The winter months have been busy ones. The most exciting Busy Thing was that I set off to the east coast of Australia for the SCBWI* conference in Sydney. I caught up with so many authors and illustrators I don’t get to see very often (because they live on the east coast of Australia). Mostly I forgot to take photos because I was too busy conferencing, oops. But here I am catching up with the lovely Katrina Germein when I did manage to organise a photo:

When I got back to Perth I was feeling inspired and started work on my long-neglected idea for a middle grade novel. (You should feel free to applaud). It doesn’t have a title yet. I’m still thinking.

Then I was feeling brave and I signed myself up to a writing course through the Australian Writers’ Centre (specifically: this one) as a sort of Personal Development because mostly I write picture books and poetry and tackling a story as long as a novel is a bit scary sometimes. (It turns out I’m a very succinct writer.)

And when I haven’t been writing I’ve been preparing my tiny garden for spring. More on that in another post soon. (Because I do get excited about my tiny garden and Growing Stuff.)

I can’t underestimate the importance of Distraction and Procrastination in the writing process. So, this morning I found myself looking longingly at this site featuring 10 Stunning Writing Studios. I can’t decide which one I covet most — possibly number 2. (I’m thinking of creating my own 10 Inordinately Unimpressive Writing Studios list. At least I’d have a faint hope of making the cut for that list … )

Lastly — What I should be doing: taking up Sally Murphy’s latest Poetry Tag challenge. She’s thrown me some new words. I’d better get to that this week …

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* SCBWI is the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. If you write — or illustrate — for children you should check them out. Really.