Herman and Rosie cover

Click to embiggen

UPDATE! 
  

I can finally, officially tell you my news! Herman & Rosie has been sold to a US publisher! My agent in New York ended up taking the book to auction where Neal Porter Books (Macmillan) won the rights to publish. Very exciting! There is a bit about it in Publishers Weekly here: (http:// us1.campaign-archive1.com/ ?u=d684790bedf89afe76e7b915 6&id=874e62f3f2&e=cf2ee82a e1) Will let you know US publishing dates when I get them. Huge thanks to my agent Charlie Olsen at Inkwell Management. Have been sitting on this for two weeks - couldn't hold it in much longer!

Woah! It's been awhile huh - sorry. Well, my book, Herman and Rosie is in the bag, done and dusted. It is now doing the rounds overseas (I have some exciting news about this but can't tell you just yet!) So happy to have finally finished what has been a huge project for me - one that was both fun and exhausting. I don't want to crap on about the hours I put into this book but I can safely say that I have never spent as much time on one singular book. There is a little more about this in an interview I did over here at the Kids Book Review (KBR) site. Thankfully Penguin Australia were very patient (they were probably freaking out underneath but I'm glad they didn't let on!) I also worked with some really great people - my editor Katrina Lehman, my designer Tony Palmer and my publisher Laura Harris. These guys put in some hefty hours as well. 

Herman and Rosie comes out in Australia and New Zealand in September and as far as elsewhere in the world, I will let you know soon - when they let me talk about it!

Anyway it's done and I am allowed to show you the cover (above). Hope you like it.

Back into the groove

Well, I'm back from our holiday break and feeling pretty damn relaxed. My mind is as uncluttered as it gets really. It was so great to be out of contact and out of range. I had no idea what was happening in the world and it felt good. Just sort of real. Like the old days when I was a kid. I even had the chance to read three great books. Nice to have that kind of time again.

So I'm ready. Ready to pick up a paintbrush and my pencil and get back into the swing of things. I don't normally take time off halfway through a book but maybe I should do so more often. Having just taken my first look at my roughs in 5 weeks, it's weird how much clearer I see it all. And having spoken to my editor (the lovely Katrina Lehman at Penguin), there were several glaring structural issues that I hadn't seen or realised, that now seem so annoyingly obvious. It's often hard to step back when you're in the thick of a book with a deadline cloud overhead and see your work with any real perspective. When I say perspective I mean with a fresh unbiased vision. In many ways, only when you are able to walk away totally from a project are you then able to see it with any proper perspective - almost like it's someone else's work. It would be nice if I could just push a button during the process and a new pair of eyes rolled into place - an unjaded, impartial, clear and shiny back-up pair. That would be really cool! I suppose that's why we have editors. And why we should listen to them. Crap. I'm getting all wordy. Sorry.

Anyway, I'm back and will see you soon. Hope you are all well.