Hope we are training the next generation of Bruce Willis’s.

They are ridiculously excited over small things and it’s so damn infectious. Certainly makes me feel better.

Finished writing letters to all the submissions for my writing competition. They all did such a magnificent job, and some of the stories were genuinely really good with interesting themes and ideas and twists that I decided to make them all winners. So they all get signed copies of my book.

I went to one school on Wednesday and announced the winners at assembly. Public speaking is not fun, but I think I did ok. But what really got me was as I was sitting and waiting, one of the kids randomly asks for a high five. Which I obliged. And the girl next to him goes ‘Don’t you know who that is? That’s [my name]. The author.’, which is a all sorts of absurd and crazy and awesome and yeah.

Bet if you dump it in front of the Council or EPA CEO’s house something gets done.

That thread on the melbourne sub about the guy who had the mattresses dumped in his yard really makes me mad that the EPA, Council or Police won’t do anything about it. They’re just letting a scummy business owner get away with it.

I need to introduce my little one to Round the Twist

Hitting the SBS cartoon nostalgia hard with Banana Man

My brother and I shared the little bit of everything plate. I wasn’t that hungry. It had brisket, pulled pork, chicken and sausage. Brisket was amazing. Sausage was great as well.

Had a lovely trip to Melbourne. Weather was great. I got to see my brother and neices. We went to dinner at La Bon Ton (which was delicious, but my God can someone get place some proper lighting) then we watched the first quarter of North v Melbourne before going to see Seinfeld perform.

It was my first ever time seeing a comedian live and it was hilarious. I’m gonna have to check out some more.

Even went on a few ‘dates’ from those oh-so-fun dating apps. I get like zero matches back home, but flying into melbourne my phone was pinging and I was basically feeling like that Nic Cage Con-Air meme with his long, luscious hair. They both knew I lived in Tassie so it was really meeting as friends, but it was nice to talk to people again. My conversational skills have definitely improved at least.

Came back home yesterday, definitely caught something. Probably from my neices. Feeling run down and throat has a weird taste. Stuck a swab up my nose but no COVID.

Back to the grind today :(

Had such a weird interaction today. I’ve been trying to buy Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard. Book Grocer had it and have had it for ages, I finally took the plunge because I can pick it up from the warehouse when I’m in Melbourne. I put it in my cart, but before I decided to buy it, I did a quick check on google to see if I could get it cheaper anywhere and saw there was a signed copy on ebay. He’s one of my favourite writers and it’s pretty cheap but coming from the USA and the shipping was more than the book (go figure). I asked the guy if he’d consider shipping with someone else who might be cheaper (instead of ebay global or whatever it’s called) and he replied overnight not having a clue how to do that so I figure it’s not meant to be.

Go to bookgrocer and Road Dogs is gone. Not available. They must have sold it which is so highly coincidental that it gets sold on the day I finally decide to buy it. But you snooze you lose, right?

So I check on facebook marketplace and some guy in Balaclava has it and is selling it. So I message him today asking if it’s available.

He says yes.

I ask how much.

He says $7.

I figure bargain. I asked when is he free, I’ll be in Melbourne over the weekend.

He tells me when he’s free.

Great. I’ll grab the book.

Then he asks where I am coming from.

I tell him Bundoora.

He says it’s a bit far.

I said that’s fine, I’ll have a car.

He says ‘but if you factor in time and petrol, it will cost more than shipping which is $10.90.’

I got a bit annoyed because who cares so I said, don’t worry, I’ll get it elsewhere.

Dude talked himself out of a sale (though I figure he makes a couple of bucks on the shipping so his $7 turns into $10 maybe).

Probably warmer than Tassie.

Why did I book my flight for later this afternoon? I’d be in Melbourne by now if I went the morning flight.

Goosebumps movie. Gees I loved this. So inventive it’s a delight.

Purists complain about that movie not being an adaption of any of the books but I love it. It’s genuinely hilarious. My daughter and I had a blast watching it not too long ago.

haha nice one.

That is a wild difference in price, how did you get it so low?

Primary school age. I don’t have any details on them aside from name (for obvious reasons) but I’d say they’re grade 4 and up.

Well, picking winners was easy for 2 schools. There were going to be three winners from each school. One school submitted 3 stories and one submitted one so they win by default. I’m currently writing each a personal letter congratulating them and some thoughts and writing advice.

The other school submitted 10. I haven’t read them yet but I’m gonna feel bad for the ones who don’t win. I’m almost considering giving them all a copy.

I suddenly want to watch Die Hard 3 now.

Right! I’m hoping they are very creative and it’s not reflective of something going on in their lives.

I ran a short story competition at some schools for the kids to win copies of my books and I’m reading through the entries today and man, kids are morbid. It’s kind of funny how wild their imaginations get.

And one of them had a genuinely sad and depressing ending. It was a story about a girl and her mum and it mentions she doesn’t know where he dad is and how she wishes she had a sister and then bed creatures attack her and kill her mum and she runs away but theres more monsters and she runs back into the house and lays on her bed ending it with ‘why should I save myself. I’ve lost everything I’ve loved.’

I liked The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014), and Lake Mungo (2008) was exceptional, definitely recommend them both.

I have both of them on my list to watch! I’ll move them up the order.