Goodbye 2022

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Books published in 2022.Despite the constant threat of Covid, 2022 saw everything opening up and a return to face-to-face festivals and school visits. It was good to be back!

On the publishing front, I had one novel, four school readers and a number of short stories come out. A very satisfying year!

The Mystery of Lucy Wilson: Memories of the Future was published in November by Candy Jar Books in the UK. This novel was my latest entry into the Lethbridge-Stewart/UNIT/Lucy Wilson series of Doctor Who spinoffs, in which the Brigadier’s granddaughter time travels to Melbourne in 1985. I also had a short story, “The Lady Jessica Affair”, published in UNIT: The Benton Files 2.

I had four school readers in the Snappy Sounds series. These were written for Macmillan Education prior to them pulling out of Australia. They were published in the UK and then distributed in Australian by Lioncrest Education.

I had two short stories in anthologies from Clan Destine Press, that I am very proud of — “The Heart of Gervascio” in Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging, Volume Silver (under the Improbable Press imprint) and “Murder of Crows” in Clamour and Mischief.

And I also contributed a couple of snippets to INSIDE STORY: the wonderful world of writing, illustrating and publishing children’s books. This wonderful guide to the Aussie kids’ book industry was published in April 2022 by United Publishers of Armidale.

Speaking gigs were up, with the vast majority back to in-person.

  • Schools: 31 (3 virtual)
  • Libraries: 7
  • Festival/Conferences: 3
  • Bookshop events: 1
  • Other events: 1 virtual

In terms of individual sessions: 121 (including 5 virtual sessions)

A definite improvement on the 70 mostly virtual sessions I had in 2021, but still a little short of the pre-pandemic numbers. With bookings for 2023 already rolling in, I’m looking forward to even more speaking. (It’s hard to shut me up once I get going.)

In June I had a film crew in our house. Why? I had the great privilege of being shot for the Story Box Library’s STORY TOOLS Series 1. Launching early 2023, STORY TOOLS will be empowering children to confidently create stories by mastering the mechanics of storytelling! More info here!

It was a really good writing year. I’ve almost finished Monster Island, my new middle grade novel due out from Puffin in June 2023, with just one final round of edits to work through in January. I’ve also written six school readers, which will be published some time over 2023/4, with the possibility of more on the horizon. There are a couple of other things as well, which may or may not go anywhere… but… we’ll see.

Of course, I can’t do one of these looking back posts without mentioning Doctor Who. I ADORED Jodie Whittaker’s final ep, “The Power of the Doctor”. I am now very much looking forward to David Tenant’s return, prior to Ncuti Gatwa taking over the role.

And that’s about it. So…

Goodbye 2022!

Hello 2023!