I’m having a bit of a catch up week this week. It’s school holidays in Western Australia, which means my kids are home (which is great) and thus that it isn’t the best time for serious writing sessions. Instead, I am using the time to catch up on some desk-clearing, email answering, reading and more. Nothing makes me feel more virtuous than a tidy desk – even though it never lasts.

One thing I have been dong as part of this is catching up on my blog reading. I use Google’s blog reader to keep track of my favourite blogs. In theory, this allows me to log in regularly and see all of the updates. In reality, I tend to not check it regularly enough and so, when I do, I have  a lot of blog posts to wade through. But when I do, there are always some real gems. Pick of the posts today were two on getting published and the publishing process. Firstly, Kathy Teaman talked about the road to publication in her post Baby Steps. If you’re trying to get published for the frsit time, this is a must read – and even if you’ve already been published, it is still really good advice. Secondly, Ian Irvine has today begun a series of posts titled The Truth About Publishing, which promises to offer a no-holds-barred view into the publication process. Well worth following.

I’ve also managed to get hold of a few more pictures of the Premier’s Literary Awards (see below), taken on the actual night. Here’s me receiving the award from Minister for Culture and the Arts John Day:

And here I am trying hard to sound eloquent and clever in my speech:

And, lastly, the screen showing the announcement and the book’s cover:

I’ve had a couple of media interviews  this week, which is lovely. The first piece appeared in one of the two local papers today – if you’re interested you can read it here.

Okay, back to work!