About the boys event - Michael Hyde

Last week saw the first About the boys event for 2009. A good crowd of boys and their dads had the chance to meet Michael Hyde, hear him talk about writing and fire questions at him. Michael is the author of the Change the game series of sporting related choose your own adventure type books. He has also written a bnunch of other titles for older kids & teenagers.

Michael talked about starting his writing career 30 years ago. He was working as a teacher and had been encouraging his students to write their own stories. Then one day one of the students asked him why he didn't write some himself. So he did. He pointed out that many of his early attempts were not very good. The students were also disappointed that most books were about American or English kids, that there were very few Australian stories for them. Michael saw the opportunity to contribute in this area.

He made the point that writing is for everyone, not just the lucky few who get published. There are plenty of people who write beautifully but never get published. He talked about getting ideas from all around him. Things he sees and people he meets.

Michael read from a few of his stories, answered questions, and laughed out loud at the horrible history quiz run on thi night.

So there you have it - writing is for everyone, ideas can come from everywhere, and even a published author started out writing stories that he was too embarrassed to tell us about.