Richard Newsome's Blog

Anniversaries are important.
They are marker points in the timelines of our lives. Moments to celebrate; occasions to reflect.
You can have them for most anything.
Marriages. Births. The last time you actually wrote something on your blog.
What’s that? What’s that last one?
A year since you update a blog and that qualifies for a celebration? What sad state has civilisation reached that the date stamp on some collection of pointless ramblings is reason for a party?
Okay, so the year-long break isn’...

‘So, when are you going to write a real book? You know — for adults.’

How does one respond to such a question?

A knee to the groin? A sharp slap across the cheek? A ninja star to the throat?

No. Of course not. You smile benignly and say, ‘I already write real books. Kids are people too.’

I don’t buy the notion that books for children, particularly those aged nine to twelve — my target readership — are somehow inferior, or don’t meet the standards of a ‘book for adults’. What does that even mean?...

Villainy.

It is such a good word. It could be a village in the south of France, where all the villains go for summer holidays. Can’t you just picture it?

‘Oh, I bumped into the Voldemorts down at the market this morning, dear. I’ve invited them round for drinks and canapés to watch the sunset from the terrace. They asked if they can bring the Blofelds as well. I hope you don’t mind?’

‘Ernst and Muriel? That’ll be marvellous. Haven’t seen them since Ernst threatened New York with nuclear annihila...

The written word carries a lot of power.

For some reason, when humans see something in published form it takes on a gravitas and authority often way out of proportion with the thinking that went behind it. So when you’re writing on a particular subject about which you know nothing, it is very difficult to fake it.

I grew up in sub-tropical Australia. I know next to nothing about snow. So when I wanted to include a snowmobile chase in my latest book, I was at a loss. I certainly couldn’t fake i...

I’ve been very lucky to know some amazing teachers in my time. There were the ones who kicked me through school. And now there’s a whole new generation doing the same to my kids. One of the best is Sandy Davey. Though she’s less of the kicking type, than the fill their heads with wonder and dreams type. The type of teacher who makes learning a compulsion. Who sends the kids home each night brimming with confidence and new-found knowledge.
My daughter was in Mrs Davey’s class back when THE BIL...

I had the pleasure of motoring up the coast to Woombye to spend the day with the terrific kids at the Suncoast Christian College. There were some very enthusiastic readers and more than a few penning their own stories, which is always heartening.

Check here to see what happened.

[image error] It doesn’t matter what era you grow up in, your teenage photos will always be embarrassing. So the best thing to do is to embrace them and be proud of your dorky past.

The good folk at Dear Teen Me kindly invited me to write a letter to my teenage self to pass on some hard-earned wisdom. For better or for worse, here it is...

[image error] Today I had the pleasure of attending the St Ignatius school in Toowong (a leafy suburb of my home town Brisbane) to be part of their quite remarkable literary conference.

I say remarkable, in that it was just like a real world conference with a keynote speaker and breakout sessions, but with all the boring bits taken out.

In one of the breakouts, I ran a workshop where the kids and I challenged ourselves to construct a working story plan in 30 minutes. We did it. And, frankly, I reckon they c...

The best blog in the world is the one you don't have to write yourself.

So, take a quick jaunt to here, and visit the musings of the amazing kids from Mrs Huebner's year 5 class in Sioux Rapids, Iowa. I got to zip into their classroom via Skype on World Read Aloud Day, and gave them a guided tour of sunrise from my front drive.

I know that heading makes no sense at all, but I'm sleep deprived.

This Wednesday is World Read Aloud Day. And for the second year I will be Skyping some middle school classes in the US to read stuff to them. Which is great if you're sitting in a comfy desk at 9am. But 9am in Texas is about 1am the next day for me, parked here in Australia.

So I've got a late night coming up. And for the kids in San Antonio and in Sioux Rapids, it will be the chance to hear possums screeching outside my window...