Frequently asked questions
- When and where were you born?
- Where do you live?
- Are you married?
- Where did you go to school?
- What football team do you barrack for?
- How many books have you written?
- What is your next book going to be?
- Are you going to write any more books in the Just! series?
- Have any of your books been made into a movie or TV show?
- What is your favourite book that you have written?
- Are your stories true?
- Where do you get your ideas?
- Who are your favourite authors?
- Do you have any pets?
- Were you interested in writing when you were a child?
- Any other childhood interests?
- How old were you when you started writing?
- Do you like writing books?
- What is it like working with Terry Denton?
- What was your previous occupation, before becoming an author?
- What was the first book you ever wrote?
- How does it feel when a publisher accepts a book you have written?
- Any advice for young aspiring authors out there?
When and where were you born?
Melbourne, Australia, 3 September 1961
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Where do you live?
Melbourne, Australia
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Are you married?
Yes and I have 2 daughters
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Where did you go to school?
Pascoe Vale Primary School (1968-1969)
Eastmont Primary School (1970-1973)
Yarra Valley Grammar (1974-1979)
Monash University (1980-1984)
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What football team do you barrack for?
The Brisbane Lions.
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How many books have you written?
You’ll find a list of all my books on the books page of my website.
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What is your next book going to be?
Check the books page of my website for information about what’s coming up. You can also check the news and blog section.
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Are you going to write any more books in the Just! series?
I can never say ‘no’ to this question because I said I wasn’t going to write any more after Just Disgusting! but then Just Shocking! popped out a few years later, so who knows?
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Have any of your books been made into a movie or TV show?
Yes, the Just! series? has been made into a Canadian cartoon series called What’s With Andy?. Go to the links page of my website and you can see clips from the show on YouTube.
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What is your favourite book that you have written?
I’m pretty fond of each book in its own way, but if I had to pick one it would probably be The Bad Book.
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Are your stories true?
Most of the stories are based on a real event or a real emotion but then I get carried away and they end up completely exaggerated and not true at all.
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Where do you get your ideas?
Everywhere: memories, dreams, conversations, newspapers, books, movies and funny TV shows to name just a few.
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Who are your favourite authors?
Dr Seuss, Enid Blyton and Lewis Carroll.
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Do you have any pets?
I used to have a dog named Sooty. He features in the Just! series?. I now have a cat called Silky (named after the fairy in the Enid Blyton Faraway Tree stories).
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Were you interested in writing when you were a child?
I was constantly filling up little exercise books with stories, jokes, cartoons, newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, bubble gum cards … anything that came my way. After a while I started making my own little books.
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Any other childhood interests?
Annoying my two younger sisters, running, reading, watching television, listening to music.
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How old were you when you started writing?
I have stuff that I wrote when I was five.
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Do you like writing books?
I love it!
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What is it like working with Terry Denton?
It’s really fun and very harmonious. We share a similar sense of humour and we’re always pushing each other to see how far it can go and what surprising places it can take us.
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What was your previous occupation, before becoming an author?
I was a singer in a band, a taxi driver and a secondary school English teacher.
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What was the first book you ever wrote?
Just Tricking!, which was published in 1997.
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How does it feel when a publisher accepts a book you have written?
When Just Tricking!, my first book, was accepted in 1997 after ten years of trying to get a publisher to accept my work, it was a magical, wonderful feeling. So many people had told me it was impossible. Luckily, I am quite stubborn and extremely persistent: two qualities that are every bit as important for success in writing as actual writing talent.
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Any advice for young aspiring authors out there?
See the last sentence in my answer above and read it three times. Then write it down in the cheap exercise book that you practise writing in every day. What? Call yourself an aspiring author and you don’t HAVE a cheap exercise book that you practise writing in every day? Then GET ONE and start writing in it every day... five minutes a day to start with, and gradually increase to at least thirty minutes a day. You get better at writing like you get better at everything else: constant practice.