It's that sad happy anxious exciting time for me again when I wave goodbye to a new book and watch it go out into the world.

Boy Overboard is at the printer's even as you read this. Unless the delivery truck ran out of petrol. Or the driver got stuck in the lift. Or aliens teleported my manuscript disk back to their own planet where they're using it as a drinks coaster. (See what I mean about an anxious time?)

Hang on, none of that could have happened because these days a manuscript is emailed to the printer. Phew. So it's definitely there. Unless a virus in the printer's computer corrupted my manuscript and changed all the characters' names to Harry and turned all the commas into semi colons and...

No, I'm not going to think about it. This is the time when an author has to let go and trust that everything will be OK. My job now is to switch from writer to publicist, which is why over the next 3 months I'll be popping up all over the place telling people about Boy Overboard and as many of my other books as I can remember. (I actually talked a bit about the story of Boy Overboard in last month's G'day, if you're interested.)

I start my travels on June 26 in Rockhampton at the School Library Association of Queensland conference, closely followed by the Warrnambool (Victoria) Fun 4 Kids Festival on 29 and 30 June. Then I'm in Christchurch on 4 July at the New Zealand Association of Teachers of English conference, and at the New Zealand Reading Association conference, also in Christchurch on the 10th. Between those I'll be popping up to Auckland on the 8th for some shameless self promotion there.

Later in July I'm spending a week in Esperance (WA) visiting all the schools there (29 July to 2 August). I'm visiting schools in South-East Queensland from 5 to 9 August, in Country NSW from the 12th to the 16th, and in Melbourne and Sydney from 19 August to 6 September. And finally, before I get back to my writing desk, I'm visiting a bunch of schools in Hong Kong from 16 September to the 24th. (If you're reading this in the UK, I'm not leaving you out – I'll be there in December.)

Hope I might bump into you somewhere on my travels. I'll be the bloke on the phone anxiously talking to the printer about drink coasters. If I don't see you, meet me here next month, and if you've sent me an email, don't forget to see if it's in the Visitor's Book.

Until then, oo-roo and happy reading

14 June 2002