News & Events

This is not a blog. It is nothing like a blog. I remain convinced that no-one is breathlessly logging on for details of my dog's latest antics or my recent adventures in breakfast cereal choices. What I'll be posting here are decidedly un-bloglike updates about my writing life, publication, and related activities.

March 14, 2008: I Feel All Sparkly

Last week, I presented at the CBC's "A Night With Our Stars", held at Westbooks. I've attended this event before, but never presented, since my first novel came out only last year. It's quite something − twenty writers, three minutes each, one insistent rattle to tell you when you've rambled on for too long, and on top of all this, the acute sense of strangeness at being billed as a 'star'. But what a great way of bringing children's writers together with teachers and librarians and other people interested in children's literature. I got to talk about my books (for only slightly longer than three minutes. I knew my propensity for speed-talking would come in handy some day − so there, speech therapist!), catch up with other writers, chat to teachers, sign some books, and I even found a few people who admitted in hushed tones to a fondness for poetry. I knew they were out there somewhere.

Thanks to Westbooks and the CBC for hosting this great event. Hope to see again you next year!
 

March 5, 2008: But Suddenly There It Is ...

This is the flowering eucalypt at the bottom of our driveway.

I love this tree, because every time I arrive home, this is what I hear:

But suddenly there it is
right in front of you
bright and vivid
quietly waiting ...

These lines are from Shaun Tan's The Red Tree. You read them and then turn the page, and there is the tree, luminous, and the girl's querulous face staring at it, uplifted. I've always loved this book; I love the movement between these lines and the image of the tree on the final page. Even though I know what's coming, even though I've seen it many times now, it never fails to move me.

And now I have this tree. And every time I pull into my driveway, I hear "But suddenly there it is", and my spirits lift. It's not conscious. I don't think - oh, that tree reminds me of that picture from the Red Tree, what was that line again?, oh yes, I feel uplifted. It's visceral, associative, automatic; there's no space between the seeing and the feeling.

And this is something I love about books, about language. About poetry and picture books in particular, because of the economy of language, so that certain lines ring with particular resonance, and linger, attaching themselves to your own experience. For me, sometimes it's my own lines. So that when I take my daughter to the beach after school, I hear:

These days, every afternoon hums
with our rag-tag westerly pilgrimage.

and the afternoon hums because of it. I can be tired, cranky, sleepwalking through my day, but when I 'hear' these lines, I wake up. They place me in the world in a different way, recalling the mood of the poem.

Sometimes, it's the lines of others: when I reconnected with an old friend recently, I heard the lines a space long empty suddenly glows, from the David Malouf poem "With the Earlier Deaths". Suddenly my experience was bigger than itself; it was connected to the whole web of language, transformed and invested with all the warmth and nostalgia and comfort of the Malouf poem.

I love a good story, yes. But I love this more, these lines and images and fragments that stay with us, that we carry, invisibly, into our lives. And what a marvellous thing, as a writer, to be able to craft these lines for others.

Note: I haven't reproduced Shaun's Red Tree image here, partly because I'm not sure if I should, copyright-wise, but also because you need to have that page-turning moment for yourself. That's how you should see the tree for the first time. Go out and get hold of the book, if you possibly can.
 

Feb 17, 2008

Have been Googling Cleanskin in an attempt to find reviews, blog posts on my poetry collection for the publisher to use in their grant acquittal.

Here's how it goes:
Search Term: Cleanskin
Search Results: Quality Australian wines from $5.99 a bottle.
Me: Hmm, I wouldn't mind a glass of red.
Repeat. Repeat again. Forget what I was doing in the first place.

Of course, I could just add "McKinlay" into the search string, but that wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun.

Note to self: do not choose book titles that remind you of red wine. Alternatively, be more self-disciplined.

Jan 30, 2008: The Getting of Gumnuts

A while back, my editor called to tell me that "Annabel got a gumnut!". My brain cast around for possibilities - was this perhaps the premise for a new, Enid Blyton-style story? Had Annabel, Again sold into a country with an anti-pistachio bias and had to undergo some editorial changes (which I would happily accept! Call me, anti-pistachio nations!)? Then she explained that Annabel, Again was reviewed in the Children's Book Council journal Reading Time, in which gumnuts are awarded to recommended books.

I haven't seen the review, though I'm happy to have it, of course, but more than that, I guess I just wanted to say that it is a peculiarly lovely thing to work in an industry where praise is awarded on a sliding scale of gumnuts.
 

Jan 11, 2008: A Legend in My Own Lap Lane

I was recognised today, at my local pool, while doing laps, by a lifeguard. "Hey!" he said. "I had to ask - are you that writer-woman that was in the paper a while back?"

I was. I am. How utterly strange.
In less appealing news, it seems that I do resemble the hideous photo of me which appeared with the article - at least when wet, kind of bald-looking and with odd lines etched into my face from swimming cap and goggles. Make of this what you will.
In a stunning twist, my newest fan managed to get through an entire conversation about children's writing without mentioning J.K. Rowling or the phrase, "Hey! Why don't you ...?". Well played, lifeguard, well played!
 

Jan 8, 2008: Cleanskin is Travelling! This book is in the wild!

Thank you to 'stillcraic' from Wingello, NSW, who has helped me achieve a quirky little personal goal of mine - to have a book released into the wild on BookCrossing! If you don't know about BookCrossing, get thee hence and discover its delights forthwith.

What's more, stillcraic tells us that s/he read my little book 'with interest' - what more could a writer ask for? Personally, I always try to approach a book with disdain, aloofness, or a full bag of marshmallows, but each to his own, I guess.

I'm joking, of course. stillcraic says Cleanskin is 'nice stuff by a new poet', but that s/he is moving and hanging on to very little, something I applaud heartily, being in constant dismay at the layers of 'stuff' that seem to accumulate around me.

Cleanskin was released on New Year's Day at Gloria Jean's in Bowral, to which I can only say Huzzah! (I like to say this at least once a month, and opportunities have been slim lately). Can't say I've ever set foot inside a GJ myself, but hopefully it will go to a good home. For now, I just love that the BookCrossing entry says "This book is currently in the wild". Travel well, little book. Cut through that jungle with your tiny machete! Stay hydrated! Write me sometime!
 

January 4th, 2008: Going for Broke

Shhh! I saw a cover. It was a blue cover. It was a grey cover. It had skateboards, several. It had my name on it. It had the title Going for Broke in shiny foiled letters.  It was very, very cool. And now I can post it, so here it is:

Going for Broke will be released in May this year as part of Walker Books' new Lightning Strikes series. The series will kick off with six books and I'll be in the fine company of authors such as Robyn Opie and James Roy. I have a feeling this is going to be fun!

Sadly, we have had to lose the subtitle "One World Record, Fifty-Two Tiny Bones", but I suspected that would happen at some point.

Older Posts:

September-December 2007
May-August 2007
  • August, 2008: Bookweek presentations at schools/libraries across Melville, Joondalup and the City of Swan.
  • June, 2008: Poetry workshops at Wesley College
  • May, 2008: Launch of junior novel Going for Broke