[11:19] <Andy> hi to all stupid people at central school!
[11:19] <6\7D> takes one to know one. Hi Andy
[11:19] <Andy> you're right--i'm very stupid
[11:20] <6\7D> We enjoyed the second story in Just annoying _ copycat from Ballarat
[11:21] <Andy> that's good--lots of people say that's one of their favorites--especially when the beanbag balls fall out of my bra
[11:21] <6\7D> You described Andy/Andrea so well, was it a real life experience?
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[11:22] <Andy> I have sometimes tried on my sisters dresses, but never in public!
[11:22] <6\7D> Hello clarry
[11:22] <clarry> hello
[11:22] <Andy> I worked very closely with my partner Jill--who is one of the editors of the books--and she helped to advise me on what girls are like-
[11:23] <Andy> --especially with what they talk about in the girls toilets
[11:23] <clarry> we really love your books
[11:24] <Andy> Many of my stories begin with real events but then I ask 'what's the worst thing that could have happened...
[11:24] <Andy> and then I make it happen
[11:24] <6\7D> Are we There yet? was typical of family outings We all do that.
[11:24] <Andy> Excellent. Fighting with your brothers and sisters is also a very effective way of annoying the driver
[11:25] <clarry> at the moment our school is reading Just Stupid
[11:25] <Andy> So is throwing your borther or sister out of the window
[11:25] <Andy> just stupid is my favorite book at the moment--i like busting
[11:26] <Andy> Who can tell me one of the stupidest things they've done--we can try to make a story out of it
[11:26] <clarry> our school laughed alot during that chapter
[11:27] <6\7D> Swinging on the clothesline is my favourite - I like the way he let nothing stop his scheming mind - Angela
[11:28] <Andy> I'm glad you picked up the way he let's nothing stop him--my character is just like everybody else except he never knows when to stop
[11:28] <clarry> running through a barbwire fence
[11:28] <6\7D> Nicholas's uncle scared him and he ran into a glass door.
[11:28] <Andy> you are really stupid nicholas
[11:29] <Andy> what happened to you?
[11:29] <clarry> one of my friends was really really scared of my little puppy michelle
[11:29] <Andy> what did your puppy do that scared her?
[11:30] <6\7D> the door stopped Nicholas - he bounced of it dazed
[11:30] <6\7D> That' s just how he is in class
[11:30] <clarry> i ran into a screen door .Ashleigh
[11:30] <Andy> Okay, what would be the worst possible thing that could have happened to nicholas?
[11:31] <clarry> why dont you answer us
[11:31] <Andy> what's going on at Clarry--all this running into things!!
[11:31] <Andy> if you ran into a barbwire fence, what might happen Clarry?
[11:31] <6\7D> the door went with him and the whole house fell down
[11:31] <clarry> thats just the way we are built
[11:32] <clarry> slice your head off
[11:32] <Andy> Excellent 6/7d--what about if his brain fell out of his head?
[11:32] <6\7D> what brain?
[11:33] <Andy> That would be good clarry--then he'd have to run and chase it
[11:33] <Andy> or if nicholas slammed into the door so hard he forgot who he was...
[11:33] <clarry> what if it went for a swim!
[11:34] <6\7D> The dog might think its something to play with
[11:34] <Andy> what if your head went for a swim...what would be the worst thing that could happen to it then?
[11:34] <clarry> got any more questions?
[11:34] <Andy> Okay 6/7--the dog is now playing with nicholas's head--what does nicholas think about this?
[11:35] <Andy> I mean nicholas's brain...
[11:36] <clarry> do you think it would float?
[11:36] <clarry> his brain that is
[11:36] <Andy> probably not--it's probably made of rocks
[11:37] <Andy> it would just sink straight to the bottom
[11:37] <clarry> ha ha ha ha
[11:37] <Andy> that is if it didn't get swallowed by a shark first...
[11:37] <clarry> do you think he would swim after it?
[11:37] <6\7D> it's hard to think without your head on but it would probably bounce if it wouldn't float
[11:37] <clarry> or an alligator
[11:38] <Andy> okay let's bring the stories together...
[11:38] <clarry> it was probably made of rubber
[11:38] <Andy> your head has come off and just been swallowed by a shark...what would your head do to get out?
[11:39] <Andy> or first, what would it see inside the shark's stomach...what else is there?
[11:39] <Andy> or who else is there?
[11:39] <6\7D> It's spring, sneeze its way out? Hayfever?
[11:39] <clarry> people,remains of gross fish
[11:39] <Andy> another question I would ask is, what would the last thing we expect to find in there?
[11:40] <clarry> me
[11:40] <Andy> a grand piano? kylie minogue? your teacher?
[11:40] <6\7D> We think a grand piano.
[11:41] <clarry> actually I would like to see my teacher in there
[11:41] <Andy> maybe you would bite the shark from the inside
[11:41] <6\7D> Our teacher said that. She is cool.\
[11:41] <Andy> I would like to see ALL teachers inside a shark
[11:41] <clarry> or burn it
[11:41] <clarry> so do we!
[11:42] <6\7D> we think a surfboard is there, and nicholas's head would sneeze its way out on a tube
[11:42] <Andy> I know--you find a mobile phone...who would you call?
[11:43] <clarry> prank call to the Queen!
[11:43] <6\7D> You'd order a pizza
[11:43] <6\7D> plus anchovies
[11:43] <Andy> you stupid fools! you're supposed to be trying to get out!
[11:43] <clarry> I would just eat what is in there
[11:44] <clarry> sick
[11:44] <6\7D> call the chemist - we need laxatives
[11:44] <Andy> what address would you give the pizza delivery person?
[11:44] <Andy> laxatives is the wrong move--that would be a very unpleasant way to come out
[11:45] <6\7D> address: cnr Ocean Ave and Byte ST
[11:45] <Andy> very good!
[11:45] <clarry> he would not be able to see if his head was off
[11:46] <Andy> the body wouldn't but the head can still see
[11:46] <Andy> this reminds me of the time my bum went psycho
[11:46] <Andy> my bum grew little arms and legs and jumped out the window
[11:46] <clarry> the blood would be rushing out
[11:46] <Andy> I couldn't run after it because my legs were not attached
[11:47] <Andy> I had to call the bum catcher
[11:47] <clarry> this reminds me of something my friend and I did
[11:47] <6\7D> We haven't read this one
[11:47] <Andy> the whole story is on my website
[11:48] <Andy> what did your friend do clarry?
[11:48] <clarry> we can't say
[11:48] <Andy> ps...the day my bum went psycho is a true story
[11:49] <6\7D> censored?
[11:49] <clarry> where was it?
[11:49] <Andy> okay, back to the problem of having your head inside a shark
[11:49] <Andy> where was what clarry?
[11:49] <6\7D> what about the surfboard and the sneeze?
[11:50] <Andy> alright, let's do that...
[11:50] <clarry> where did your bum go psycho?
[11:50] <Andy> your head comes rushing out and is now surfing down the face of a thirty foot wave
[11:51] <Andy> it happened in melbourne about ten years ago clarry, it's a bit like mad cow disease
[11:52] <6\7D> it gets caught in a prawn trawler net and exported to China
[11:52] <clarry> are you a mad cow?
[11:52] <Andy> Excellent 6/7 D!!!
[11:52] <Andy> what happens to it in China?
[11:52] <Andy> no clarry, just mad
[11:53] <6\7D> Made into a dim sim and sold to Pauline Hansens fish and chip shop.
[11:54] <clarry> how did write busting without busting?Michael-John
[11:54] <Andy> okay, so now your head is a dim sim in Ipswich--how does it get back to your body?
[11:54] <6\7D> She didn't like it.
[11:55] <Andy> it was very difficult clarry--in fact I didn't always succeed--a few times I actually burst
[11:56] <Andy> I had to do a lot of research in shopping centres to write busting
[11:57] <Andy> I can remember my mum telling me that if you don't jump at the top of escalators that your toes might get sucked in...
[11:57] <clarry> where did you find the stuff you need?
[11:57] <6\7D> This is a talking dim sim - it advertised for Some BODY
[11:58] <Andy> I love the idea of a talking dim sim!
[11:58] <Andy> if this was my story I might be tempted to forget about the first half of the story and just call the new story 'The talking dim sim
[11:59] <clarry> cool!
[11:59] <6\7D> We give you permission to do this.
[11:59] <Andy> What if you bought a dim sim and it started talking to you
[11:59] <Andy> It might say 'Please don't eat me!'
[11:59] <6\7D> Good dinner time conversation
[11:59] <Enigma> I'd eat it then it couldn't talk anymore ;-)
[11:59] <Andy> And you being a really nice person you wouldn't eat it--you'd take it home and look after it
[12:00] <Andy> Only after a few days it might start to get a bit stinky
[12:00] <Enigma> it would grow mouldy after a while though
[12:00] <clarry> I like '' expel me''.Michael-John
[12:00] <Andy> so you'd have to clean the mould off with your toothbrush
[12:01] <Andy> and while you're doing that your mum walks into the bathroom
[12:01] <clarry> GROSS!
[12:01] <Enigma> yuck! that would mean I would have to buy a new one
[12:01] <Andy> What, buy a new mother?
[12:02] <Andy> Your mum would say what on earth are you doing?
[12:02] <Enigma> hmm, well seing as I no longer have one, maybe that would be an idea
[12:02] <Andy> You would have to explain that your dimsim was talking to you...she would think you're crazy
[12:03] <6\7D> You could reply to your Mum "getting ahead in life"
[12:03] <Andy> Imagine if your head was a dimsim and you had to stick that back onto your body
[12:03] <clarry> yeah,and you'd have to go to a nuthouse
[12:04] <clarry> how would it stay?
[12:04] <Andy> you mean a dimsim house!
[12:04] <6\7D> We hope that there's no glass doors in the dim sim house
[12:05] <Andy> That's brilliant 6/7
[12:05] <Andy> I'd forgotten about the glass doors
[12:05] <clarry> yeah,but then everyone would go there thinking they can buy dimsims!
[12:06] <Andy> That's what I often try to do when I'm stuck for an end--i go back to the start of the story and try to link it back into the end
[12:07] <Andy> that story could go in many directions--I'd love for you to write it up and email it to me
[12:07] <Andy> my website is www.andygriffiths.com.au
[12:07] <6\7D> This was all a dream/hallucination while Nicholas was out to it on the floor OR he wakes up in hospital with dim sims for dinner
[12:07] <clarry> I'd like to be a comedy writer when I grow up, You've inspired me.
[12:07] <Andy> my email is andy@andygriffiths.com.au
[12:08] <Andy> that's an even better ending 6/7 d!!
[12:08] <6\7D> Thanks Andy
[12:08] <Andy> I'm writing another just book at the moment called JUST CRAZY
[12:09] <Andy> there's a story in it called PUNCHUP which runs along similar lines.
[12:09] <6\7D> When is it due for publishing?
[12:09] <Andy> andy and Danny are having a fight and andy punches danny so hard his head comes off
[12:09] <clarry> have you got your bum back yet-dom
[12:09] <Andy> but that's not the end of the fight...out of danny's neck comes millions and millions of little dannys
[12:10] <Andy> and has to stomp on them
[12:10] <Andy> just crazy is due to be published next August
[12:10] <Andy> It takes me a year to write the nine stories for each book
[12:10] <Andy> i have my bum back, thanks for asking
[12:11] <clarry> do you write poems
[12:11] <6\7D> We're looking forward to Just Crazy
[12:11] <Andy> No, but I used to write a lot of songs--
[12:11] <Andy> when I was at school I wanted to be a rockstar
[12:11] <6\7D> How many books have you published? we'd like to buy them all
[12:12] <Andy> I could have been too, except i couldn't sing
[12:12] <Andy> there's three JUST books and two books of writing exercises and very very short stories called Swinging on the Clothesline and Rubbish bins in Space
[12:13] <Andy> I'm glad I've inspired you to be a comedy writer--it's lots of fun
[12:13] <clarry> you should make a play station game from your books
[12:14] <Andy> good idea clarry! you should design it
[12:14] <clarry> are you scared of the boogyman
[12:14] <clarry> ok we will
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[12:14] <Andy> I am terrified of the boogyman--I always stand at the door of the bedroom and jump all the way into bed so that it's hand can't grab my ankle
[12:16] <Andy> it's been great talking with you...does anyone have any last questions?
[12:16] <clarry> when your on your bed do you worry about him sucking your brain out while you sleep
[12:16] <Andy> no, I lost my brain many years ago
[12:17] <clarry> what did you get for the just stupid test
[12:17] <clarry> how old are you-dan
[12:17] <Andy> I got 5/5...but that's not surprising since I wrote the test
[12:18] <Andy> I'm 13,007 days old
[12:19] <clarry> i want to be a comedian
[12:19] <Andy> tell me a joke then
[12:19] <Andy> What's got two legs and bleeds a lot?
[12:20] <clarry> why was the sand wet
[12:20] * Enigma is over 18000 days old :-(((
[12:20] <Andy> I don't know, why was the sand wet?
[12:20] <clarry> because the see weed
[12:21] <Andy> Wow enigma! You're practically a fossil!
[12:21] <Enigma> yep, not far from it :-)
[12:22] <clarry> bye for now thanks for talking to us
[12:22] <Enigma> a living fossil to be sure
[12:22] <Andy> thankyou! don't forget to be really stupid for the rest of the day!
Session Start: Fri Sep 10 09:12:16 1999
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[09:29] <Jill> Hi Clerendon. End.
[09:29] <clarry> Hi
[09:30] <Jill> What grade are you in at Clarendon?
[09:31] <clarry> I am in yr 5 andKarlee is in yr 4
[09:32] <Jill> I'm having an Open Day at my Book Farm at Maleny on Sunday 19 September.
[09:32] <Jill> What do you think we should do there, Karleee and friend. I don't know your name!
[09:33] <clarry> I love to go. What time.
[09:33] <Jill> It starts at nine and finishes at 4pm. It's 8 kilometres from Maleny.
[09:34] <clarry> My name is Tiffany and Matty is here too.
[09:35] <clarry> Where is Maleny
[09:35] <Jill> Hi Tiffany and Matty and Karlee. I wonder if you want to talk about any of my books?
[09:35] <Jill> Maleny is 100 kilometres from Brisbane, above the Sunshine Coast.
[09:36] <Jill> My mosr recent book is about Mahogany the Mystery Glider. The illustrator is Sharon Dye and she'll be there.
[09:36] <clarry> Yes. Mahogon
[09:36] <Jill> I hink most people don't know much about gliders except the sugar glider. Have you seen one?
[09:37] <Jill> They often show sugar gliders on Tv especially Totally Wild.
[09:38] <Jill> For the Mahogany Glider I had to go up to north Queensland and walk through crocodile-infested swamps to study them!
[09:39] <Jill> They're nocturnal so I had to go at night with a big torch to hit the crocs on the head!
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Session Close: Fri Sep 10 09:46:54 1999
Session Start: Fri Sep 10 09:48:50 1999
[09:48] *** Now talking in #festival
[09:52] *** clarry has joined #festival
[09:52] <Jill> Hi Clarendon gang!
[09:52] <clarry> We're back
[09:53] <Jill> Did you have any questions about MG (Mahogany Glider) book?
[09:53] <clarry> Yeh
[09:53] <Jill> I had to study it in the swamps of North Qld with crocodiles! What questions did you have?
[09:54] <clarry> How long did it take you to write it?
[09:54] <Jill> Roy - is it oky for us to still use the server all day today?
[09:54] <clarry> Did it take you a long time to think of the words
[09:54] <Jill> The writing took about a year but I was studying the species for six years - not every minute of course!
[09:55] <Jill> The words themselves are not as important as working out the plan for the book.
[09:55] <clarry> That's amazing
[09:56] <Jill> The MG is a mystery - not many people have seen them, that's why I had to go there a few times to look for them - at night!
[09:56] <clarry> Did you write the book called Saturday Street?
[09:56] <Jill> Yes. Did you like that one?
[09:56] <Jill> Roy - we just looked in normally. Not sure about the exp. server...
[09:57] <clarry> Yes
[09:57] <Jill> The artist who worked on Saturday Street with me was Geoff Hocking. He also illustrated The Boy Who painted the Sun. Anyone know that one?
[09:58] <clarry> When you wrote the Wombat who Talked to the Stars did you spend time on a property in central Queensland researching wombats?
[09:58] <clarry> We have read The Boy Who painted the Sun
[09:59] <Jill> Yes, I went up to Epping Forest to a govt camp but next door there was a cattle property so i met the Dennis family. Does anyone know that area, near Emerald, Clermont etc?
[09:59] <clarry> Tiffany's dad lived in Emereld
[10:00] <Jill> Great - that means Tiffany knows about the heat.
[10:00] <Jill> And the dryness during the drought.
[10:00] <clarry> Our teacher Mrs. Bidddulph was involved with distance education and remembers listening to you on the air.
[10:00] <Jill> The wombats didn't produce any babies in that time.
[10:00] <Jill> Yes I went next door to the Dennises and talked - but I got lost on the way.
[10:01] <clarry> Mrs. Biddulph says that it was really exciting to hear you on the air
[10:01] <clarry> The illustrations in Mahogany Glider are great
[10:01] <Jill> The girls in the Dennis family looked after a wombat at their house for 24 years - well part of that time anyway.
[10:02] <Jill> Yes Sharon Dye did a good job. I took hundreds of photos up in NQ for her to copy and combine. Which one did you like best?
[10:02] <clarry> How many Mahogany Gliders are left in Australia?
[10:02] <clarry> We liked page no 15
[10:03] <Jill> There may be 1000 - we don't know. But the point is their habitat will be gone if people keep cutting it down.
[10:03] <Jill> I haven't got the book with me! What's on page 15?
[10:03] <clarry> That is tragic
[10:04] <clarry> That is not many
[10:04] <Jill> That little strip between Ingham and Tully on the map is where they live.
[10:04] <Jill> That's where people are starting a resort, and growing cattle, sugar, pineapples and roads!
[10:05] <clarry> The Mahagony Glider, Apollo Jewel Butterfly, Masked Owl, Azure Kingfisher, Agile Wallaby, White-lipped Frog and Pale Field rat
[10:05] <Jill> Great list of species, gang!
[10:05] <clarry> I have never heard of anybody growing roads Ha Ha!
[10:05] <Jill> That's my poem! Thank you. Do you think it's okay to have poetry in non fiction?
[10:06] <clarry> Yes
[10:07] <Jill> Yay! Do you write poerty? Or stories?
[10:07] <Jill> I started writing by writing a poem about a waterfall in a rainforest when I was nine.
[10:07] <clarry> Sometimes both. What is your favourite australian animal
[10:08] <Jill> I love wombats. But gliders are interesting. Like kites, planes...? what else?
[10:08] <clarry> Karlee and Tiffany would like to be a writer when they grow up
[10:08] <Jill> Great
[10:08] <Jill> If you decide to do it you will!
[10:08] <clarry> Leisa, Cassandra and Josh are here also now.
[10:09] <Jill> By that time you could write for TV, CD, ....what else?
[10:11] <JM> dear Leisa and co
[10:11] <clarry> Tiffany's last name is Morris and her dog's name is Jill
[10:11] <JM> what else would someone there like to know?
[10:11] <JM> I sometimes feel like a dog!
[10:12] <clarry> why
[10:12] <JM> The Mg in the book was called Hogney. Look at the page with the girl feeding him.
[10:12] <clarry> You must work very hard to write your books
[10:12] <clarry> Okay
[10:12] <JM> When Hogney fell off his mum's back he was taken to Vanessa's home.
[10:13] <JM> Vanessa was in Grade Five!
[10:13] <clarry> Just like Tiffany and Matty
[10:13] <JM> Yes I do. I get tired like everyone else but I love writing.
[10:13] <clarry> How many books have you written?
[10:13] <JM> The house was dangerous for Hogney because Vanessa's mum looks after injuredt snakes.
[10:14] <JM> I've written about 80 books but some are very small ones.
[10:14] <clarry> Is it a real story
[10:14] <JM> Yes - the whole book is true.
[10:15] <JM> Isn't non fiction exciting!?
[10:15] <JM> Do you know my book called Fraser Dingo? About the dingoes of FI?
[10:16] <clarry> that is amazing. Does Hogney like Shoo Shoo
[10:16] <clarry> Matthew has read Fraser Dingo
[10:16] <JM> Shoo Shoo is being kept in another place because she is very fat and has to go to Weight Watchers!
[10:16] <JM> Good on you Matthew.
[10:17] <clarry> How do you put a glider on a diet
[10:17] <JM> Has anyone there been to Fraser Island.
[10:17] <clarry> Matthew and Nicholas. Nicholas, Christopher and Jessica are here now
[10:17] <JM> She can't have avocado or corn. They must be fattening.
[10:18] <JM> The rangers have put a log in her cage so she'll get exercise on the way to her food.
[10:18] <clarry> That's okay we don't like avocado anyway
[10:19] <JM> When Hognay was at Vanessa's she had to protect him from the snakes!
[10:19] <JM> When I was researhing in the house,
[10:19] <JM> I had my feet on a snake in a pillowcase
[10:19] <JM> and I thought it was knitting.
[10:19] <clarry> How did you find it was a snake
[10:20] <JM> The mother Virginia got it out to meet me!
[10:20] <clarry> That would be scary
[10:20] <JM> Should I have put that in the book? It's a secret for you.
[10:20] <JM> I had to pretend not to be afraid.
[10:20] <JM> Can anyone think of a time when you were afraid
[10:21] <JM> but couldn't show it?
[10:21] <clarry> Some of us say no and some of us say yes
[10:21] <JM> Perhaps you could write a true story later about that.
[10:21] <clarry> What is the longest story you have ever written
[10:22] <JM> The Ghost of DropCroc is a new novel for about Grade 4-5.
[10:22] <clarry> cool!
[10:23] <clarry> Are any other of your stories true
[10:23] <JM> DropCrocs were true- palaeontologists think there were ancient crocs which climbed trees and dropped on victims from above.
[10:23] <JM> Sounds Spooky - a collection has a story based on truth about a frogmouth.
[10:24] <clarry> Did they live with the dinosaurs
[10:24] <JM> Aust Bats 0 Frogs - Owls Kangas all have true stories in them with the 'facts'.
[10:24] <JM> I'm not sure of the era - but probably yes. I wonder if they killed my favourites the Diprotodons?
[10:25] <JM> I try to put the ancient connections in all my non fiction books.
[10:26] <JM> What should I write about next?
[10:26] <clarry> Nicholas says that Diprotodons can run really fast and might run into a tree so maybe the dropcrocs would find them easy prey
[10:27] <clarry> Maybe you could write about Brumbies
[10:27] <JM> Nicholas _ I'm glad you're a Dip. fan too! perhaps you could writer about them?
[10:28] <JM> I wanted to include brumbies in fraser Dingo but they're nearly all gone - and the foals are taken by the dingoes...
[10:28] <JM> They wait until the foal drops then attack.
[10:28] <JM> I watched a dingo sniffing around the cows at my place recently - waiting for the calves!
[10:29] <clarry> How sad to hear that
[10:29] <JM> Yes it is - but kids on Fraser Island have been known to protect the foals.
[10:29] <clarry> Maybe you could write about the brumbies in the early days when there was a lot of them
[10:29] <JM> make a good novel hey?
[10:29] <JM> Brumbies were brought into Aust like rabbitsm goats etc
[10:30] <JM> Was that a good idea or not?
[10:30] <clarry> yes for brumbies and goats but not for rabbits
[10:30] <JM> That's because you like horses!?
[10:31] <clarry> Yes absolutely
[10:31] <clarry> Tiffany has 7 horses at home
[10:31] <clarry> She is getting a new one today
[10:31] <JM> The hooves of horses, goats etc are bad for the environment they tell us. Kangaroos' feet are different. Have you seen my Kanga book?
[10:32] <JM> I would love a horse!
[10:32] <clarry> No
[10:32] <clarry> So would Karlee and Jessica
[10:32] <JM> The Kanga book has great illus by Lynne Muir of feet etc.
[10:33] <JM> Look at the frogs' feet in my Frog book later.
[10:33] <clarry> The Silver Brumby books make brumbies sound wonderful
[10:33] <JM> That's a book that's been around a long time. TV helped.
[10:34] <JM> The characters of all the horses are different and the author made us care about each one - not thinking of them wrecking the environment! Just story...
[10:35] <clarry> are there any native frogs in Australia
[10:35] <JM> I'm turning Green Air into a TV series and I have to make all the characters in that story more like people.
[10:35] <JM> Yes - 200 species. Hard to choose the 20 or so in my Frogs book.
[10:35] <clarry> We haven't read Green Air
[10:35] <JM> Have you all got frogs at your homes? In the toilets?
[10:36] <JM> Green Air is about a species of frog that gives birth through the mouth!
[10:36] <JM> But it's been missing for 18 years.
[10:36] <clarry> yes and no. They are usually on the windows sills eating bugs
[10:36] <JM> Lots of food at your place. I think mine are sometimes eaten by snakes.
[10:37] <JM> Big snake year at Maleny this year - at your place too?
[10:37] <clarry> Christopher's Grandma lives in a two storey house and the frogs come up to the top windows and make a mess
[10:37] <JM> Tell Grandma that's good.
[10:38] <clarry> Not too many snakes around yet, maybe when it gets warmer weather
[10:38] <JM> We've had so much rain and the frog population must be good.
[10:38] <clarry> Christopher has a tiny brown speckled frog that gets into the house sometimes
[10:39] <JM> That sounds interesting. Maybe a Peron's Treefrog? You'd need a frog directory rather than my book for that one.
[10:39] <clarry> Christopher and Karlee have frogs living in their mailboxes
[10:39] <JM> I have too! The one I have wipes its face with its hands. Does yours?
[10:40] <clarry> We don't know. We only see it when we get the mail
[10:40] <JM> Lindsay Muir said frogs wipe their faces with their hands and I didn't believe him. Now I do.
[10:40] <JM> Lindsay illustrated Green Air with frogs made of clay!
[10:41] <clarry> Jessica has a joke for you
[10:41] <clarry> Knock Knock
[10:41] <JM> Who's there?
[10:41] <clarry> Omelette
[10:42] <JM> Omelette who?
[10:42] <clarry> Omelette smarter than I look
[10:42] <clarry> Do you get it
[10:42] <JM> I'm a little teapot.
[10:42] <JM> :-)
[10:42] <clarry> very good :-)
[10:43] <JM> Have you any special questions about writing - your writing - that I can help with?
[10:44] <clarry> How do you find a good illustrator
[10:44] <JM> If you look at illus works, they're all different.
[10:44] <JM> I have to read a story and then think who would suit it best?
[10:44] <JM> But publishers find the illus not authors. I'm a publisher.
[10:45] <clarry> Explain what a publisher does
[10:45] <JM> I have to get an idea for something that the audience might like to read
[10:45] <JM> or find an author with an idea like that
[10:46] <JM> and give them a contract to do it
[10:46] <JM> then find the right illustrator
[10:46] <JM> then I have to sell it!
[10:46] <JM> It's a big risk.
[10:46] <clarry> How do you know what people want to read
[10:46] <JM> But it's very exciting.
[10:46] <JM> I listen to them.
[10:46] <JM> Last night we launched a new book for Grade 4-5 called The Ghost of the Bell.
[10:46] <JM> I'm the publisher.
[10:47] <JM> The authyors are Josie Santomauro and Mary serenc
[10:47] <clarry> What is it about
[10:47] <JM> The Illus is Susy Boyer Rigby.
[10:47] <JM> Now I have to get it into bookshops and out to schools.
[10:47] <JM> It's about a group of kids who are burying a time capsule about their school
[10:47] <JM> and they find an old secret buried in the hole.
[10:48] <JM> Cam Club2000 - The Ghost of the Bell. Cool huh?
[10:48] <clarry> Very cool
[10:48] <clarry> We will like to read it
[10:48] <JM> The girls - the authors - are here now. It's their first book
[10:49] <JM> and they are very very excited. So anyone can do it!!!
[10:49] <clarry> Tell them it sounds very interesting especially the part about the ghost
[10:49] <JM> I have to go now - sorry!
[10:49] <JM> I'll tell the authors.
[10:49] <JM> Thanks for all your help.
[10:50] <clarry> Our morning tea bell has gone so we will have go.
[10:50] <JM> Love, Jill
[10:50] <JM> Bye!
[10:50] <clarry> Thank you for talking to us. It was great
[10:50] <clarry> From Karlee, Jessica, Tiffany and Christopher
[10:50] <clarry> Bye
[10:50] <JM> Come to Maleny on Sun 19 Sept for my Open Day at the Book Farm if you can. Meet Josie, Mary, Sharon, Lindsay etc
[10:50] *** clarry has left #festival
[10:50] *** Disconnected
Session Close: Fri Sep 10 11:08:14 1999