I'm Getting a Teacher for Christmas!

One of my favourite bookshops is Asia Bookroom in Canberra. It's a store I could browse all day in.

This year Asia Bookroom is celebrating Christmas in a unique and wonderful way. They are collecting donations so that the Nepalese children in the remote region of Bakhapalam can employ another teacher to enable the students to finish up to Year 10. Otherwise the children have to either drop out of school altogether or walk 2 hours to the nearest high school.

Only $3320 will pay for a teacher's salary for a year.  $10 for each day.



Copyright George Oates



Asia Bookroom have a special Christmas tree and are seeking help to decorate it. A donation of just $10 will pay for one day's salary and a red bauble will be put on the tree. A $20 donation (blue bauble) pays for 3 days' salary, $50 (green) takes care of 5 days, and $100 (gold) takes care of 10 days. 


So when my family asked what I wanted for Christmas I told them 'a teacher'.  There'll be a green bauble on the tree for me!

For more information visit http://www.classroomsintheclouds.org/ 











CHRONICLES OF ROSIE BLACK: EQUINOX BLOG TOUR

I’ve always loved science fiction ever since I discovered Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series in my high school library. I am currently enjoying The Chronicles of Rosie Black, a high-action story set on Earth and Mars, 500 years in the future.

One of the things I really like about science fiction is the gadgets and technology. It’s interesting to see how many once fictional ideas are, years later, remarkably close to science fact. The Chronicles of Rose Black has a strong focus on gadgets and technology whether they are weaved seamlessly into setting description or explained in detail.

I couldn’t tell where fiction ended and fact began. Who better to ask than the author herself? Today, to celebrate the release of the Equinox, the second book in the series, I’m talking to Lara Morgan about the science behind The Chronicles of Rosie Black.

Do you have a background in science or technology?

I don’t so all the science came with a lot of research! I have always had a fascination with space and the stars –  I think it came out of a love of Star Wars (the original film of course) – and used to spend hours as a kid staring up at the sky at night wondering what was out there so writing in a sci fi world is something that I really wanted to do. I also have a friend with a PhD in astronomy which really helps. 

How do you come up with ideas for new technology? Is there always an element of fact in every idea or are some ideas purely imagination?

Some of the inspiration came from articles I’d read on theories for future technologies and others are straight from my imagination based on how I thought things might work in Rosie’s world. There generally is an element of fact in the technology though as I wanted to make things seem real and not just completely like something copied from Star Trek.

How important do you feel gadgets and technology are in science fiction?

Futuristic gadgets and tech really help ground the story in the world so it’s important to have reference to them so the reader knows the world they are reading about is not their own, but I don’t believe in making up gadgets just for the sake of it. All the technology and gadgets in Rosie’s story are there for a purpose, I’m not interested in making up bits and doodads for my own amusement. I’d rather just get on with the character’s story.

Books with a basis in technology have a strong appeal for young adult male readers. Did this view point influence your choice of a female main character?
It’s not something I thought about. I just write the  story that comes to me from the viewpoint of the character who I feel it should come through and for this one it was Rosie. I can’t think about who the reader may be when I’m writing because it makes me feel someone is looking over my shoulder while I’m working and I can’t write like that.

Follow Lara to her next blog stop:

Thursday 24th	Literary Clutter	http://content.boomerangbooks.com.au/literary-clutter-blog/	Marketing books
	Lara Morgan Blog	http://laramorgan.wordpress.com/blog-tour-equinox/	summary

Check out the complete blog tour by visiting Rosie Black's fan page

This Writing Life Begins Again

After eight months of illness - my own and my son's - there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. I am writing again and two days ago did my first school visit for the year. I even made it to an Illawarra South Coast function last night - the annual Christmas dinner. The speaker was the wonderful Kate Forsyth whose lifelong enthusiasm for writing never fails to inspire me. She brought along the exercise book stories she wrote in primary school. Whenever I hear Kate speak I wish I had a life in stories like that. My discovery of myself as a writer is a more recent thing.

Kate talked a little about her forthcoming book, Bitter Greens, based on the fairytale of Rapunzel and the life of  Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force credited with the earliest version of the fairytale in her story Persinette. I love historical fiction and this sounded like a fascinating combination. Unfortunately I have to wait until it is released in 2012.

It has been an inspiring week all round. At Windang Public School I met kids who love to read and teachers who support them through reading programs and literature circles. At Windang, some teachers and students give up their lunch hours for books!

And finally, this month I am blogging on the Christchurch Library blog http://christchurchkids.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/hello-from-sandy/