A pinch of success … USA conference & awards

There are moments when you have to pinch yourself as a writer. Often, I’m pinching myself to stay awake as I re-edit my next book for the seventeenth time. Bleary-eyed, I’m mumbling about why I put myself through this pain!

But then there are other times, when it’s a good pinch.

A pinch of success, even.

A ‘can you believe that I’m here’ type of pinch.

Like, being flown to the USA earlier this month and speaking to 2000 young book fans at Tome book conference in Georgia. Yeah, that was a really good pinch.

Oh, and I won a book award too.

Tome Conference was a blast from start to finish, with students travelling from hundreds of schools to attend the event – every one of them, super enthusiastic about books, reading and authors.

In fact, the queue to get signed copies of The Deep Enders ran the length of the room and into the hallway.

And when these patient teenagers got to the front of the queue, I noticed that many of the books I was signing were already dog-eared and scuffed.

“Oh, you’ve read my book already?” I asked one young man.

“Yes, I loved it. Banjo is my favorite,” he responded. “I read it twice.”

“Oh, you’ve read my book?” I’d asked the next person.

“Four times!” the young woman says with a big smile. “I loved it.”

Meeting and having a quick chat with these young readers was such a joy. It was definitely a pinch myself moment.

Writing is usually such a solitary exercise 99% of the time. I’ll sit in a quiet cafe (or darkened home office at night) and tap away on the keyboard, bringing the adventures of Micki, Banjo and Murph to life. Then, eventually, the manuscript is sent off to the my publisher in Miami and, after that, it bounces back and forth between continents for months on end.

In July, The Deep Enders: Deadline will finally launch. On that day, I’ll sit at my computer again, curious to see if anyone notices a little blip on their screen that accompanies the launch. Who knows, maybe we’ll hire a cafe here in Melbourne and celebrate with friends. Whatever happens, we’re going to celebrate little victories as much as the big ones.

Thanks to Jennifer, Caroline, Becky and Jessica from Tome Society. TomeCon was fantastic.