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I thought I'd take a break from book talk and proceed straight to gossip (well, kind of). I went to the opening party of the Sydney Writers’ Festival on Tuesday night. Now that is definitely not the sort of sentence that rolls off my tongue very often. I mean, I like being social, but only in moderation. And after surfing and writing and visiting schools and bringing up two small maniacs, there’s not much time left to be social anyway. I used to be very social, but then I discovered that I quite like being alone. Which is a useful trait to have if you want to write. For me, anyways.
Let’s talk about covers. One thing I'll never be immune to is the moment when you first see the cover for your new book. It’s so weird, wild and wonderful to see someone else’s snapshot of the story, and what they think needs to be communicated to the reader.
Raw Blue just got a new cover because it’s coming out in the UK in August (so in summer over there). This is what it looks like:
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Jeff Kinney, author of the hilarious best selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, is coming to Melbourne. Don't miss out on this once only session next Sunday!
When?
2 - 3pm Sunday May 20th
Where?
Melbourne Town Hall, 90-120 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Vic 3000
To make your booking, click here.
I had a magical moment in a bookstore this week. It happened in Taree - I was up there to do an Author Talk at the Taree Library. For anyone who hasn’t been there, Taree is on the Mid North NSW coast. It’s right on the Manning River (see snap#1), and it’s only a short drive away from Saltwater Point (snap#2) – which was a bonus for me, because I hadn’t surfed Saltwater before.
I’ve just finished a long short story. How’s that for an oxymoron? It’s about 14,000 words, and I was going to use it as an example of how I write. But I would have felt like a fraud. The problem with going on about how you did something is that you’re only focusing on the part where you were productive. What that doesn’t cover is how much time you spent actively avoiding doing anything; how much time you spent doubting what you were doing; and how much time you spent going over what you’d already done, rather than pushing forward and finishing it.
There were so many wonderful, imaginative entries for our April compeition - if Inky could eat any sort of Easter egg, what would it be made of? Thank you to all who entered!
The winning entry is...
How’s your weekend been? I’ve been up at my dad’s place, which is near Woodford in Queensland – home to the Woodford Folk Festival and, for the last two years, Splendour in the Grass - before Byron snatched it back. The view from up there is spectacular, featuring the Glass House mountains and stretching all the way to the sea. At night you can add in the glittering strip of lights from Caloundra to Brisbane. Last night, the full moon was in the mix, too. Look, I captured it for you - not very well, admittedly, but hey, I did my best :)
If you love Manga, you'll want to be in to win signed copies of a magnificent collection. And it's so easy. All you have to do is:
1. Go to the Read This! Creative Reading Prize website.
2. Check out the Prize pool - you could get your hands on some of these. Entry is open to individuals or teams.
3. Check out the other entries ... and most important:
An aside before I get down to business. Jimmy Lewis sent me this photo. It's the first time I've seen Night Beach in the wild. (Hardcore Saltwater Vampires fans might recognise Jimmy Lewis as being Audiocommand's drummer. It's nice that he took time out from his busy touring schedule to go into a bookstore and snap the book.)
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Okay, enough asiding (I was born to zigzag).
Why do I write? There are three reasons, and I'm only going into the first one today, not least because it neatly ties into what you'll have to do if you want to join in the GIVEAWAY.
