Angst is a life-shortener...

eeek - the days are flying by. Time for a new post methinks. As you will all know if you have been reading along it has been quite a year. When I think back on all the things that have happened this year I have trouble believing that I squeezed all that in to less than 12 months. At times I was chasing my tail, juggling too many balls and feeling stressed. Thank goodness I wasn't juggling chainsaws. My health has been a bit rubbish and I'm not sure if that was a cause or a symptom of other things. Looking back over what I have been up to, after moaning and groaning probably more than I should have, I can't actually help feeling a little bit proud and pretty happy about all the things I achieved. Lots of deadlines, appointments and events mean you get a lot of things done. Now that the pressure has eased off I am feeling guilty that I'm not doing stuff and am wasting heaps more time doing silly pointless things. Of course this week is an exception because we are going away next week and all the things I have been avoiding while I twiddle my thumbs in a decorative fashion now need doing before we go. So I am making lists and working my way through them - suffice to say I will have enough underwear to wear on my holiday and I WILL remember to pack the power cord for my laptop so I can keep writing.

I am also assembling everything I need to upload my junior fiction as an e-book. The manuscript is edited and I am about to start formatting. I have been thinking alot about e-books and print books and the publishing industry and publishers, agents, booksellers and everyone else. If you are agonising about ANY aspect of publishing, know that you are not alone. It is an imperfect science. The best way forward is to keep informed, make decisions you can live with and don't angst over everything. Angst is a life-shortener. My experiment in publishing my junior novel Sally Bangle: Unexpected Detective myself is a terrific opportunity to test it all out. I want to know, so I am finding out. After all, knowledge is power.

And I was extremely thrilled to see this in the post last week.

The latest Magpies magazine. And look who is inside it!!

Yes, it's me!!Thank you to the very lovely Julie Harper who interviewed me and wrote a very nice article about me for the New Zealand section of the magazine. I was most excited (still am).