It’s been a busy few days. It began on Friday morning when I sat bolt upright at 3am and realised the year was drawing to a close and my annual carbon footprint was altogether too small.

Happily, this was easily remedied. I rolled out of bed and drove immediately to Perth airport. I flew across the country and all the way up to Brisbane. Then I drove to a hotel, stayed overnight, and at the crack of dawn, flew home to Perth again. And just like that, I was back on track.

While I was in Brisbane, a ridiculous thing happened, and it looked a bit like this:

A Single Stone was announced as the winner of the Griffith University Children’s Book Award at the Queensland Literary Awards!

As well as being absolutely delighted to have won this award, I was so pleased to have the chance to attend the ceremony. The Queensland Literary Awards were kept afloat over the last few years largely through a groundswell of activism and grass-roots support from the literary community. After the 2015 return of an Arts-friendly government, this year’s Awards night was a night of genuine celebration and it was a wonderful event to be part of. I was even more fortunate to be able to share the evening with my editor at Walker Books, Sue Whiting, without whom A Single Stone would be a paler version of itself.

After arriving home on Saturday, it was time to prep for a day of events on Sunday: the landmark birthday of a dearly loved writing friend, a children’s writing workshop at the Fellowship of Australian Writers, and this:

On Sunday morning, Bella and the Wandering House was officially launched at a sold-out event in the Seagull Tent by the AWESOME Arts Festival, with the help of CEO of AWESOME (best job title ever!) Jenny Simpson, and my fabulous colleague and friend, children’s author Cristy Burne. There were party-poppers and merriment; there were wonderful, thoughtful questions from a bunch of bright young things; there were book signings outside under a leafy canopy on a gorgeous Spring day. So many thanks to everyone who came along to celebrate, and to the team at Fremantle Press for helping me turn this little idea into a story with legs.

And now it is time for me to go and sleep for one thousand years. With my carbon footprint sorted, I think that’s probably allowed.

[With thanks to Children’s Books Daily for photograph from the QLA ceremony]