Karen Collum">Australian Children's Author

Sadly, I have little to report! After an amazing start to my NaNoWriMo adventure with Matthais, the thirteenth disciple, life has had to take precedence over writing. I’m now 30,000 words into The Thirteenth Disciple and I’ve got exactly a week to get to 50,000 words if I want to ‘win’ NaNoWriMo this year. Can I do it? I’m not exactly sure. What I do know is that I’ve had to pull back on my writing in order to keep my life in balance. As a full-time mum to three kids who are too young to be at school, I’ve got to be careful not to overload myself and push myself too hard. I’m determined and stubborn and ridiculously disciplined when I want to be. Writing makes me all of those things, but the fact remains that getting up at 5am to write isn’t something I can do consistently. I simply need more sleep! Keep reading →

I’ve started a new book project. It’s one that I’ve been wanting to tackle for quite some time. It combines my two greatest passions in life: parenting and optimistic thinking skills. Keep reading →

We had tears at our house this evening. No, they weren’t mine – although the dinner/bath/bed routine with three kids under four can sometimes tempt me to break down and cry. No, the tears were from Master Three. After jumping off the couch one too many times, he stepped on his favourite orange balloon. It’s his favourite because it’s his only orange balloon – in fact, it’s his only balloon full stop. The loud POP! was quickly followed by a loud, monotonous wail. He was heartbroken. Keep reading →