I never realised how second nature texting was for young people until my daughter, who sometimes sleepwalks, sent me a text msg completely written in her sleep on Christmas Eve at 2.15am.

This is what it said: Merry Christmas! Im out right now. i have the dog i will bring her home. X

It sounds like a ransom note it’s so formal! Normally she would have said: Hey Ma taken Saff 4 walk back soon xo

When i asked her about it the next day she had no recollection sending it.

As an ambassador for the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge, it was great to meet with the winning schools last Friday in the National Gallery’s Great Hall. So many enthusiastic readers!

Make sure you meet the challenge in your state next year. Good luck!

A book’s title is very important so I always take great care with my own novels. It’s one of the big decisions I have to make when writing. The ‘working title’ is the title you use when you’re not completely sure what you are going to call your book and you are still working on it. Sometimes a title is obvious like The Garden of Empress Cassia. I felt that that book could not have had any other name. I am in the process of writing a young adult novel. My protagonist’s name is Mirabel so that is what the novel’s ‘working title’ is at the moment. I’ve been thinking the title could be Mirabel and the Night Star, Little Paradise or The Scent of Butterflies but I’m still searching for other possibilities and will do say until I’m finished. I’m leaning towards Mirabel and the Night Star for now but only time will tell which title the novel will end up with. It can be very frustrating at times.

I have just received first pages for my new Aussie Bite, The Lion Drummer. It’s always exciting getting these from the publisher because for the first time you see your manuscript looking like the real thing. Before a book is published there are three sets of pages – first pages, second pages and third pages. This is the time the author and the editors check for last minute corrections. Most of the corrections should appear on first pages so that by third pages it should be completely clear of red pen marks. Then it’s off to the typesetters for the last time and ready for that miraculous transformation into a living book.

The Lion Drummer is illustrated by Andrew Mclean, an illustrator I really admire.