Making the list

It was a heart-stopping moment, reading my name in the Children's Book Council of Australia's list of Notable Books for 2010.

I checked three times and it was still there.  Alongside many new and old writing friends including Michael Gerard Bauer, John Danalis, Gus Gordon, Kate Constable, Sam Bowring and Penny Tangey.

But wonderful books like Belinda Jeffrey's Brown Skin Blue and Kirsty Eagar's Raw Blue were missing.

I'm new to this game.  Dust is the first manuscript I ever wrote, the first...