Myself and the family will be back on the golden shores of Oz July 26 – August 14.

Amidst the catching up with relatives, friends, acquaintances and other associated revellers, there will be a whirlwind of Kindling happenings, taking in Sydney, Melbourne (to be confirmed), Brisbane and, of course, the Byron Bay Writers Festival (Aug 6-8).

Keep an eye out for specific dates and events to come…

Towards the end of 09, I was interviewed by talented Queensland poet, Zenobia Frost, for a ‘publishing journey’ piece she was doing for the Queensland Writers Centre mag, WQ.

After a game of email tag, the result – an excellent article entitled ‘Strange Luck and Stepping Stones’ – is available for all to read.  The story also includes pearls of wisdom from noted local scribblers, Ben Law and Alasdair Duncan.

PS Page 6 of the PDF download is where it’s at…

Kindling is inching its way into the spotlight courtesy of Hachette’s pre-publication mailout of the work.  

Fifty proofs are headed out to mags including Australian Women’s Weekly, Men’s Health, Reader’s Digest, New Idea and Who Weekly; and supplements for newspapers such as the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, and The Courier-Mail.  Kindling will also end up in the hands of key freelance reviewers and interviewers who specialise in Australian fiction.

Finished copies will go out to a much wider pool of between 100-150 journalists and producers on newspapers, radio, television and online, around six weeks before publication.

How will it be received?  Hopefully, as well as the accompanying brown paper bags… 😉