Blogging has taken a back seat these past few weeks, but now I’m back at my desk and ready to talk about what I’ve been doing.

Firstly, I spent a week in Melbourne where I caught up with some long-lost rellies, caught trams and, most significantly, attended the CBCA National Conference.

What a wonderful event this was. This is the fourth time I’ve attended the CBCA conference, and while each conference is different, it is always a worthwhile experience. Anyone serious about writing or illustrating for children in Australia should make the effort to attend – it is expensive (my credit card is testament to that) but worth every cent and then some.

Speakers included Neil Gaiman, Shaun Tan, Emily Rodda and more – many more. So many wonderful and inspirational creators speaking about their work, the wonders of children’s literature and more. And panel sessions where authors, publishers, academics and the like discussed and debated specific aspects of children’s publishing. Then there were book launches, dinners and breakfasts. And the trade fair. A visit round the stalls to see what publishers are publishing is essential and always enlightening.

But for me the real highpoint of the conference was the people. As well as catching up with my two special writer buddies, I also spent time with many other writer and illustrator friends, and made some new ones. I spent time talking to publishers, critics, librarians (including a large contingent of fellow West Aussies which was great), teachers, booksellers – you get the picture. Being surrounded by people who are passionate about children’s books and talking about anything and everything with these like-minded people is a magic potion which you can’t bottle. I’ve come home energised, enthused, refreshed (in an exhausted kind of way having used so much adrenalin at the conference) and ready to work and prove myself to be part of this wonderful, wonderful industry.

So now I’m saving for the next conference – in Brisbane in 2010. If you are a children’s book creator, start saving, too. It’s worth it.

By the way, if you have never heard Neil Gaiman speak, you can hear and see him at youtube, here.

More in the coming days about what I’ve been up to.