the urge to write...

I guess I’ve always known that the urge to tell stories is something we’re born with. The first story I remember writing down was a story I wrote for the writer’s badge when I was a Brownie. No one in my Brownie company had asked to do this badge before and I caused my Brown Owl a headache, hunting down a tester. Anyway, the story was about a girl whose family was transferred to the Outback and she was really upset because she would miss Brownies, but then she learned about the Lone Brownies and all ended well.
Yes, I know, I’m still writing versions of that same story, aren't I?
I’ve heard it said that we all have a core story to tell. I guess this is my core story. And in a way I’m still playing it out in my life – yo-yoing back and forth between the city and the country.
But there is another kind of story I love and that’s fairytales. I’d say Blind Date with the Boss falls into that category. As a teen, I wrote lots of ugly duckling and rags to riches stories. And later, I wrote stories for my four children. This book – A Story About A Princess and Pink is one I wrote for my daughter Victoria and her friends Tanya and Ruth, when they were at kindergarten and used to fight over the pink dress in the dressing up box.
My children helped illustrate the book. I think Vicki was four when she drew this front cover pic. Richard drew the handsome Rainbow Prince at the end and I photocopied the pages at the library and sewed them together on my sewing machine. Never was a book produced with more excitement!