sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Pemberthy in Busselton

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‘Granma‘ left a comment to let me know that Pemberthy is a much loved resident at her house in Busselton. Wonderful news. Busselton is a nice beach-side town in the the South-West, a place I visit often.

The map now looks like this, with the new dot the orange one on the South West coast.

Have you seen my beautiful picture book, Pemberthy Bear? I’m tracking his progress around the country – you can see my original post here. As you can see from the map, Pemberthy is a well-travelled bear.

Lots More Pemberthy Sightings

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I’ve been surfing the net and have spotted lots of copies of Pemberthy in libraries. How wonderful!


The Bayside Library Service in Melbourne has not one but THREE copies – two in the Beaumaris Library and one in Brighton. And, joy of joys, my search of their catalogue showed they are all on loan.


The Brisbane City Library Service has FIFTEEN copies of Pemberthy. The Ashgrove Library, Bulimba Library, Coopers Plains Library, Everton Park Library, Grange Library, Indooroopilly Library, Sunnybank Hills Library and the Sandgate Library have one copy each, whilst the Carindale Library, Fairfield Library, Grange Library and Inala Library have two copies each. Nine of the copies are out on loan.

I’ve added the new dots around Melbourne and Brisbane. They’re both looking pretty colorful and very dotty now.

In Western Australia, I found Pemberthy in seven libraries. In Perth it’s in the Battye library, the Bayswater Library and the Dianella Library. In country Western Australia it’s in the Busselton, Katanning, Mount Barker and Kojonup libraries.

It’s wonderful to see so many spots in my home state. Come to think of it, Pemberthy is also in the school library in my town, so I’ve added a dot for that, too. It’s pretty cool to see my students borrowing my books from the library.

I’ll be checking out more libraries to see where else Pemberthy can be seen, but in the meantime if YOU have seen Pemberthy, drop me a line or leave a comment and I’ll add a dot. If you’ve just tuned in and am wondering what I’m on about you can read about my quest to record Pemberthy sightings here.

A Good Day

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Some days are so good you wish you could bottle them. Today’s been one of those days. I started with a buzz when I read my weekly Pass It On newsletter.

First, there were two little articles in there that I’d written. Of course I knew these would be there, but it’s still nice to see stuff you’ve contributed appearing in your favourite newsletter.

Then, in the reviews section was a glowing review of Pemberthy Bear, by the newsletter compiler Jackie Hosking, who said, in part:
Sally Murphy has written a lovely tale in rhyme that is complimented by Jacqui Grantford’s exquisite illustrations. New Frontier certainly have a knack of matching writers with illustrators to produce gorgeous picture books.
Wow! That had me singing.

Then there was a message in the newsletter from Moira, responding to my search for Pemberthy. She has seen Pemberthy no less than three times – in her home, in the Chatswood library (where, she reports, it was looking well-loved), and at a bookstore called Book Review, in St Ives! Moira, it turns out was also the proofreader for Pemberthy Bear, and loves Pemberthy so much that she recently brought a Pemberthy look-alike bear which sits on the shelf with her copy of the book. How cool is that?

So, with Moira’s three new dots added, the map now looks this:

The new dots are the pink, lime green and purple ones on the east coast, part of the cluster around Sydney.

With that kind of start to the day, I found myself singing and humming and working hard. I’m always more productive when I feel good. Today I finished a batch of marking, wrote two new reviews and a new article (about getting going after a slump), prepared and posted a new submission and did a few other odds and ends. I also managed some housework and spent time with my kids, who are still on their mid year holiday.

I also did some random browsing of some other writers’ blogs. I love seeing the variety of styles and formats and even subject matter.

All in all it’s been a good day.

Pemberthy Spotted in Anglesea

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Yay! There’s been another Pemberthy sighting – this time in Anglesea, West of Melbourne. the new dot is the hot pink one on the south east coast. Thanks so much Jackie for letting me know – though of course I knew this sighting was coming, as Jackie had ordered a signed copy of the book from me last week. Still, it’s nice to know it arrived safely and Pemberthy is now in residence in another part of Australia.

So, the map now looks like this:

It’s never too late to report a Pemberthy sighting. If you’ve just tuned in, I’m mapping sightings of Pemebrthy Bear, the star of my picture book by the same name, as he’s spotted in people’s homes, in bookstores, in schools and in libraries. Keep your eye out for him, and let me know when you see him. You can read more about my mapping exercise here.

A Sighting

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Pemberthy has been spotted again! Monica emailed to say that her daughter Alexie has seen Pemberthy in her school library in Kalgoorlie. Kal is a gold mining town in Western Australia – the new orange dot on the map. Pemberthy is certainly a well-travelled bear.

Thanks Monica and Alexie, and hello to everyone in Kalgoorlie.

Here’s the new map:

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for Pemberthy and let me know where you see him.

Oops

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Earlier this week I wrote here about the mistake of posting a blog entry without proofreading, and I discussed how important proofreading was in all communications. So, imagine my dismay when I just sent an email meant for one member of an elist to the whole group. Fortunately there was nothing in my email that I wouldn’t have said to anyone in the group, but my mistake was just embarrassing, having just said ON list that I would email the person OFFlist about something she’d asked.

Which brings up an important point, related to the topic of proofreading. Anything you say in an email is, in a way, just like anything you say in a blog – potentially very very public. Even an email to just one other person can be forwarded – usually with no malice or ill-intent. Just as we forward jokes and fun stuff, we also sometimes forward things which might be of interest professionally.

Anyway, I digress. If you have anything to say which you don’t want other people to read, don’t say it in an email (or, for that matter, on your blog). Be careful what you say, and how, because it can be misread – by the person you’re emailing and by other people too. If it really is private or personal, use another form of communication.

I don’t think my misdirected email offended anyone, but I still wish I’d changed the recipient field before I hit send, because now I feel a little silly. Silly Sally, that’s me.

Oh, before I go – another sighting of Pemberthy has been reported. Robyn from Adelaide emailed to say she has a copy. Thanks, Robyn – this is the first report from South Australia, so I’m happy. The new dot is the nice purple one on the South Coast.

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