Tag: First Novel

Spring Clean

Spring is here in Australia and so I’ve embarked on my annual ‘clean up my desk’ adventure. Don’t try this at home kids! These are highly trained professionals at work. They may make it look easy – but it ain’t.

Ground zero at my desk.

My crime-novel-in-progress Burned continues to ‘progress’ well. I’ve been in a writers group with respected and award winning author Bill Condon for many years. But with the advent of COVID 19 our meetings have been curtailed. Bummer. But, Bill and I meet up online weekly and critique and discuss the manuscripts we’re currently working on. It’s been very productive and a lot of fun. And I still feel very connected with Bill. It’s funny. I’m not seeing him in person but we’re both still a part of each other’s lives.

The Highlands continues to be out there in the publishing world. Two considered no’s so far. The last publisher said my main character was ‘refreshingly and complex’ in an ‘incredibly readable’ novel where I brought characters and setting to ‘life brilliantly’. And still a no. Aah, crime writing’s a tough gig.

Stay safe and well.

Books of Mine

I’ll start at the beginning.

My first children’s novel was ‘The Cat Burglar’.  

I’d just finished writing television scripts for Australian drama series like ‘Neighbours‘ and ‘Home and Away‘ when a university colleague suggested I submit an idea for a children’s mystery to Reed Books (Melbourne) for their upcoming Mammoth Mystery series.

‘I don’t write prose,’ was my reply.

‘This publisher wants manuscripts,’ my friend said. ‘What have you got to lose?’

I was hooked. So, as I pedalled my way round the streets of Wollongong in my day job as a postman, I formulated an idea for a kids’ mystery. It involved a cranky Vietnamese man (who actually had a heart of gold), missing cats, and a boy (the hero Matt) who is suffering through the most boring Christmas holidays, ever.  

I wrote the outline, sent it off to Melbourne and forgot all about it, until . . . I received a phone call from the publisher asking for the manuscript. ‘It’s, um, not written,’ I stammered.

‘How long would it take you to write?’ asked the publisher.

‘How long have I got?’

‘How long do you need?’

‘Um,’ I said. ‘Six . . . weeks?’ 

‘Wonderful. I look forward to reading your story.’

And that was that. A crash course in writing a children’s novel. The editors I worked with – Mary Ann Ballantyne and Andrew Knight – were wonderful. They’re now the driving force behind Black Dog Books.