Stepping out...

Oops! Now that May is over, I seem to be very, very bad at this blogging business. I will try to do better!

Last week I went on my first mini author tour, which sounds grand – but in truth, I only had two stops!

On Thursday I visited Bundaberg Dymocks for an author signing session, and though it was a quieter day in town than anticipated during the school holidays, it did get busier – and I did sell and sign books. (And was delighted by the smiling face of a school friend – flourishing a beautiful bunch of fragrant roses. Thanks Louise!) I even got to read ‘This is the Mud!’ to a couple of cute little boys while they waited for Grandma and Mum. They had a lot in common with ‘the cow’, chewing their cud from start to finish. Mind you, their jellybeans were probably a lot tastier than the cow's grass!

On Friday we had 2 hours at the Gayndah library, which was heaps of fun!! This was more interactive, with a cosy little reading room. Aside from chatting and signing books, I did two group readings of ‘This is the Mud!’. It was so much fun to share the book with a group of kids who don't know me - and didn't know the book. Their observations and interactions were gorgeous! (And now they all have their own signed copies of the book!) There were a couple of older boys there so we even got to chat about ‘Fencing with Fear’ and writing.

And of course it was also good to see a few familiar faces from way back when I was a kid; especially Jill, a lady who played a part in my schoolyard dabbles with writing. She had her three delightful grandchildren with her, and though Jill denies it as ‘Rubbish!’ I wonder if, without her early influence – her belief in me as a writer, even when I was in primary school – I might not have pursued my writing in later years, through the rocky road to publication…