The occasional stroke...

There have been mutterings on the ether. People are already talking. Winners of the Joy Cowley and Tom Fitzgibbon Awards are announced end of March (although I am not a contender this year), Notable Book lists are made public the same day (please let it be me this year) and short-listings are bound to be publicised sometime over the next few months for the NZ Post Children's Book Awards for which I am always terribly, desperately hopeful. And then a little later in the year come the LIANZAs. It is a difficult time for New Zealand children's writers and illustrators. It is when all our secret longings and our sensitive souls are exposed like raw nerves. Does the world/universe/the community we have chosen to be a part of, really love us? New Zealand children's writers and illustrators have produced so many fine books in 2013. Competition is fierce. This is a good sign, I think, for our children's literature.  But I am human with my hopes and dreams and an ego that likes, at least, the occasional stroke (and never says no to more frequent ones). Everything is crossed. As my dog always reminds me, it is good to be hopeful (and always check under the couch for crumbs).

In amongst it all I am thankfully distracted by my move to Dunedin. It is soon. It is hard to think of leaving my family behind but the adventure also beckons, and which of us writers can resist an adventure...It promises to be a busy year with some writery engagements and plenty of head down, bottom up, furious typing. If nothing else I will have, I hope, some new friends I meet on my travels, good memories and freshly completed stories.

And Ms Rowling you can regret pairing Hermione with Ron instead of Harry but love triangles can never be solved. Either way you would be wrong.