Hello everyone!

It’s a freezing winter’s night in Adelaide, June 22nd 2005, and it’s rather late at night and I’m going to America again in the morning, early, but I didn’t want to leave before I said goodbye, as it were.

It’s been a frenetic month since I came back from my last trip to the USA. (I need honorary American citizenship by now!) I’ve been travelling so much around Australia that I wonder occasionally if it wouldn’t be better just to have a sleeping bag in a corner of the airport to save time.

There are times when I’m so tired I don’t like my work and I think I’ll have to retire and become a recluse who does nothing but cook and garden and read long novels. Right now I am exhausted but I’m LOVING what I do. I find my work in literacy very exciting and fulfilling and feel as if I’m doing some good in the world, which would please my mother, were she still alive. She never liked us to mess about merely having a good time. “Service” was her mantra. We three daughters still feel guilty if we aren’t being of service.

I have been frantically working on two new chapters for Reading Magic, one on phonics, and one on boys and reading, as well as a new foreword, and a new list of 20 classics to read to kids. The new edition will be out in time for the Read Aloud Summit in Sydney on August 31st/Sept 1st. If you’re interested in attending (it’s free) here’s the website:
http://www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au/2005/read_aloud_summit.htm

I have been WRITING too. Amazing. But what a struggle it is. In an entire week I haven’t even been able to managed one complete first draft of a new story called Horatio the Hungry. But I like Horatio already, even if his favourite food IS children: it’s his only failing.

I am working quite a bit with The Dymocks Literacy Foundation, a charitable organsation devoted to raising funds for good causes in literacy. I’m enjoying it, even though it involves meetings and I am not a meeting type of person. I retired early from the university partly to avoid meetings!

Life is not all work. Adelaide recently held a fabulous cabaret festival and I laughed so much at Max Gillies and Eddie Perfect that I almost lost my voice. The same thing happened when we went to see the CNNNNN comdey team. Laughter takes so a lot of poison out of our lives, particularly political poison that makes us miserable and angry and ashamed to be Australian. Apart from seeing shows from time to time we do go to the cinema every week. EVERY week! I had to tell you that in case you were beginning to see me as a very dull girl. And we see friends. And I read novels. And I do other lovely things such as bottling quinces and going to the gym and to my exercise class, which I adore. It’s not all hard slog — and I have to remember that myself.

The biggest event of the last month was being interviewed on Andrew Denton’s ‘Enough Rope’. It’s being shown soon on ABC TV at 9:30 pm on a Monday night. (Sorry, foreigners, it’s in Australia only.) I laughed my way through it and loved it and thought Andrew did a sensational interview. His children’s story (hideous, but very funny) is not to be missed. I am fleeing the country before it’s shown and hope it will happen while I am away. Couldn’t stand to be here and go to the shops the next day and be looked at by people who think they know who you are. AARRGGHH! (LATER July 24th: Darn, darn darn! It wasn’t shown so I’ll be here after all. How embarrassing.)

Malcolm and Chloe and the dogs and my sisters and my friends and even the housesitter are all fine, thank you, and we hope you are too.

Until next time, all the best!

Love

Mem Fox xxx