As my bio states, I’ve lived in Melbourne all my life except when I haven’t. I couldn’t describe it in a truer way than that. Besides a couple of stints OS, Melbourne has always been my home. Born here, grew up here, bought a house and raised a family here. You name it and Melbourne is where I’ve done it.

After all these years, I’m kind of fond of my old home town. I like the fact that it’s a big city, but not too big. I like the fact that it’s not the first place people think of when they think of Australia, but it’s kind of up there. I like that it’s a city with a diverse population, with interesting neighbourhoods and many different faces. It’s a city of art and culture, a city of literature (officially) and also a great sporting city. I feel like we’re Australia’s great introvert city, compared to Sydney, the city of extraverts (and yes, I deliberately spelt it with an a, so take that, dodgy spell checkers).

I’ve been to a few funerals lately. Not a crazy number. It’s not like a bunch of people suddenly dying all around me. But a few. People of different ages, dying for different reasons.

It’s the kind of thing that makes you think about life and the whole hullabaloo. Why are we here and what’s it all about, and other questions of that kind of ineffable nature.

In the world of writing, there are many unpleasant tasks.

Writing query letters is definitely one of them. Figuring out what to say and how to say it and trying to second guess publishers is never particularly enjoyable. Another one is receiving rejection letters. Mind you, the way the industry works these days, that’s become a rarity. Usually you send a submission in and then you never hear anything again. Come to think of it, that’s not particularly enjoyable either.

Like any writer, I have dreams of being successful. I’d love my books to be broadly available all over the country – even all over the world. I’d love to have kids (and adults) reading my books in homes everywhere. I’d like to be talked about approvingly in the media – in book review journals and on telly. In short, I’d love to be a writing superstar.

People have many different reasons for wishing to be successful. It may be financial – they need the money to survive. It may be personal – more about ego gratification. But for me, I have another motivation. Another reason for wishing, even dreaming, of being successful as a writer. It’s a little out of the ordinary, and I daresay it doesn’t reflect too well on me, but I’m afraid I can’t deny it.

Many years ago, I was at an educational conference.

Yes, believe it or not, I’m actually professional enough to go to conferences every so often (preferably not so often – they’re not my favourite way to spend my time). And, also believe it or not, my day job (or better paying hobby as I like to refer to it) is in the area of education. So it makes sense that I occasionally find myself at an educational conference.