White Crane

I looked at the date on my last blog post and its a very significant one – a week before my total thyroidectomy operation. I had an excellent surgeon but unfortunately there were complications and I hemorrhaged so had to have a second turn in theatre. Recovery took longer than I expected and it wasn’t…

The best thing about writing for kids is feedback from young readers. Kids know how to make an author feel like they have written the most wonderful book in the world. I love to hear that kids are enjoying my books so I am particulary thrilled to learn Samurai Kids: White Crane has been shortlisted for…

Year 8i (code name Iquanids), an all boys English class at Keira High School, is reading Samuari Kids: White Crane with their teacher. Yesterday I was lucky enough to spend an hour with the boys talking about being an author, the Samurai kids series and books in general. There were lots of insightful questions, Look at the beautiful…

The wonderful feedback I get for the Samurai Kids series never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes it even makes me cry. I am a big sook from way back. I cry in my own books. “You are so lame, Mum,” my kids say. I couldn’t help but tear up when I read this Facebook post:…

It’s taken me a year and a half to work it out – but then I am a slow learner – finally I have realised what I should be blogging about. It was right under my nose all the time. ‘This blog is about my personal experience in the (stories are) light’ my blog header…

“What if you had to write another Samurai Kids book and you couldn’t think of anything?” a Year 6 boy asked. “Oh that could never happen,” I said. Or could it? I’ve always had a safety net to protect me from worrying about this. Samurai Kids White Crane began with just one sentence: “My name…