Behind Sally's Books Mark 2

  Dear Mrs Odgers I am delighted to be writing to you on behalf of the Governor-General to inform you that you are being considered for the Medal of the Order of Australia (General Division) within the Australian Honours System... So came the email back in September 2025. "Scam," said my brain. Click the link... Not likely! However, it seemed a pretty creative and well-worded piece, so I crept around the back door and entered the Governor General's site via a google-search. I clicked for contact and was duly called by someone who informed me it was a legitimate invitation. To be considered for one of these honours one has to be nominated, then accept the invitation, then wait for a few months for confirmation. I was next contacted on Jan 6th to say I had been given the award. So, there you are. I can now sign myself as Sally Odgers OAM. The award was given for services to literature, following decades of writing with editing and manuscript assessment on the...

Photo explanation is at the end of the post Thanks to Skye for another intriguing blog hop challenge! This time, it’s about the research that has been most surprising to us as writers.             I love research and have been doing it since the 1970s. Over time, I have evolved several methods of finding what I want. The first and best way is to go to an original source.             When I was researching my Depression era book The Powerful Pickle Problem back in the 1980s, I found very little helpful information in books. There was plenty written about experiences in the UK, and plenty about what the political and economic climates were doing, but almost nothing about how country kids in Tasmania might have experienced the times.             Luckily, I had original sources. My grandmother and great aunt (born in 1899 ...