Dim's Write Stuff

As the flurries of anxieties created by recent NAPLAN testings settle, I am reminded that even the youngest of minds can be beset with worries, which may manifest themselves so firmly within a child’s physchie that they become dangerously debilitating. I’ve seen it in kids around me, in my own nephew and most alarmingly, my own daughter (although not from NAPLAN – she loved that experience). The need to reach out to and persuade young people to fight their worries and to cultivate strong healthy convictions about who they are and what they are capable of spurred the urge to write a book to show them how. This is still a work in progress for me, however, fortunately, for the welfare of children everywhere, Australian author illustrator, Nicky Johnston has already penned a few useful books addressing these exact issues. Her first attempt to battle ‘worry thoughts’ in children appeared in 2008 with her self-illustrated picture book, Go Away MrWorrythoughts . Bayden sho...

Love reaching into a Lucky Dip and plucking out a prize? I do. The mystery of the unknown, the anticipation of the find is too tantalising to pass up. Here's something else you'll find hard to pass up...a new kids' anthology. The Lucky Draw anthology is an exciting collection of stories and poems for children aged between 7 to 12 years, covering 7 different genres told by 33 authors. Over 50 stories to thrill, intrigue, amaze and delight.  Yours truly features in the adventure section, because my life rocks with adventure. Well, okay my imagination gets pretty fired up from time to time, even if I don't leave the house anymore. Check it out for yourselves, here . Available now , if you ask me really nicely, or even just plain old nicely. Prints Charming Books April 2015

Living in a land which boasts as many natural disasters as natural wonders, can result in the worst of times and perversely, the best of times. Ex-resident of Far North Queensland's Cassowary Coast, June Perkins , is no stranger to both phenomena. Cyclones are not uncommon in this neck of the rainforest however how their impact affects the lives and livelihoods of those in their wake varies as violently as their magnitude. In After Yasi - Finding the Smile Within , a deeply absorbing collage of images, anecdotes and post-Yasi survivor profiles, Perkins captures the very essence, the profound spirit of recovery. After Yasi distills the stubborn tenacity and resilience of neighbours and friends, loved ones and indeed the entire community into a stirring visual tribute of them struggling to regain normality after an acutely abnormal interruption to their lives. Instead of being a somber exposition of loss and destruction, After Yasi allows hope to permeate through every pa...

When the gorgeous ladies of Kids Book Review slung 12 curly questions my way recently, like a rapacious puppy, I couldn't help but chase after them, eager to give them a good gnawing over. The experience made me question something else also: the slippery egocentric thrill (most) of us gain from being asked something about ourselves. Given the time to actually think about your response is a blessing some interviewees don't always have, but when you do, I find it an interesting exploration of ones own psyche or concept of it. In other words, being forced to answer to yourself about yourself can be an honest way of hosing back the layers of obscuring detail we tend to let build up over time. Interviews  often evoke a sense of rediscovery and definition. After all, it's almost as fascinating and self satisfying to waffle on about yourself as it is to delve into the inner sanctums of those you are morbidly curious about. But mainly I find author interviews, whether my ow...

Halloween is over. You've washed off the fake blood and gore, packed away your cob webs and scoffed the last of your treats. It was fun frolicking about with your wildest fears, but now you just can't seem to shake that awful feeling that somewhere, somehow a duck is watching you. Is this you? Chances are if you suffer from Anatidaephobia , it is. A Duck is Watching me 'I'm afraid of the dark, 'specially when I'm in a park and there's no one else around. Oh I get the shivers' So says Des'ree. What do you fear? 90s music perhaps? Does the thought of whipping up something for dinner turn your guts to soup? You could have a touch of Mageirocophobia (fear of cooking) Think that dewlling in the desert is the sea change for you? You'll never have to deal with Ombrophobia out there (fear of being rained on) Find your heart racing at the sight of a man's face half obscured by facial hair? Sounds like your Pogonophobia is acting...

Little Witches ~ Angela and sister Nadia Sunde at Snap Magic's Launch Tweenhood is a terrifically testing time. One I remember of intense scrutiny when everything about you; the way you look, the way you dress and the friends you avoid suddenly becomes big deal. You find yourself navigating that mystical ground twixt ‘little kid’ and ‘fully fledged adolescent’, feeling as though your every move is being examined under some humongous magnifying glass for humiliating broadcast. It’s a time to loosen grip on your childhood beliefs while at the same time search for new vessels of magic in which to float your maturing soul. Complicated concepts at any age, but utterly bewildering at age twelve. Yet Lily Padd, star of Angela Sunde’s inaugural Pond Magic , is about to set sail in another tale of pre-puberty angst to prove to us all that tweenhood really is ‘a snap’. Snap Magic snaps, crackles and fizzes from the moment Lily plunges into the girls’ toilets to escape the pa...