From little things, big things grow

The last few weeks have been busy with school visits, editing bits and family events. There's been little time for generating new ideas. This is always a scary thing, because trapped almost-ideas become like bees buzzing inside my head. I don't want to forget that wonderful thought I had, so I repeat it over and over in my head, against a time I can write it down and test it. Add a few more thoughts and the humming becomes almost audible.

Last week, I travelled to the country to visit some young students. I was on the road before sunrise, driving through the waking city and beyond. The trip up was consumed with ordering my thoughts for presentations and doing vocal warmups. A child in a session asked if I'd considered a sequel to one of my picture books. No, I said. I hadn't. But I will now. Then it was morning recess and a conversation over a cup of tea with one of the teachers set the bees a-buzzing. The sessions all went well (Thanks Preps for your wonderful letters) and the 2 hour journey home gave me thinking time. I stopped at a cafe for lunch and wrote down the bones. By the time I reached home, I'd loosely plotted two new stories.

Time will tell if the stories will work. But it was just magic letting the stories out.