Busy boy

April 22nd was my last post, and not the trumpet thing, but the last time I wrote anything on here. Speaking of the last post on the trumpet, that really is one of my favourite bits of Anzac Day, when they play that.

So what have I been up to this last few weeks? Well you may ask, as I have been mightily busy. I have visited Williamstown North Primary (awesome, awesome day), Bacchus Marsh Grammar (great day, drove past a lot of apple shops), and Kew Primary (was out for one day of writing, and am back for drawing next week, and can't wait!).

I have also spoken at the State Library, been the feature poet at O'Sullivan's poetry night (and I even sang an original song! Yes I did!), shown a couple of groovy Americans around town (including some real live in the wild kangaroos, which was very exciting), and went up to Clunes (which is just out of ballarat and turns into a book town once a year. Good fun. A lot of books. Smelt a little musty).

So that is that. Today is a day off, and it all starts again tomorrow, but that is another story for another time. For now, I believe I shall either go and enjoy some sunshine, or go and have a nap, or both!

Have a great week, and keep living the dream.

Stay gold.

Wally

Writer's Relief and a great Share-a-not story

Well helllloooooooooooo! How's it going everybody? We here in melbourne are enjoying some of the most awesome days weather-wise you could imagine. I looove Autumn. Maybe it's because I am a golfer that Autumn is just the best weather. Not too hot, still, blue skies, birds chirping, birdies being scored, it just doesn't get much better ... now I just have to actually get out there and play some golf!

To other news. Writer's relief is a website bloggy thing I follow, and highly recommend to other writers. It has great tips, advice, websites to look at, just all very useful really, and covers all genres. They just put up these cool buttons which I can use, to advertise them and I also think it applies to all us writers ...

To another story, and this was just so cool, like a perfect crisp Autumn morning. I was out at Mak's school yesterday, and was doing some reading with the kids in there. That was great enough, but while I was in with one of the kids, I could hear the teacher in another class about to read a story. "That's right kids," she said, "It's called the Share-a-not." Well my ears pricked up, and it turned out one of the kids had brought it in to show everyone and they were reading it! How cool is that? Very I believe. When they found out I was there I got to go in and say hi and answer a couple of questions as well, although a couple were disappointed as I didn't have time to answer their questions. I will have to go in again and answer those another time.

So anyway, that was just the best thing to happen. A great day.

Have a great week everyone, and keep living the dream.

Stay gold.

Wally

What's been going on?

Wow, well it has been almost a month since I last posted anything on here. I have an excuse though. I was grounded. I mean, I was out of town. I mean, I had to visit a sick relative. My dog ate my homework? Okay. Fine. I have been slack. Busy, but slack, if that makes any sense. I have been doing lots of stuff, but there was still time for me to get on here and write something, surely. So I will give you a quick rundown right now on what has been happening in the last almost month since I last wrote.

I visited Warragul Primary School, with a loverly drive down the freeway to get there. I had an awesome day, and even showed the kids my new shark picture, which only one other school had seen before.

I went to a friend's wedding, which was awesome. It was a guy I had been to uni with, and it was a really nice day. Perfect weather too, and I ended up rolling around playing in the grass in my suit with one of the kids who was there. We were doing crazy falling downs. It was crazy, all the craziness.

I worked at the Arty Farty Fest. A fun day, but really I just wanted to say arty farty.

The Share-a-not missed out on being on the short list for book of the year, so that was a bit of a kick in the pants for me. I was down for a little bit, but moved on fairly quickly as I hear so many nice stories on how kids are liking the book. That is why I write, although I would love kids to like the book and win awards too! That would be extra cool.

I got told I say the word cool a lot when I speak. It's true. I have no argument.

I've been to Red Hill, Bendigo and the Botanic gardens for markets and festivals, all great fun.

And finally, last night, I went and saw STOMP. i tell you, if you ever get a chance to see them, do not miss out. It is one of the greatest shows I have ever seen (I have seen them three times now!). They are absolutely amazing.

So that is it for me.

Have a great week, and keep living the dream.

Stay Gold.

Wally

A whole month has gone by!

A whole month? Oh my GOD! I just realised that is how long it has been since I last wrote anything on here. A month. Anything. One. So here I am, and so much has happened in the time since I last wrote on here.

Okay, here goes. Well, I went out to Boronia Primary School for a day, and had a super sensational time out there. We spent the day drawing and signing and laughing and playing and when I went to collect my orders, there was this amazing display of all the kids' work at the office. It looked so awesome I almost fell over. I was rapt. They had drawn some killer pictures. So that was great.

I also went out to Wandin North Primary School, to visit the kids there. No. Not Wandin Valley. It wasn't the school on A Country Practice for all those people as old as me. It was Wandin North, and it was a very cool little school. Only 140 kids, and the Grade 6ers weren't there, so it was even smaller. But we had an awesomely fun day ... I even thought I was Adam Sandler there for a little bit, which was extra fun. Disco Disco. But another fun day, and it was great to see the kids and all their monkey-like swinging tricks when I went back out a few days later. Only one slight injury too, so that was good.

What else? Ummmm, okay, well I watched Iron Man ... Good movie that! One of the better superhero films.

A portrait was painted of me by the artist, Katsuya. I was looking very regal and super. St James the Greater was who I was modelling, and I think I certainly was pretty great! I even grew a beard for the modelling! A goatee, which has now morphed, mwaawwhahahahaha, into a full beard. I almost look like an adult ... now I just have to think about starting to act like one ... maybe.

Well, I think that is enough for today. Footy starts this week ... WOO! Bring that on.

Have a great week everyone, and keep living the dream.

Stay gold.

Wally.

Bushfire spirit

It's awful sometimes, how there has to be a tragedy for people to show their best side. It's also awful how the tragedy is usually caused by someone showing their worst side. This has been the case in Victoria, my home state, over the last couple of weeks. Saturday the 7th of February saw the worst bushfires this state has experienced. Over 200 people died, hundreds of homes were lost, and terror gripped the state as people wondered if their loved ones were safe or not. The fires got within 100 or so metres of my Mum's house, so we spent plenty of time on the phone trying to see whether she should run or stay. With roads being closed it made things even trickier. She was one of the lucky ones, with the wind change saving her house.

This horror was deliberately started by one of our fellow human beings.

The aftermath showed the generosity and spirit of humans, the good side. Millions and millions of dollars were raised, a figure even more amazing considering the financial crisis that is going around. But it wasn't only money. People offered their time and services as well, as towns began the long, slow process of first cleaning up and then rebuilding. Thousands of people have offered to volunteer, meaning that the wait is long for some people who still want to help. It's a fantastic side effect of something terrible.

With bad fire weather forecast again this weekend, let's all hope that the idiots around can restrain their idiocy and not light any more fires. It's more horror that we just don't need.

Bowling 'em over

Yep. I went ten pin bowling today. I looooove ten pin bowling. Some people, I won't mention names, try and tell me it isn't a sport. There's a ball involved, you knock stuff over, you have a run up, you can have a style with the flicky your foot out thing ... IT'S A SPORT!!!!!

I played pretty average today, just scraping over the hundred mark, but it was so much fun trying to remember how I usually aim and everything. I sort of got the hang of it again towards the end. One of my goals is to break 200 in a game of ten pin bowling. I have been close a few times. once I only need 6 off my last bowl. I hate the word, but i did choke, only getting 2 pins. Tragic it was. I was crushed like a bit of biscuit that has fallen on the floor then been stepped on by someone wearing workboots. Crushed. But I will get there again. I will make it happen.

So now, before I play my next game, I have work to do. No no no no no, not practicing bowling, I need to work on a celebration dance for when i get a strike. It has to be something that says, "I got a strike and I am going off, but it happens pretty often so i am being pretty cool about it as well." So I have work to do with that one.

In the meantime, I am waiting for my next book, Mac O'Beasty, to head off to the printer. There are a few final issues to sort out and then we will be good to go. Go Mac, GO!

Have a great week everyone, and keep living the dream.

Stay gold.

Seeya

Wally

Kelly Clarkson

Hi everyone. As you can see from the title of this blog, Kelly Clarkson, this blog is about, well, Kelly Clarkson. Actually, it's about more than that, although I could quite easily fill this post talking about how much she ROCKS and how I saw her live and she was sensational and I love her songs and her new song is cool and Since You've Been Gone is one of my all-time favourite songs and how ... well, you get the picture. But as I said, this post is about more than that.
Kelly has just released her new song, My Life Would Suck Without You. It is a cool song, no doubt about that. There is more to it than that though. I read a review saying this song was the sound of a rock star with her tail between her legs. When Kelly released her last album - which I actually thought had some good songs, although it wasn't as consistent as I know she can be - she went out on her own. A lot of people thought this was a bad idea, that she should stick with the winning team, etc etc, blah blah blah. The album didn't do quite as well and now she is back working with known success writers. I hope I have that all correct, I am pretty surte i do, but that isn't the point anyway. The point is, we should never bag someone taking a risk. She was at the top of her game, she was killing it, and she said now I am going to try and do something that isn't sure-fire, but i will have responsibility and I will be the one out there to take the praise or criticism. It actually reminds me very much of when Michael Jordan stopped basketball and started playing baseball, because he wanted to try something he loved doing and he wanted the challenge. When he wasn't a "success", he copped a bagging. But that isn't the point! People stay stagnant. People go along, especially if they are good at something, and they do it day in day out and then it doesn't become a challenge anymore. The thrill goes. we have to look for thrills. We have to put our aasses on the line, and I don't mean donkeys, and we have to take the chance that we will fail. Because that is when we get to experience everything the world has to offer. We don't plod. We risk falling to have the chance to soar. if it happens that things aren't a massive success, we can go back and start over again at what we know. That is not crawling back with our tail between our legs. It is stabilising before we go off again to try something else new.
That was the longest paragraph I have ever written.
And that close to the shortest.
My point is, do not stay at what you know and are good at just because of that. It isn't wrong to try something when people question it, saying things like, "But you are doing so well at ..." or "But that isn't as secure as ..."
Take a risk. Learn to fall. learn to fly.
Go Kelly. You rock.

Have a great week everyone, and keep living the dream.

Seeya

Wally