It’s that time again when we look back over the past year and contemplate the vast sweep of our human experience and wonder how many spelling mistakes we made.

We also, if we know what’s good for us, take a few moments to say thank you to the people without whom our careers would fall in a miserable heap.

I’m lucky, there are some wonderful people helping me get my books out into the world. Too many to thank individually I’m afraid, plus some of them have got names that are really hard to spell, but that’s not going to stop me thanking them in groups.

Thank you to all the people at Penguin Children’s Books in Australia who commission, contract, edit, design, produce, illustrate, print, publish, market, publicize, catalogue, sell, warehouse, invoice, transport and dust my books. Also to the people at Penguin in the UK who do the same, but wearing thicker underwear.

Thank you to the people at Pan Macmillan in Australia and Macmillan Children’s Books in the UK who keep several of my earlier books alive and well. This isn’t always easy as the books in question are older than they are.

Thank you to all the other publishing people and translators around the world who make my books available to readers in many countries some of which I’ve never been to and a couple of which I hadn’t even heard of.

Thank you to the people at Bolinda Audio Books who bring my stories to those who prefer to listen rather than read because they have to keep their eyes on the road or the washing up or the surgical procedure or who can’t read because mum’s turned the light out.

Thank you to all the people who sell my books – the book shop people and book club people and newsagents and variety store people and black market profiteers.

Thank you to all the people who lend my books or give them as gifts – librarians, friends, mums, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, neighbours and pets with their own mastercards.

Thank you to everyone who helps spread the word about my books – journalists, broadcasters, gossips, town criers, my mum and dad.

Thank you to the special people who inspire other people to read – not just my books but anything. Most of them are teachers or librarians or booksellers or the family members of budding readers, but not all. I know at least one dentist who works tirelessly for the cause of reading by keeping his patients waiting for hours in a small room with no telly.

Thank you to my brother Nick, web maestro extraordinaire, who’s been keeping this site happy and healthy for seven years.

Thank you to my other family members and friends for all the support and love and reminders that a big head never looks nice, specially in an author photo.

And finally, and mostly, thank you all of you who who read my books and let my characters into your imaginations and make friends with them. And then sometimes send me an email about a spelling mistake I’ve made.

I wish you all a safe and peaceful 2007 with as much happy reading as your eyeballs can handle.

19 December 2006

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