I ♥ my job

For the next nine days don't expect too much from me.

I'll be feeding my kids Weet Bix for dinner, letting the unopened mail topple from my desk, pushing all other deadlines back as far they'll go (and praying they don't snap back in my face).

I'll be busy, on the couch, on the bus, at the airport, reading books. Lots and lots and lots of books.

All part of the fun of being a Queensland Clayton's Judge for the CBCA Book Awards this year. Ninety-five books have been entered in the Older Readers Category and I have to choose just six by March 11….

It's a bit like lining up 95 fabulous people that you like and/or love for different and complex reasons, then taking the hands of just six and pulling them forward for special acknowledgement. With so many fabulous books to choose from, I think I'll just have to post my own Claytons Notables List as well the Shortlist…

The REAL CBCA Shortlist and Notable Books for 2011 will be announced nation-wide at noon on April 12.

I'm planning to put my fingers in my ears, squeeze my eyes shut, and avoid facebook, so that I can stand up in all innocence and ignorance at CBCA's Qld Shortlist function that night and wax lyrical about the six books published last year that I loved best.

They'll be the books that I clasped to my chest, then pressed onto friends and family. The books that made me laugh, made me cry, made me think, and made me happy to be a reader and proud to be a writer in a country that produces books and writers like these.

So if you need me in the next nine days, you know where to find me.