I wasn’t expecting anything in today’s mail, so when I heard the parcel delivery van pull in to the driveway, I sent Murphlet 3 out to collect the package, presuming it wasn’t for me.

‘I think it’s a book,’ he said, when he brought it in.

‘I’ll open it in a minute I sad,’ busy with an email.  When I did get up to open it it occurred to me that maybe this was indeed something I’d been waiting for. And when I opened it, I squealed with delight and raced around the house. What was in it?  This:

 

Just the book, not the soda water, which I poured to toast the book. The feeling of holding the first copy of a new book in my hands never diminishes. Nor does the pride in seeing my name on the front cover.

Roses are Blue will be launched at the National CBCA Conference in Canberra this weekend, and will be released on July 1.  I don’t plan on losing that glow between now and then.