WE WON!

                             WE WON!
or should I say the Prana Writers won the National Awards for the Write a Book in a Day competition.
Unfortunately I and two other members were away at the time the other members of the Prana Writers were competing in the competition.

It is amazing, on the one hand, that our group has pulled off something so brilliant and distressing on the other that I was unable to be there to be part of it. I was on a two week trip up to the Gulf of Carpentaria. I enjoyed myself immensely and I was able to complete an awful lot of writting on my story but still ...

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/wJW1Tgd1N2rlVWNln-mh_Yj8iNrauNayehWz1aUXEht-aZYejvnvZf5nISdr5wDV_i5InDahMzfiJw4WBNFsXwFUYuJgqFmt6w/Write%20a%20Book%20in%20a%20Day%202011/Prana%20Media%20Release.5.pdf

I have included the link for the press release of our groups success. Before the group knew of their success they had decided to re-edit the story The Coral Sea Monster with a view of self publishing it and donating some of the profits to the Royal Children's Hospital as a matter of course. Now that the group has won, that will definitely be happening.
The three of us that were unable to be involved in creating this fine story have been asked to review the story once it has been polished up by the eight members who came up with the story in the first place.

It is an amazing accomplishment by the members of the group and I congratulated them all on their achievement.

Write A Book In A Day Competiton

I thought I would share with you something rather special. I am involved with a writting group called Prana Writers. The group entered a competion called 'Write A Book In A Day'. The idea of the national competiton was to raise money for a hospital. We chose the Royal Children's Hospital. We raised $940.00. Our book is called The Coral Sea Monster.

Anyway the good news is that Prana Writers has been shortlisted to win. If we win (which we will find out today - the 3rd November) the book will be printed and half the profits will go to the hospital. I think that goes for two years (but don't quote me on that.)

I will keep you posted.

Brisbane Writers Festival

I was VERY fortunate to be given a free ticket to attend the Brisbane Writers Festival. I attended the talk on 'Publishing in the young adult & children's market.'
There were five speakers.
Farrin Jacobs - International Editorial Director, Harper Collins Children's Books, New York,
Emily Rodda - Five time winner of the Children's Book Council of Australia of the Year Award.
Tristan Bancks - One of Australia's most popular and successful writers for young people.
Kristina Schulz - Children's Publisher for UQP.
Gaby Naher - Literary Agent. (Sophie Hamley was suppose to be the guest but had to pull out due to sickness).

The whole experience was well worth traveling from the Gold Coast to the Brisbane Art Gallery. I learnt some new things. After three years of learning as much as I can it is amazing that there are still 'things' to learn.

A couple of weeks ago I had asked the universe a question and that question was 'How do I protect my rights?'

A week later I received (out of the blue) a free ticket to the Brisbane Writers Festival and I knew I would get my answer. I thought I would get it from Farrin Jacobs but it proved not to be. I received it from Emily Rodda.

The answer was to NEVER give up my copyright. It MUST be stated in ANY contract you are to sign that 'you (the author) are the sole owner of the copyright of the work you have produced.' Those words will not appear in that exact way but that is what it means. Your contract MUST say that you have the copyright of your work.

Gold Coast Show 2011

The Gold Coast Show 2011
I was given a generous space to display my models. It was the first time that I been placed in this position and I am going to see if I can have it for next year. If I do get to stay there I am going to look at displaying my models differently. I have always wanted a painted back drop and with a display stand this size that idea would work.

Every year I try to bring different models but in saying that there are two that everyone likes to see. The first is the kitchen of Pebble Cottage (the model sitting under the picture of the Black Hawk Faairy) and the second is Archibald's General Store (the model sitting to the far left of the picture.)

I'm going to be displaying my miniature gourd models at the Gold Coast Show this weekend. At Parklands on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of September.
I shall be introuducing a new line that I hope people will want to purchase.

Basic Gourd Houses



Above is a photo of just two of the 15 or more houses I shall be bringing along. For the six years I have been displaying my big modles at the show people have always admired them and wanted to know where they could buy gourds from. The answer to that is either Toowoomba or Maitland NSW. There are not many people who could be bothered to track them down soo I thought, or rather I should say my partner Garry thought, I should make them like this (above) and then all people have to do is decorated them. Wholla!

When I have the time I while include some photos of past shows but I'm off to finish the houses as there is soo much to do before the show. See you there.