All of August and much of September have been gobbled up, with no time for blogging as I drove up and down the Forrest Highway to Perth, and around the Southwest and even flew up to Geraldton, all for the most privileged of reasons: to talk about books, and reading and writing.

The word ‘privilege’ is one I used many many times over this most busy of periods, but it was used with heartfelt sincerity . It is a privilege:

• 

  Doing the Bookweek Dance 🙂

  To speak to hundreds of young readers from schools large and small, in their schools and in public libraries to celebrate Children’s Bookweek.

• To have the opportunity to inspire those children to read more and to write more.
• To share my book-babies, including of course Roses are Blue, my latest, but also to have requests for old favourites. This year those requests included Floatingest Frog and Head Hog, which are such a joy to read to younger audiences.
• To visit one of my old schools, Iona, and catch up with many of my past teachers, as well as to talk to year seven and eight girls about my writing, as well as why I chose to write about Mary MacKillop and what an amazing woman she was.
• To be invited to a festival as amazing as the Big Sky Festival, in Geraldton, where a relatively small city manages to turn out good sized, enthusiastic audiences to talk about all things literary and where the amazing Geraldton Library and University Centre staff treat their visiting authors like stars.
• To spend a weekend at said festival in the amazing company of fellow writers who started the weekend as relative strangers and ended as lifelong friends.
  

  At the Big Sky Festival after a session with Kaleidoscope Ensemble.

• To return home to emails and messages from children and adults who saw me at different times over those two months and wanted to thank me for inspiring them – when it should be me thanking them.
• And last, but not in any way least, after a busy couple of months, to have a beautiful family to be at home with and cherish.

Now it’s back to normality – writing a bit, reading a bit and even, occasionally, doing boring stuff like housework. What a privilege to live the life I do!