My very own portrait

My good friend and children's book writer Moya Simons is married to a painter named Jules Sevelson. One day, not long ago, Jules asked me if he could paint my portrait. I'd never had my portrait painted before and I was delighted. He asked me what I liked to do when I wasn't writing and I said that I loved bushwalking, especially in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. I sat for Jules twice while he sketched and painted and here's the result. He said he wants to work on it just a bit longer to get the colours right but I think it's already a fantastic painting---and it looks just like me!

Selby Sprung again

I've just finished writing Selby Sprung, the 16th (and final?) book of the Selby series. I've been over and over the stories and now it's with my publisher, HarperCollins.

They will correct any mistakes and then send it back to me for further editing. Another copy of the manuscript is now with Allan Stomann, the wonderful illustrator of all the Selby books. He's been drawing Selby and his world for twenty-five years. Selby Sprung will be published in August.

Who can tell me what moth this is? It wandered into my house for just long enough for me to take a photo and then it flew away. I did a bit of a search of the internet and found out that there are about 22,000 species of moths in Australia. Of course this one might be a very common one so you might know it's name.

Writing Selby Sprung

I'm getting very close to finishing the sixteenth Selby book, Selby Sprung. And when I'm working hard, my office is as messy as my bedroom was when I was a kid. There are stacks of books and papers all over the floor. Jasper has found a new sleeping place, a file box filled with Selby stories. The papers in front of him are the drafts of the stories in the Selby book. I wonder if he reads them when I'm not watching.