"I have my dream job. I am a kids' author, something I've wanted to be since I was seven, but as many of you will know, royalties are often not grand, so one way authors can earn a living is by speaking in schools and festivals. I love talking to kids about books, even the reluctant readers, because story has the power to make us laugh, cry, and offer refuge when times are tough.
As 2020 began, I stood on the edge of a very exciting year. I was invited to speak in South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, and in schools all across Australia, from Darwin, to Perth and Melbourne.
It was while I was in South Korea in February of 2020, that the virus became very real. The school I was teaching in introduced strict hygiene rules, the streets filled with people wearing masks and sightseeing tours were cancelled. When we left South Korea, the planes were eerily sparsely occupied.
Australia at the time was largely unaffected, but within weeks that changed. A series of rolling lockdowns began. All my events were cancelled, most of my income wiped out, publishers became nervous about signing new projects. Some books slated for release were postponed, others canned.
We were only allowed to leave our homes for exercise and essential work or care. I clearly remember cycling through the empty streets of Sydney and thinking it felt like an abandoned film set.
I was suddenly at home. A lot. I spent time cancelling flights and hotels, talking with my agent about rescheduling talks and creating a studio in my attic to deliver some of those talks online. We hoped the pandemic might be over in a month or two. We had no idea how wrong we'd be.
Time seemed to warp. No sooner was it morning, than it was time for bed. Some days I'd be at my computer all day but wonder what I'd done. I drew up a list of what I needed to achieve each day and a calendar to track what I'd done. Exercise, writing, online school talks, learning French.
From my desk, the view of the world didn't change, but what had been so normal - food shopping, seeing friends, leaving for work - was suddenly impossible.
It was confusing enough for adults but I often worried about how this felt for kids who couldn't see their friends or go to school. I thought about how, for so many, stories and books were a haven. A place to escape.
I started writing about an orphan boy called Arlo, who lives with his uncle in a bookshop. He finds the world outside frightening and confusing. One day, he meets a girl who needs his help and gives him a book called a grimoire. Popular in 18th century France, grimoires were said to have special properties. In this grimoire is a story written by Arlo's mum that will change his life. It's called The Book of Wondrous Possibilities and is my unapologetic tribute to books and how they can save us when times are hard.
Many of my writer friends found it hard to create, but I felt the opposite. It was only when I lost myself in writing that the uncertainty and fear created by the pandemic went away. I'm not a doomscroller and don't like the vortex nature of social media, so I happily avoided the news and kept writing. I created a pitch for a new junior fiction series, about a young Australian Maltese girl, called Mirabel Bloom and two other series.
But as the lockdowns continued, my creativity waned. I realised ideas happen best when I have the stimulation of the outside world. When we're travelling or watching theatre or seeing an exhibition or being with friends on a hike or at a party. I called writers I respect and like and we formed an online critique group. We've been meeting every month since July 2020. It has improved my writing but also helped my sanity.
I am lucky. I have a beautiful partner and we have a lovely home, so being locked down wasn't all bad, but we missed our life, our friends and our family. We missed the world. Now that Australia has passed a 90% vaccination rate, it feels as if we may get some of that life back.
We're only now opening up to international travel after almost two years, but when we can, one of the very first places we will return to is Malta. To see our dear friends, who we miss so much, and to sit in the beautiful Maltese sunshine, sipping a local wine, eating pastizzi and possibly nibbling on one of Malta's famous cannoli. I can almost taste it now."