One of the frustrations of being an author is that I get to meet so few of the people who read my books. This year, for example, even though I'll be visiting all the states and territories of Australia, plus New Zealand, Britain, France, Italy, Holland, and probably Singapore and Indonesia, I'll still only get to meet a tiny fraction of the people who give up some of their time to get to know my characters.

That's why this website is so important to me. It's a way for me to make contact with you outside the pages of my books. I've tried to put stuff on the site that will help you to get to know me a bit, and I love reading your emails because that gives me the chance to get to know you a bit too. Please don't be hurt if I can't reply. I do answer some emails, but depending on the volume coming in and how behind I am finishing a book, I often can't reply. I do read them all, though, and as regular visitors already know, I choose a few each month that appeal to me for a wide variety of reasons and put them on the site.

By the way, if you're a new visitor here, don't forget to have a squiz at the previous G'days. There's all sorts of stuff there I'm keen for you to know about. Rather than repeat it all here each month and end up with a 20,000 word G'day, we've put it where you can get to it with a couple of clicks.

If we were sitting down now for a cup of tea and a chat, one of the things I'd be asking you is what you think of the site and whether you've got any suggestions for improvements. I'd like to ask you that anyway, even though cyberspace being what it is we'll have to do without the Earl Grey and the chocolate fingers. If you've got any thoughts about how I can make the site better, I'd love to read them.

Finally, to the readers I did get to meet on my recent holiday trips to Warrnambool and Hobart, thanks for your friendliness and kind words, particularly the warm and heartening things you told me about Boy Overboard and your feelings while reading it.

Until next time, oo-roo and happy reading,

26 January 2003