill with inserted words and suggestions. Oh what bliss it would be if I could take a snapshot of my thoughts like I can a page on the IPad and print them up. 
Thinking, sorting and gathering are just a part stage of the process. I love that all this can be done while hanging out washing or grocery shopping. My brain hardly ever stops and even asleep I have many dreams.

For the past few days I have been editing, drafting, editing and drafting.  Finally I have settled on the work I am happy with and so today I start another section of the book and can't wait. Bye for now, it's time to go sit in the late afternoon sun and work the magic of the pen on paper.

Chief Minister's Reading Challenge 2012

Exciting news:

 Nancy Bentley, The First Australian Female Sailor  has been selected for the ACT Chief Minister's Reading Challenge 2012.

Below is a lovely book review from the Kid's Book Review.

http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2012/09/review-nancy-bentley.html

Book Review: Nancy Bentley

When I picked up Nancy Bentley, I expected to learn about a grown woman sailing around the world in the style of Amelia Earhart. Nothing could have prepared me for the tale of little girl who was bitten by a deadly whip snake in 1920.

Medical help was too far away. The poison was racing through Nancy’s veins. What would you do to save your daughter? Row out to a naval ship anchored in the harbour? Who would have guessed that females were prohibited from even boarding naval vessels in those days?
Lucky for Nancy, the captain was quick to render assistance. He even had a solution for Nancy’s unusual predicament. Can you guess how Nancy was saved? How did she manage to become Australia’s first female sailor?

I won’t spoil the suspense. Go on. Read Nancy Bentley and find out for yourself.

Nancy Bentley is simply written with illustrations tinged with an old world charm. Grounded in fact and condensed for pre-schoolers to enjoy, Nancy Bentley is a keeper.

Title: Nancy Bentley: The First Australian Female Sailor
Author: Tracey Hawkins
Illustrator: Jacqui Grantford
Publisher: New Frontier Publishers, $24.95 RRP
Publication Date: January 2012
Format: Hard Cover
ISBN: 9781921042768
For ages: 4 +
Type: Picture Book

Storybook Challenge 2012 winners Announced

Storybook Challenge Winners Announced.

During June of this year, as you know I took part in a whirlwind tour of regional country schools in NSW and the ACT to launch the new literary competition, The Storybook Challenge.

That's me surrounded by the lovely students of Sacred Heart Central School in Cootamundra


Congratulations to the regional schools I went out to visit, and a huge congratulations to the students who did such a brilliant job with their winning entries.

Cootamundra- Zara English from Sacred Heart Central School

Young- Alex Newell from Bribbaree Public School

Tamworth- Grace Maloney from St Edwards primary School

Armidale- Ruby Straker from The Armidale School

Canberra- Lachlan Ogden from St Benedict's Primary School

Bateman's Bay- Bella Coetzee from St Bernard's Primary School

Ulludulla- Emily Stein from Milton Public School

 I'm sure the students will be delighted with their $250 book prize and the schools very much delighted with the $1000 worth of books and colourful reading mat  they receive for their classroom or library.

To view a complete list of all the students and winning schools in NSW follow the link to the Carpet Court site. 

 http://www.carpetcourt.com.au/storybook-challenge