Trudie Trewin

What’s with the names?

Trudie Trewin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:33:42 +0000

As a writer, I’ll sometimes give my characters unusual and weird names, especially to add some humour.

But as a parent I much rather the names that have stood the test of time. And I like to spell them normally too – I was never even slightly tempted to write ‘Danyule’ on the birth certificate. I am constantly amazed by some of the names I hear, and the reasons behind them…

The other day I heard of a child given the name ‘Maakee’, because when the mother was little she had trouble saying monkey, and that’s how it came out.

Lucky for my kids I didn’t go down that path… when I was little I had trouble with the word ‘coat-hanger’. Just imagine introducing young ‘Goat Angg Angger Trewin‘ to his year one class mates!

And if my kids use this method of naming, I’ll end up with Copenopen Trewin (coconut), and Elbumow Trewin (elbow) for grandkids!

Eeek!

Doodling Ukuleles

Trudie Trewin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:00:25 +0000

I love the Ukulele. There, I’ve said it – and in a public forum to boot! It’s fun and lively, and captures the relaxed lifestyle of the Pacific Ocean tropics perfectly. Cairns is holding its inaugural Ukulele Festival this week and I’m looking forward to kicking back on the Esplanade and listening to some of the performances. (For those currently in the grip of the cold snap down south, it’s likely that there will be blue skies, and around 27 beautiful degrees drifting lazily on the breeze!)

One component of the festival is the Uke Art Exhibition on display at the Cairns Regional Gallery. Some local, national and international artists have decorated ukuleles, which will be sold to raise money for the Duchenne Foundation. I browsed through the eclectic collection last weekend, and thought I’d share some of my favourites with you.

Some were decorated with lovely paintings…

Hayley Gillespie

John Phillips

Shaun Tan

Karen Cousens

Some were decorated with paper or beads…

Some were amazing, but unplayable!

Geoff Dixon

kendall Booth-Thomson

And this one played itself…

Kevin Mayo

This one was cool, but a little scary…

Greg Dwyer

But these four were my favourites. So much fun, just like the ukulele…

Gary Myers

Tohby Riddle

Colin Thompson

Michael Salmon

Some of these ukuleles are for sale on ebay, with the proceeds going to the Duchenne Foundation. Here’s the link:

http://shop.ebay.com.au/dmdfoundation/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

Worth every shiver

Trudie Trewin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:42:28 +0000

Last Thursday I flew to Sydney for the NSW CBCA conference. On the plane trip down I worked out that this was the first time I would be spending a weekend down south during winter in 21 years! I looped the scarf around my neck a couple more times – would the conference be worth facing single digit degrees?

Well, YES! I had a blast. I spent two days listening to some of Australia’s best writers and illustrators. All were inspiring, some were inspiring and funny, and even inspiring, funny and a teensy bit cute (yep, Markus Zusak was one of the presenters).

But wait, that wasn’t the best bit. The best bit was the social side – catching up with old friends and making new ones. Living so far away from the capital cities means opportunities such as these are almost non-existent, so for me the morning teas, lunches and dinners were very much the icing on the cake! In fact, an extra day at the end, dedicated to social-surfing, would be about the only thing the conference lacked.

Oh, but wait… the very best bit… it wasn’t even that cold!

Some reviews

Trudie Trewin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:45:38 +0000

Here are some lovely reviews for Wibbly Wobbly Street that Google has dropped in my in box recently….

http://newkidsbooksinoz.blogspot.com/2010/06/picture-book-delights.html

http://content.boomerangbooks.com.au/blog/wibbly-wobbly-street-by-trudie-trewin-cheryl-orsini/2010/05

http://www.aussiereviews.com/article3106.html

http://deborahabela.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/wobbly-streets-trick-riders-and-creepy-stuff/

Gotta love those google alerts!

Where did he get it from?

Trudie Trewin — Thu, 27 May 2010 10:53:37 +0000

My stick people look like someone took a hammer to an octagon and tried to sweep up the mess. My husband’s effort is even worse. So how did we produce a 10 yo son who can do this….

He was inspired by a painting he found online, the original painting is by Jennifer Young and can be found here. (Thanks, Jennifer, for allowing me to indulge my maternal pride and display it on my blog)

I know he’s still young, and who knows, maybe I just think he’s talented because, well, he’s my son! But how cool would it be if he could one day illustrate one of my picture books?

Now that’s a good lookin’ board!

Trudie Trewin — Fri, 21 May 2010 03:08:12 +0000

No 1 on the best-seller board at Collins Booksellers at Smithfield!

A few facts:

1. I didn’t put it there.

2. It’ll only be there for a week.

3. It’s only there because Collins were my booksellers at the launch on Sunday, and so the sales figures are a little distorted.

4. If you’re looking for me for the rest of the week, I’ll be sitting in front of that board!

Whoo – hoo!

The launch

Trudie Trewin — Mon, 17 May 2010 04:32:44 +0000

The cake was sensational…

The Mayor said lots of nice things about Wibbly Wobbly Street…

And the ‘do the twist’ competition was loads of fun…

But my photographer spent too much time chatting and forgot to take lots of photos!

The Wibbly Wobbly Street launch went of without a wibble, even my weird looking ‘wibbly wobbly street’ biscuits were a hit (they actually disappeared unbelievably quickly, and the packet of Arnotts biscuits I bought didn’t even get opened – maybe I should sell my recipe to Arnotts!) The lolly snakes were very popular too, nearly three hundred little slitherers wiggled into mouths. Sadly, there’s not as many left over for me as I would have liked!

There were less people there than I’d hoped for, but luckily my lovely friends all came along to plug the gaps! The kids (and quite a few of the adults) really enjoyed ‘doing the twist’ and the hula hoop competition was a ‘hula hoot’!

And now that the launch is out of the way, I need to get back to work – right after I finish of the lolly snakes!

Cooking is not the same as writing…

Trudie Trewin — Fri, 14 May 2010 04:01:09 +0000

Just because you had a plan, and you followed the plan, and you knew how it was supposed to end, doesn’t mean it will happen the way you want it to……

These were supposed to be little wibbly wobbly road biscuits for my launch on Sunday- and in my mind, they were going to look delightful. But they don’t look like little roads, do they? Somehow they ended up more like something a dog might leave on the road.

I might take them along anyway, just for a laugh. After all the theme is Wibbly Wobbly!

But I think I’ll get a packet of Arnotts family biscuits to go with the tea and coffee instead of these!

The placing of books

Trudie Trewin — Wed, 12 May 2010 03:16:21 +0000

My brother sent me a text in the week after I’ve Lost My Kisses was released – it said ‘I’ve Lost My Kisses is at number 2 on my local Dymocks best seller shelf‘. Before I could close my gaping mouth, he sent a second text – ‘well, it is now!’

With shelf space at a premium, it’s hardly surprising that we writers occasionally try to manoeuvre our books into a more visible spot. But I read an article by a bookseller recently that said moving our books around could hinder sales if the bookseller can’t find them. Apparently, it can be quite ineffective.

Dunno…. looks pretty effective to me!

Big thank you to Kirsten and Andrew at Smithfield Collins Booksellers!

Launches and babies and snakes

Trudie Trewin — Fri, 07 May 2010 02:17:03 +0000

Planning a launch poses so many questions. Where to have it? Who will launch the book? What activities can I have for the kids? What food will I serve? How many people will turn up? What will I say in my speech? Do I have to make a speech? Can I pay someone to make a speech for me?

Reading that paragraph you would probably assume that speaking to a large group of people worries me. Wrong! Well, sort of. While it’s true that making a speech to a large group sends sweat beads racing to my palms, it’s actually the thought of making a speech to only five people that is concerning me at the moment!

When I had my first baby lots of family, friends and workmates all came to visit me in hospital. I had cards and phone calls from just about everyone I knew. All this attention served to reinforce what I already knew… that I had given birth to the most beautiful baby in the entire world. (And that I had survived the most horrendous labour ever known to womankind – rather stoically too, I might add… Oh okay, Nurse Smartypants, maybe I was more hysterical than stoic – but, hey, I really thought I was going to die!)

Then came babies number two and three, and lo and behold, they were just as beautiful! Of course, by then enough of my friends had had babies for me to realise that 1. All babies were beautiful (although not quite as beautiful as mine), and 2. it was apparently quite common for labour to be horrendous (although not quite as horrendous as mine).

But what has this got to do with launches? Well, you see, as much as my hospital room was as busy as the lolly bowl at a 6th birthday party after baby number one, it was like the vegetable sticks and hummus dip after the next two. The cards and calls were much thinner on the ground too. It seemed that first babies were a big deal, but subsequent ones, meh – just more of the same.

So what if that happens to launches too! My first launch, for I’ve Lost My Kisses, was pretty well attended, but maybe all those people will think, ‘Meh, just more of the same!’

Which is why there will be plenty of wibbly wobbly lolly snakes and twisties on the table at Wibbly Wobbly Street’s launch – and not a single bowl of vegetable sticks and hummus!

Seriously, who could resist these?

If you’re in the Cairns area, here’s your launch invitation – come along!