Friday morning I did an AM interview on FM Lion 96 on “My Life as a Writer” which can be heard next Sunday @ 4.00 PM. Both Nita, the charming presenter, and I forgot to bring any music so we decided to use the 3 B’s (Bach, Beethoven and Brahms) to fill in the spaces. I’m not sure if we had time for Brahms, but it proved to me yet again how important marketing is for us writers, whether it be in radio, in print, cyberspace, and for those lucky few TV. I suppose I go back to my old mantra ‘If no one knows you sell fish, they won’t buy yours.” So if books are my metaphorical ‘fish’, take this as said.

However marketing an author can happen in odd ways. Last year a photograph of yours truly holding a laptop appeared in the Sunday Age. It was intended to show how even Oldies like me use Facebook to promote their work. At that time my latest books was “Hedgeburners: An A~Z PI Mystery”. However when Fairfax asked if I wanted to buy the photo, and then named their price, I said ‘No, thanks.’

Two months ago I walked into my local library to see a large poster of that same photo under the heading www.VictoriaLaw.com. This voluntary organisation has bought the photo without anyone checking who the person in it was. 5000 posters had been sent out to all Victorian community centres and libraries. So I’m ‘out there’ in a big way, but not named as an author… more’s the pity. Only a mention on their website.

Friday pm I went to Readings in Carlton to attend the launch of a very special picture book. ‘Song of the Dove’ was written by Errol Broome launched by Wendy Orr and illustrated by Sonia Kretschmar.
Readings always do a splendid job and it was a lovely evening. This book is a delight, as it relates the story of the composer Bellini and his lost love.

This weekend has been spent proof reading ‘SpaceFooty and Other Stories’ Which will come out next June. This will be my third collection of stories for older children, and all 10 stories are about a 12YO boy making it the companion to ‘My Horrible Cousins and Other Stories’ were every story is about a 12 YO girl.

I also have the cover of ‘The Youngest Cameleer’ but right now it’s is too big to put up. Guess I need to become more technically adept.