now that it's past the 18th, i can tell you - just in case you were wondering, i didn't end up winning the victorian premier's literary award for an unpublished manuscript by an emerging victorian writer, but i did get a free meal and a waterman pen with my name engraved on it. last night, mark and i attended the awards dinner at zinc federation square - my first literary event! also at my table was one of my fellow shortlisters, jarrad henry, writer of 'deadly force'. angela savage's 'thai died' (great title, huh?) took out the main prize - i caught up with her and had a little chat later in the evening; she was ecstatic, as expected. as a weird coincidence, the rest of our table was made up of penguin people - childrens/young adults editors and publishers, and one of their authors, david metzenthen, who was shortlisted for the prize for young adult fiction. it was an interesting night, and nice to be able to talk to david about writing, and being a writer. today i must write an essay that i have to hand in thursday, then friday i am off to lismore, and my first time performing in hello kitty. i am quite excited about that - i need to get organised! i am looking forward to our little break in sydney next week - it'll be nice to just hang for a few days. i hope the weather clears up in time for our visit, though!