Dim's Write Stuff

In a wild fit of self-indulgent promotional puffiness, I'm sharing this recent 'Meet The Author' feature courtesy of Jackie Hosking, founder of the ace Kids' Lit e-zine, PIO . If you don't already subscribe to this online publication, consider it. It's a regular veritable smorgasbord of publishing insights and opps, competitions and conferences, industry event notification and workshops and courses info to keep you on the right career trajectory. Not to mention opportunities to meet fellow creatives, like ME! So what are you waiting for. Grab a cuppa and have a chat with me ... and Pippa, of course! Hi Dimity! Thanks for sharing your creative journey with us today. Are you an author, an illustrator or both? Both - I wish! As an author, I only paint with words but I adore the alchemy of combining words with pictures. Please tell us about the book that you would like to talk about today? Pippa and the Troublesome Twins is the next thrilling episode in young Pi...

It’s been a funny old year – understatement of the century – for creators notwithstanding. Many authors and illustrators have had to learn to adapt, to tuck and roll with the constricting challenges presented by a world in lockdown. Online presentations and virtual connections are the new axioms which have sustained many of us, me included, however they are not for everyone. And with Book Week just around the corner and a relaxing of Covid restrictions (for some states of Australia), the traditional school visit is something to look forward to…or is it? For many, especially those at the beginning of their careers, a school presentation can be a thing of infinite stress and anxiety. You want to connect with your audience; it’s why you’re writing kids’ books after all, I hope! But you’ve never left your secluded writerly tower let alone stood in front of a hall of wriggly six year-olds and delivered a rock star quality, life-altering presentation to them. How the heck do you do it?? Gr...

Stories are for listening to, right? So if watching an animated story time session is not your thing, why not settle back and LISTEN to it instead? If you've got kids in the car or need an audible distraction for your little ones, tune into Little Rockers Radio  every morning (11.00 am) and afternoon (5.00 pm) this week for some online Pippa pitch perfect fun. Little Rockers Radio is a  live streaming program  24/7 online radio station specifically tailored to entertain and enlighten children from birth to six years of age and their parents! Apart from story time there are sessions devoted to songs, nursery rhymes, yoga, mediation and much more.  Pippa's story time sessions are delivered by the uber animated, entertaining duo, Anthony and Lauren behind Story Surprise. In fact you can tune into their Little Rockers Radio podcasts for dozens of other fun story time adventures. 

They've been around for a while, jigsaw puzzles that is, since the 17th Century in fact. I reckon there is nothing more frustrating and fun, challenging and rewarding nor consuming and relaxing as completing a humble puzzle. It's oddly addictive; you can't just fit one piece and walk away to feed the cat. I don't have a cat but if I did, it would be starving by now because like thousands of others around the world at the moment, we are 'puzzle people'. There's something intensely therapeutic about persisting with such a simple yet complex situation. It's an outcome we should be able to control (unless your cat eats a piece) and that gives one a sense of tenacious purpose; to finish it, for me at least. For others it might be the absolute joy of recreating something so utterly pretty and spectacular. Perhaps that's why so many confined to their homes right now are dragging out old favourites and spending more money than they would on an oversea...