Sometimes real life intrudes in unexpected ways, and the best laid plans…well, they just don’t happen. That was the second half of 2015 for me!

A house move, job change and hosting the annual family Christmas gathering pretty much cruelled all of my creative ambitions. I couldn’t see my way straight to settle down and meet my own writing deadlines when there were rooms to paint, boxes to unpack, and a menu to organise.

Blink.

And now it’s 2016, and the year is already well and truly advanced – it’s March already, Summer in the southern hemisphere is leaving us in a fiery, defiant blast with a string of days of 30C+ temps, while the shops try and sell us new Winter coats before we’ve even put away our swimmers.

One thing I have managed to do this year is settle in for a chat with the wonderful Sophie Masson (pictured), who approached me to talk about The Alliance of Independent Authors and my role as a regional representative.

I never quite worked up the nerve to actually tell Sophie I’m a big fan of her writing (I read Clementine and The Green Prince many, many years ago and loved them dearly). Since then she has published quite a few books spanning various genres, and been pretty busy behind the scenes as well participating in various publishing groups.

And here’s something I didn’t know about one of my favourite authors – she has been dipping her toe into the waters of digital publishing with an exciting new venture, Sixteen Press, her own e-publishing platform.

Anyway, to hear more about ALLi in Australia, and author-publishing in general, hop on over to Sophie’s excellent and charmingly named blog Feathers of the Firebird.