This May in Australia, we are having an inaugural Christian literary and dramatic arts convention. The organisers, a group in Brisbane, are drawing together a large assortment of Australian writers, playwrights, actors and editors to speak and present at the convention. There are also going to be publishers, distributors and booksellers represented. This is really exciting because it's the first time anything like this has ever happened in Australia. I know that over in the U.S.A. these are often held and I never thought we'd ever have one here.

Going back several years, when I finished writing my first book, I made several query phone calls to people listed as Christian publishers. They all grimly told me that although there used to be a small market for Christian fiction, it was no longer current so I might as well forget about it. Well, I was very discouraged and not happy with that response. I could see that although our population base of Christian readers is nowhere near as huge as America's, we obviously did have a market for fiction. This had to be true because our major Christian book chains, Word and Koorong, kept importing tonnes and tonnes of fiction from America. I don't intend to delve into the whole long story of how we got ourselves started as Apple Leaf Books. I just wrote this paragraph to show how difficult it's always been for Christian authors in Australia.

Anyway, the organisers of the convention sent me an email inviting me to be involved in the convention. The invitation included free air-fare to Brisbane, accomodation for the duration of the convention at a Bed and Breakfast with meals included, and the chance to promote my books. Well, I could have fallen off the computer chair! I've never had an offer like that in my life. After a quick discussion with my husband, we agreed that I should accept, of course. I'd be crazy not to. So it's all in the pipelines and they've sent me my itinerary. I'll leave early on a Thursday morning and return home the following Tuesday afternoon. It's very exciting, but as the date gets nearer, the butterflies in my stomach grow larger. My chief misgiving is that I will be away from my family for almost a week. Especially Blake, who I've never been separated from in his life, and I've worried that he'll miss me too much. Five nights are many for a little boy who's used to his mother's goodnight cuddles. And I know that I'll miss him loads and loads, along with his brother, sister and father.

But I've spoken to family and friends about it. One lady I know reasoned that Blake will be in his own familiar environment, he's used to having his Dad and siblings around, so he'll be fine. And I've been speaking to him about it, preparing him for early May already. He seems to know it's coming. From time to time when he sees a plane in the sky, he'll comment to whoever is nearby, "Mummy is going on an aeroplane, but not me or Logan or Emma." But it's still so hard to think of how five days might drag. Emma says, "I'm going to really miss you, Mummy," and Logan says, "I'm actually quite looking forward to it." So I'll be heading off to Brisbane in a matter of a few months because some offers, I guess, shouldn't be refused.