Ta Dah!

So here is my new-look website. What do you think? I like it a lot and I’d like to thank Chris M for his design. The red dragon logo, in case anyone is wondering, is the imprint from a Chinese seal or chop. We had it made to use on the cover of Dragonkeeper (though … Continued

And a KOALA too

It’s been my year for kids’ choice awards. Dragonkeeper has won the NSW KOALA award for older readers. It’s the first children’s choice award Dragonkeeper has won, so that’s very exciting and thanks to all those readers who voted for it. I went to Sydney to attend the ceremony which was held at the Taronga … Continued

Japanese Edition of Dragonkeeper

Yesterday I received copies of the Japanese edition of Dragonkeeper. It’s always exciting seeing the covers of overseas versions of books. Sometimes I’m pleased with them, sometimes not so much. In this case I’m delighted with the cover. It’s lovely. Very different to the original Australian cover. The illustrator has obviously read the book (which … Continued

Rita at 7 months

The first draft of Dragon Moon is finished, so I am having a bit of a breather before I start on the second draft. Not that I’m sitting around doing nothing. There are final touches to be done to what will be my next book The Jerilderie Letter which is an illustrated version of Ned … Continued

Garden of the Purple Dragon wins WAYRBA award

I have just returned from three days in Perth. I went there to accept the 2006 WAYRBA Award for Younger Readers for Garden of the Purple Dragon. This is Garden‘s first award and it is my first ‘Children’s Choice’ award, so I was thrilled to receive it. I am in esteemed company as Christopher Paolini’s … Continued

Working Title

I’m getting a bit sick of referring to the third Dragonkeeper book as DK3. So here’s the title. Dragon Moon. That’s the working title, anyway. I’d be interested to know if people think it’s a good title. I want it to be short…and memorable. A lot of people had a problem remembering Garden of the … Continued

Book Week

It’s Children’s Book Week. That’s the time of year when authors like myself get to go out of the house, blinking in the sunshine like moles (couldn’t think of an Australian blinking animal. All our burrowing creatures are semi-nocturnal I think. Perhaps I could have said wombat). Yesterday I visited Sunbury West Primary School. It … Continued

Warm Feet

I had a good week this week. Despite many interruptions and diversions, I still wrote my self-imposed quota of words, worked out several plot dilemmas and found that two story strands unexpectedly linked together. And I think I have a title for the third Dragonkeeper book. (Not quite ready to tell anybody what it is … Continued

The Spiderweb Method of Writing

I’ve just read Lili’s post about finishing her first draft. I agree with her that first drafts are crap. Mine are anyway. I would be horrified if anybody read the first words I type. They are reworked many times before I dare to call it a first draft. A blank page is a scary thing. … Continued

More Garden of the Purple Dragon News

black dog books tells me that Garden of the Purple Dragon is also due to be published in France (Bayard Editions Jeunesse), Spain (Ediciones B), Germany (Cecile Dressler), Denmark (Bonnier Carlsen), Slovenia (Ucila International). I haven’t got any publication dates for those. Can’t wait to see those editions. It’s exciting seeing my books in other … Continued