Mum, there’s a little thing I need you to do….

You know that old cliche “Never in my wildest dreams”? Well, I never say that. Because as we all know, good writers avoid cliches like the plague…and in my wildest dreams, I’m usually fighting a one-woman guerrilla war against Columbian drug lords, or facing down a serial killer threatening a library full of school children [...]

Swimming in inspiration

Funny, what inspires us as writers. I’ve never been much of a swimmer myself. I can manage a stately breast stroke in a flowered bathing cap, but it just isn’t my thing, if you know what I mean. I grew up on a farm, in the middle of a drought, and was ten years old [...]

Here’s something I didn’t know….

A little surprise in my letterbox today. A crisp, cream-coloured envelope from the Office of the Hon. Simon Crean MP. Inside, the letterhead thoughtfully centres the words Minister for the Arts under his other accomplishments. Aaah, the penny plinks. I know what this is  - my publisher entered Dust into the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – it’s an acknowledgement letting me know that [...]

Digging in its claws

People love to know where we writers get our ideas. They seem to think that ideas are elusive, and that we find them in secret places where others never think to look. The truth is that ideas spring at us from all directions. Like hungry cats, they clamour for our attention, rubbing up against our [...]

Making the list

It was a heart-stopping moment, reading my name in the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s list of Notable Books for 2010. I checked three times and it was still there.  Alongside many new and old writing friends including Michael Gerard Bauer, John Danalis, Gus Gordon, Kate Constable, Sam Bowring and Penny Tangey. But wonderful books [...]

Warning: contains spoilers

If you haven’t yet read Dust, do not click on this link. It will take you with the speed of light to the newly posted teachers notes (which might spoil it for anyone who hasn’t yet read the book). If you don’t care about spoilers, click here with impunity; Judith Ridge’s incisive discussion of the [...]

When you just can’t walk away…

I believe the landscape of our youth calls to us as writers and I now have the faux Hereford-skin Ugg boots to prove it. I squealed like a girlie when I spotted them in the Biloela shoe shop last week. Rocked by memories of Goggles and Hercules, our pet Hereford bulls, sauntering endlessly around our [...]

Magic “Dust” launch starring Bille Brown

The last time I was this excited was my wedding day. I had practiced my vows until word perfect, but at the altar, went blank. The minister took pity on me and prompted me gently, “I, Christine Mary Bongers…” I stared at him dumbly. “Who??” So this time, I took notes and the words came [...]

From Dust to Dead

I just had to steal that caption from Gary Kemble’s article in the March edition of Writing Queensland, because (she says, trying to keep the excited quiver out of her voice) he is talking about me. Well, my books. Or, to be more precise, my soon-to-published novel Dust and the WIP. Avoiding ‘Second-Novel Syndrome’ looks [...]

Jambin – “Wear the fox hat”

Tell people you’re from Jambin and you get a lot of “Wear the fox hat” responses  (if you need to ask, just google it). I sometimes attempt to triangulate it, saying “It’s up the road from Dululu, not that far from Goovigen and the nearest airport is Thangool.” But if I really want to be [...]