It was such a joy to officially launch The Sugar and Spice Collection yesterday at Wallsend District Library. The lovely Penny Harrison flew up from Melbourne for the occasion, so the entire 'Team Sugar and Spice' was together for the first time! Talented author Deborah Kelly was a superb MC, and MacLean's Booksellers were on hand to sell books. 

Susan Whelan, Gwynneth Jones, Penny Harrison and myself chose hot pink and orange as our colour scheme, to match the slipcase design, and then we went to town with decorations! There was hot pink and orange food, hot pink and orange craft, and hot pink and orange balloons, pom poms and streamers! The perfect backdrop to a wonderful day of fun and laughter. 

Thanks so much to everyone who came along to make our launch such a success, and to Luke Arms for these great pics!

​Today is the day my first picture book, Patch and Ruby, is published! It's been a long journey to this point — mainly for poor Gwynne, my long-suffering illustrator. (One of the great truths about picture books is that the illustrator does far more work than the author!) And Gwynne's job was made triply hard this time as Patch and Ruby is also available as part of The Sugar and Spice Collection, a boxed set of THREE picture books, all illustrated by Gwynne.

I couldn't be prouder of, or happier with, the end result, and if just one child likes my book as much as I do, then that's all I can ask for. To celebrate publication date, I've put together a little book trailer. Hope you enjoy :-)