a dent in my reading stash

Hello!

I've had a truly lovely school holiday break. I had every intention of consistently pausing, reclining somewhere soft, and reading until my eyes crossed ... and I'm pleased to report this actually happened! I know! Of course, reading never happens as much I'd like--but then, is it ever possible to read as much as we'd like? The answer to that question is [Pokemon] No.

I even let the house go (so, today--a massive cleaning spree; even the windows) and just did things that made me smile. I went to galleries and sipped great coffee with my husband, shopped with my girl, cooked and pottered with my boy, caught up with friends, walked in nature, watched period drama and Disney movies, caught up on documentaries and some comedy, and clocked up three or four certificates on Lynda.com (currently studying graphic design and upping my Adobe Illustrator skills).

However. As is always the way, 'work' crept in (even as I dashed and skipped and curled under a blanket to avoid it), so I also worked with my publisher and graphic designer to send Australia Illustrated to print (another sneak peek image at the bottom of this post), signed my very first illustration contract for an exciting National Library book (will reveal more eventually, but all hush hush for now), heard exciting news about some of my books, including an overseas translation for Smile Cry!) and worked on some internal images for one of my junior fiction WIPs.

Of course, none of these things proved at all pesky! But they did get in the way of my reading marathon. Ahem. Nevertheless, here is what I managed to pass my eyes over these past three weeks. I got through a hefty chunk of these two--amazing to the power of a billion times 40!

I also got some old and new classic works though my eyeballs and into my heart:

I also made a larger dent in these (have been struggling a little with both for some time--not sure why, just am; these things happen sometimes ... but they're both worth persisting with):

And I also managed (it's really not a stretch, trust me) to devour some sensational children's books--about three times this amount, in truth, but these are my faves:

I hope you and the kids had a sunshiny, book-ridden winter holiday period and have a productive and fulfilling catch-up time ahead. To set myself firmly back in work mode, here is another illustration peek at Australia Illustrated (out November). Have a fabulous week!

Tx