Phew, it's taken a long time to get back here and drop a blog post and a lot has been happening since Football High was released in 2016. I've had some great feedback, reviews and Facebook messages about the books, which has been much appreciated. Check out some reviews for Football High:

 http://readingtime.com.au/young-gun-football-high-1/

https://www.creativekidstales.com.au/authors-illustrators/ckts-book-reviews/2163-football-high-young-gun

I even have at least one young fan in Auckland, NZ - big shout out to Sammy! 

I've also made it on the Premiers Reading Challenge Booklist with all four Football High titles being included so if you haven't read the series yet there's another reason. 

In December I also contributed a spy thriller comedy cat story to Random House's cat story anthology.  I'm not the biggest cat person going but The Cat Who Knew Too Much AKA Agent 009 AKA Mr Fluffy Paws would have to be my exception to the cat person/dog person rule (he's the one hanging upside down on...

Well, it's been a busy, busy last six months; full of writing and editing and proofing and more writing and editing and some additional proofing and last minute fixing up stuff. But finally...

The first two books of my new sports series for kids Football High are finally here. Yes, Book 1: Young Gun and Book 2: Fire Up! hit stores today and I'm very excited. 

To be honest, soccer, or rather football as the rest of the world knows it, has never really been my code. So when I set about writing a book about a high school where they specialise in teaching young players all about the beautiful game, not only did I need to do some serious research so I could make sports action burst off the page, I also needed to work out just how I, a 43 year old spectacularly, unsporty high school English teacher was going to get inside the head of a 12 year old football superstar in the making.

That's when I remembered... I went to high school. And in some ways, I've nev...

 Well on Monday morning I had my first Author Visit ever with a great group of kids at my youngest daughter's school Mary Immaculate Primary School, Quakers Hill. I read a few stories from Super Sports Stories for Kids and got a few laughs as well, in the right places. They also fired some great questions at me, although my request for no Maths questions was promptly followed by a barrage of questions all about Maths. I also gave away a few special prizes which definitely got them listening. It was great to actually spend time with young readers and get a sense of what they liked about the new 'Super Sports' short stories. Note to self: More embarrassing rude stuff and dangerous man-eating animals! 

                         Above: Me with some lucky prize winners at Mary Immaculate.

Wow! Where did that second half of the year go? December seemed so far away and then I blinked and it's here and so is... 

 Yes it's officially PUBLICATION DAY. Although they had copies of Super Sports Stories in Dymocks last Thursday so the book was well and truely out of the bag already. 

The great thing about having a book published at Random House is they send you a lovely email to celebrate the day (although I think they need a slightly more macho version of the letter for us male writers).

But really I should be thanking the whole team for giving me a great opportunity to write these short stories, especially my amazing publisher Holly and super smart editor Bronwyn. 

While I found it hard to keep them short, I really enjoyed writing them and I surprised myself with my amazing knowledge of sports. 

Okay, I did have quite a bit of help from my good friend Professor Google. I also had some help from real people as well. Karate Champion and all round lovely person Alic...

Just FOUR more chapters to go on the first draft of Book 1 in new football series for kids I'm writing and by football of course I mean soccer. Don't worry, I haven't completely abandoned NRL just yet (go Manly!) but I have been watching a lot of amazing youtube videos for research. In the first book, the game of Futsal features quite a bit.  Check out this clip of Futsal highlights - it's ridiculous. Meanwhile I'll keep researching and writing. The first two books in the series will be out early 2016. More details to come. 

Here it is... the cover of my new collection of short stories all about sport. Talk about life imitating art... It features a surfing story where a champion surfer has a very close encounter with a shark! A bit like Mick Fanning, my story also has a happy ending, but I won't give it away here. Thank goodness Mick is all right. Not only because it would be a national tragedy but it probably wouldn't be good for sales either. Anyway, all's well that end's well. Please avoid sharks for a while though Mick. At least until December 1 when the book is released. Check it out at Random House!

Well we are deep in into the wild weather of winter where on a stormy Saturday night, all you really want to do is curl up in front of the heater with a warm cup of cocoa and watch a good flick like The Grand Budapest Hotel or finish reading Stephen King's Duma Key that you started way back in January (or maybe that's just me) but instead of doing those things or rather in between doing those things I am posting my THIRD blog (wow, that's a new record for me) to tell you the BIG NEWS... (in three parts, ordered chronologically).

1. Random House have decided to release a bindup of the Glenn Maxwell Series (that's where they put two books together - no I'd never heard of it either) due out in November. So if you haven't yet read this exciting series for kids about T20 cricket and featuring the highly talented Maxi himself (or at least a very good fictionalised version of Maxi) then you will get a chance to do so this summer!

2. On December 1st this year, Random House will be relea...

Well, I'm getting there with my writing but my blogging leaves a lot to be desired. I had intended to post monthly. Now it looks like it may have to be tri-monthly. Still, at least I have a few things to actually blog about.

 Firstly, I've finally tasted the sort of the delirious heights of fame which I so richly deserve with an article all about me published in a major (probably) Indian paper. Maxi doesn't even get a mention and it's a tie in to the World Cup!  (Okay, this is slightly old news but still exciting).

But that's not all. I've received not one but two fan letters! The first was actually mailed to me from Edward of Hunters Hill, NSW. I hope you got my reply in the mail Edward. The second was from Tomas and came all the way from London, England, thanks to a letter writing task initiated by the librarian at St James Junior School. I'm glad you enjoyed Lucky Break so much. You can also expect a reply in the mail very soon Tomas (the image opposite may give you a hint)....

Hi and welcome to my maiden blog (meaning first blog, not old-fashioned girly blog!).

So this month Glenn Maxwell 3: State Showdown and 4:World Domination were published becoming my 7th and 8th book for kids about sport.

Amazing huh? Here I am, a lowly English teacher, writing books with champion sports stars Glenn Maxwell and Billy Slater!

But you don't know the half of it because when I was a kid myself I was a total and utter...

                 unco.

Embarrassing but true but that's literally what I was - hopelessly uncoordinated despite all my best efforts.

I did love sport as a kid. I watched footy (I'm a die hard Sea Eagles fan - go Manly!) and I loved the cricket but when it came to actually playing both games - well, it just wasn't pretty. I dropped passes, missed tackles completely, swung pathetically at the ball and got bowled for a duck - and that was just against the kids in my street. 

I do remember winning a few races in Little Athl...