News Update – May 2008
Over the past few months, I’ve been having fun experimenting with short stories. One of my short stories, The Rat Swallower, has been included in a new anthology of very short and interesting writing, appropriately entitled Short, and published by Black Dog Books. All royalties from the anthology will go towards supporting the charity Big Brothers Big Sisters.
It’s been great to have lots of time in my office this year. I’m having a break from visiting schools, libraries and festivals although I have allowed myself a few escapes from the desk, like the Man Hong Kong International Writers’ Festival in March and, this month, the CBCA Conference here in Melbourne.
As soon as the CBCA conference is over, I’m flying up to Canberra to take up a May Gibbs Fellowship. I’m looking forward to exploring the collections in the National Library of Australia. I have always been addicted to libraries and to have a whole month messing about in the biggest library in the country should be especially exciting.
Spending more time at the desk has been great for getting some solid writing done. I’m still working on my historical novel that is set in India and hoping to have a final draft ready for my publisher before too long. At the same time, I’ve been working on a futuristic novel which I started writing as a contrast to the complexity of the historical novel but it has become a much bigger, more involved project than I originally imagined. It also looks like it will be the first to be published in February 2009.
Me at my desk surrounded by my messy works-in-progress
In between the big projects, I’ve managed to finish another book for the National Museum of Australia’s Making Tracks series. The Red Camel should be available in July or August. Like my earlier book in the series, A Penny to Remember, The Red Camel is linked to a real historical item held by the museum. This time, it was a very intriguing photo from 1903 of an Afghan cameleer that inspired the story.
I’ll be talking about camels, convicts and Making Tracks at the AATE/ALEA Conference in Adelaide in July. So much for 2008 being a quiet, writerly year!
When I started writing this update, I thought I didn’t have very much news but looking across the last few paragraphs, I realise it’s already been a busy and interesting year. On top of all that writing, I’ve been getting plenty of reading done too, including checking out the titles on the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge and writing about my favourite reads on my reading blog.
Keeping a blog has forced me to think about books and blogs in a different way. I’m always hungry for new reading tips so if you have any recommendations, add a comment at Magic Casements:
http://magiccasements.blogspot.com/