But I have been busy.

A few stories are being held at publishers awaiting decisions, meaning that I heard the call for submissions, I did the writing and I met the deadlines. It's not always easy to get these three things right. I have high hopes... high and desperate hopes. The children's educational market in Australia seemed to slam on the brakes a couple of years ago, but, of course, Australian children need to read Australian-produced fiction, and I think the saving of ELR and PLR means that the government eventually realised that the industry needs a little support. Didn't we have to make a lot of noise before they heard, tho?

It's good to see the publishers moving forwards and calling for submissions. It's very exciting these days. No deadlines can be allowed to pass because they're so precious. The ASA recently published an interesting report on the state of children's writing in Australia, which lends facts and figures to the pinch we're all feeling. You can read it HERE.

Shiny Mag like another sub of mine, and will probably publish it sometime this year. I'm really pleased with the feel of it. It's futuristic mythical YA set in Asia. I'd like to write more stories like this. I think it has a lot of appealing elements. If you like reading Australian-flavoured YA don't forget to pick up your subscription to Shiny. "The Sun People" by Sue Isle in Shiny Issue 2 recently won a Tin Duck so it's now an award-winning emag and still ridiculously priced.

I was one of the finalists in the Julius Vogel Awards announced at an easter weekend con in Wellington. I was beaten in the short story section by Lucy Sussex, and Paul Haines picked up an award for his collection of short stories and novellas Doorways for the Dispossessed. So we West Island Kiwis were suitably happy with the results. Well done Lucy and Paul.

I was interviewed recently at Sputnik 57 who seem unnaturally impressed with my writing abilities. You can read the interview HERE.