I'm in the US at the moment. Perched in a rocking chair in the second floor bedroom of my friend's house. I'm in Texas, but I've just come from North Carolina, and before that I was back home in Australia. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks of conference prep, travel, catching up with friends and now the down-time before another conference next week. I'm exhausted. But I'm also conscious that this is precious time. Time to take stock and stash my suitcase full of memories so I won't forget. 

I'm heading to the USA soon, to attend two writers conferences and apparently, when you attend writers conferences in the States, you are supposed to bring business cards.
I've had business cards before. A few different variations. But apparently, according to the gurus of business cards and conferences (who knew there was such a thing?) it's good to have a card with a few features. For one thing, you are encouraged to include a head shot. This is so people can remember what you look like when they get home and are sorting through their stash of accumulated cards. I understand the reasons, but still...

​Those who receive my author newsletter have probably heard a little about some of the other writing projects I've been working on in the background to my part-time PhD. I tend to have a few projects on the go at the same time even as I chip away at the big ones. This way of working, however, does have its challenges because the more projects you have on the go, the more ups and downs you encounter, as well as multiple versions of uncertainty.
And here's the thing, uncertainty is just part of the game when it comes to creative pursuits. We make, we hope, we dream, we build and then - with tentative imaginations and wistful expectations - we send that creativity out into the world.

This is a post for writers. It is about our attempts to build an author platform and the challenge to stay small. Or at least, that's what I thought it was going to be about when I first started...

Attempt #7:
​I've written this post six times already, and each time I've sighed, deleted and stared again at the blank page. It would be easy to blame it on writer's block. But I don't think that's it. It's more like a stubborn inability to get into words what has been buzzing around in my brain.
If you've been following my journey this year, you'll know it has involved a lot of slowing down. Just before the middle of the year, I took a break from social media and the impact of that decision continues to reverberate through my writing life. It's as if I've been having a staring competition with my author platform and my platform isn't winning...

Do you recognise the plant in my hand? It's the iconic New Zealand silver fern. The top side of the leaves are green, but the underside are this white/silver colour that reflect the light when they fall to the ground!
I was in New Zealand recently to attend the Australasian Children's Literature Association of Research (ACLAR) conference. The conference was held at Waikato University and included presenters from all around the globe, including Norway, Poland, the USA, Samoa and more. It was very exciting (and somewhat daunting) to be rubbing shoulders with a conference full of experienced children's literature scholars! Especially as I had been invited to present a paper from my PhD research!