Creativity journal #29
School visits and events and goodies!
Monday
Day off because it’s a public holiday – went shopping and bought clothing for the kids because it has been COLD and they’re in need of some more warm clothes.
Still processing and resting from our QLD trip. I think it’ll take me the whole week to catch up.
Tuesday
Tidied up interview with Cassy Polimeni ready to go out tomorrow … Check it out via the link below:
Shadow Judging at my daughter’s school. We’ve now read all the books in the picture book category, and while I love each and every one, the students are very much loving two books in particular, so it’ll be interesting to see which ends up with the most votes.
Can you guess which two the kids are loving? Or do you have a favourite?
We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold
A Leaf Called Greaf by Kelly Canby
Afloat written by Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Freya Blackwood
The Garden of Broken Things by Freya Blackwood
These Long-Loved Things written by Josh Pyke and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh
The Truck Cat written by Deborah Frenkel and illustrated by Danny Snell
Prepping for hospital school visit tomorrow. What I’m learning is that it’s good to be prepared with options for a few different activities and discussion points. While the events I do all have an outline and are tweaked for each event, I’m also realising that I need to be able to tweak and adapt on the spot depending on who ends up at the event and the age ranges as it’s not always possible to know specifics ahead of time.
Booked in first school visit for August during book week celebrations! I signed on with a speaker’s agency recently and this is my first booking with them, which is very exciting! Events and talks for many authors and illustrators within Australia is an important income stream since most of us can’t live solely on our books, so it’s great to have an agency to help get word out about the talks and presentations I offer.
Wednesday
Daughter’s athletics carnival – I was able to attend the first couple of hours in the day but as I had a school visit on just after lunchtime I couldn’t stay to watch Miss 8 for the whole day. This is the first time I’ll be missing a school thing like this. Cue mum GUILT. I recognise that my kids and I have been incredibly lucky in that my line of work has allowed me to be flexible and available for most school things – not the case for many parents – but there’s still a little pinch in my chest at not being able to be there for the whole day.
However, the John Hunter Hospital School event was such an enjoyable and lovely one to attend! The school is fabulous, the staff are all incredible, the students I met are amazing, and I think the teachers are doing a great job at incorporating First Nations culture and knowledge into their everyday learning – it was really great to see.
And the staff even gave me a bag of goodies with products made from their own beehive – I was so spoilt! 🥰 See pics below.
Wrap up
The week has gone by fast and I’ve had to jump back into work and events when I feel like I need a holiday after our holiday, but I’ve been doing what I can to slow down.
Instead of pushing through and working at night, I’ve been prioritising winding down, reading and sleeping. I did an extra Pilates class. I spent one evening cooking something new with the kids. And instead of prepping this newsletter on a Friday or Saturday night, I decided to finish it off a little later than usual, I even went for a walk today instead of finishing this off! (See pics below from my lovely walk!) So it’s heading into your inbox on Sunday night instead of first thing in the morning, and it feels good to sway a bit from my usual routine so I could fit in more restful and nourishing things when I needed to.
I could do with more of that in the weeks ahead too … stay tuned to see if I can keep prioritising rest and recuperation 😅
Your turn
How’s YOUR week been?
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I acknowledge the Darkinjung people as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I am writing from today. I walk, talk, write, and create with respect on this land, and I acknowledge the enduring connection the Darkinjung people have with this Country; I thank them for their care of this Country, and I pay respects to the Elders past and present, and extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here reading or listening.