This week I’ve had fun talking to a couple more schools, entertaining Ermington Primary School students with stories based on my novels under the title ‘Dragons, Penguins, Magic and Mischief’.  The students were great, so eager to ask and answer questions and showing great imagination and creativity, especially when I produced my bag of magical objects! I’m hoping some great stories will result from my visit! Yesterday I visited Strathfield Girls High to talk about Ghosts – and Ghastly Goings On, again using my novels as a base to talk about researching and writing stories and story structure, and also to challenge the girls to come up with some story ideas based on two objects: the mystery pumpkin and the ancient Celtic pentagram.  At the same time we discussed the possibility of ghosts (and other phenomena) which I write about in Ghost Boy and A Ring Through Time, and the endless potential plot opportunities arising from a ‘what if …?’ question. Again the girls were eager to participate and offer suggestions, and one of them has already contacted me through my website to say I’ve inspired her to read – which is wonderful! My thanks to both schools for inviting me to talk to their students, and for their hospitality.  I’m now looking forward to the History Illuminated festival up at Toronto Library on the north coast on Monday, and the panel on  ‘Facts in Fiction’ which I’ll be sharing with wonderful authors Isolde Martyn, Pamela Freeman and Amanda Hampson, and with crime-writer Jaye Ford in the chair. And of course the Historical Novels Conference is on in Melbourne next weekend, and I’ll be posting on that shortly.  NB If you love reading and/or writing historical fiction, do NOT miss this conference!

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