The biggest news around here at the moment is that we finally had a full week of sunshine for the first time in a very long time! It has been wonderful spending time outdoors again. We’ve enjoyed plenty of park playdates and have been learning to ride a balance bike. Of course, the return of sunny weather also means the temperature has dropped, so the daily battle of convincing Jack to wear a jumper has officially begun!
This month I also returned to volunteering at the Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway, which is featured in my children’s book Jack’s Train Day. Now that their steam train is operational again, I’m no longer in the driver’s seat. Instead, I’ve been working my way through the various training packages and loving every minute of it.
Volunteering there is incredibly rewarding, and any day spent sharing my love of trains and riding the rails feels like a day well spent.
I’ve also been reaching out to schools and visitor centres about stocking my books, and I’ve had a bit of success this month. I even secured a Book Week booking with a local school, which is very exciting. The local railway also requested a restock of my books after selling out, which felt incredibly rewarding. It’s always such a lovely feeling when you realise your work is connecting with people.
On the writing side of things, I’ve been taking part in another Substack writing challenge. This time the stories have been a lot more silly and fun — and if you like cats, they’ve featured heavily throughout the month! I’d love for you to check them out, as all likes and comments on the stories count towards my final score.
At the halfway point of the challenge, I was sitting in second place, which has been really exciting. You can read all of my stories from The Halls of Pandemonium challenge here.
All of this extra writing has put me a little behind on the flash fiction collections I’ve been working on, but I did manage to release a standalone choose-your-own-adventure story that you can download for free.
Progress on my next children’s book has been a little slower this month, as I’m still working closely with my illustrator to make sure the artwork looks just right before we move on to colouring and final layout. The draft is coming along well though, and I’ve also started tackling some of the behind-the-scenes publishing tasks like blurbs, metadata and all the little details that help bring a book together.
And a quick reminder: I’m offering 20% off everything on my website until 30 June 2026. Simply use the code JACKIS3 at checkout.
(Website sales only.)
Thanks so much for reading along.
If you’re curious about Jack’s adventures, you can explore my children’s books here.
