Dim's Write Stuff

To throw the reader immediately into the action is a writing pre-requisite we authors often hear or try to adhere to. Doing so creates an immediacy that snags attention in the snap of just a few lines. Accomplished children’s writer of historical fiction, Pamela Rushby, achieves all this and more in each and every one of her novels. The Mud Puddlers is no exception. Oozing with atmosphere, animated characters and a fascinating glimpse into London’s not so distant history, this middle grade fiction beckons kids to believe in the possibility of time slipping. Twelve-year-old Nina is relegated to spend a year in London while her parents head to Antarctica on a research mission. Although she and Aunt Bee are close, Nina succumbs to a state of insubordinate gloom. Nothing Aunt Bee does or says can shake Nina out of her blue funk resentment at being left behind. Not even the adventure of living on her aunt’s converted barge on the river Thames is enough to enthuse. Nor the fact that her a...

I’m a well-known advocate for the ability of picture books to relay messages of the heart, heavy and often indescribably unbearable ones, like grief. Mizuto and the Wind is such an example, a worthy conduit of emotion that is indescribably, beautiful. Because beneath the mantle of poignant suffering, there is a persistent uplifting whisper of hope. Gifted wordsmith, Kaye Baillie drew inspiration for this stirring story after learning about a real-life Kaze no Denwa – Wind Phone – erected by Itaru Sasaki as a place of respite and recovery. Following the Great East Japan earthquake and subsequent horrific tsunami in 2011, Sasaki made his Wind Phone accessible to anyone who might benefit from visiting. Tragedy often has the most benign and banal beginnings, which describes the morning Mizuto’s father farewelled him, leaving for work, never to return. Following the catastrophic destruction of the seaside township of Otsúchi, Mizuto and his mother are themselves swept up into an ocean...

Family. Always there. Usually supportive. Supremely significant. And, forever changing. A shift in family dynamics may be as inconsequential as a new goldfish or as disturbing as moving house. It might be easily accepted and temporary in nature like a visiting relative or as permanently disruptive as a new addition to the family. Double that turmoil when not one new sibling but two appear and you've got twice the potential for trouble. Imagine the confusion and disorder a young child might feel, how these emotions might galvnize into feelings of displacement, resentment and pure fury when faced with a pair of cute but persistent attention hoggers.  Now pretend you are a young pigeon with the whole world before you, keen to keep on exploring its wonders and your capabilities only to have your dreams curtailed by two very small, very noisy, extremely annoying baby brothers. This is what our favourite feathered friend, Pippa encounters following the arrival of Pepi and Penn, her new...

As the year rolls on, I am once again involved in the hugely gratifying task of presenting specially curated creative and higher thinking workshops to gifted and talented students throughout SE QLD. The programs are facilitated by G.A.T.E WAYS Education who stipulate a new fresh outlook on a plethora of subjects designed to take students deeper and more decisively into the worlds of language, science, maths, technology and more. For presenters, this is an all-consuming challenge but one that helps stimulate the creative verve and expand knowledge borders. And my latest, adventure? Well, it’s exploring the overlapping territories of lurvvve. Love. What it is. How it affects us. Why it’s the essence of art, history, humanity … life . And, its implications for hook-you-in-never-let-you-go storytelling. This week’s (very belated) list of Book Bites therefore naturally revolves around this omnipresent, omnipotent emotion – love. All in the name of ‘research’, you understand. 😊 This Is ...

I'm not super great at make vids. I still can't sing in tune. Colouring in between the lines is the extent of my illustrative prowess but ... I do know a thing or two about pigeons. So when the youngsters at many of the schools I visit wanted to know more too and specifically, know what Pippa's next adventure was, well I had to do something. So ... have I got news for you!  If you have been craving to find out what ever happened to that pertinacious pigeon, Pippa well wonder no more. Pippa is back! and ready to soar to new heights but two little weights keep dragging her down – her troublesome twin brothers! Pippa longs to take off on more adventures but the two new noisy additions to her family continually thwart plans and divert attention. Sound familiar? She loves her brothers, Pepi and Penn but their constant mess and cries for attention are driving her batty! How can she be a good big sister and still have fun? Find out by joining our feisty pigeon on her latest feath...

I’ve recently been examining the notion of friendship; what ignites it, how enduring it is, why it is simultaneously strong yet exquisitely fragile. Friendship cannot exist exclusively but is enriched with kindness and compassion, understanding and infinite patience. Friendship is, I guess, love. And love encompasses the best bits of friendship. This small handful of picture books encapsulates this notion in better ways than I could ever explain. I invite you to get better acquainted … Old Fellow Liz Anelli’s homely and divinely detailed drawings are the perfect accompaniment to Christopher Cheng’s touching tale about two old fellows; an affable elderly man and his furry black dog. They share their days together wondering the suburban streets of their neighbourhood and ambling through the local parks. Life around them is a riot of colour and action. They walk, muse, rest, and remember when they used to play ball and dash after birds. Now is more of a time of simply sitting and smelli...

Stressed Anxious Nervous Drunk Overtired Suffering from Tourette Syndrome? Answer: A Streamer No, not a party streamer, but a video gamer who regularly broadcasts live using the Twitch platform . And while this little black duck may be more inclined to dance around with streamers in her hair rather than pretend to understand the online world of live gamer streaming, she can now claim to have yet another SM platform that she barely comprehends! The good news is, she shares this new found space of interactive entertainment with the clever clogs at Story City and did so in hilarious fashion recently as part of their weekly Adventure Hour eps . Let me explain. Several moon dips and rises ago, I was part of an immersive, interactive storytelling project with Story City. The result was a WA Premier's Book Award shortlisted locative digital narrative cheekily entitled, The Chapel of Unlove . This immersive, choose your own styled, multi ending adventure is a slapstick, riotous romp throug...