The question most often asked of authors, the time-honoured question is: ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ Morris Gleitzman, the hilarious Australian children’s author, tells children that he find his ideas between the Vegemite and the honey on supermarket shelves. Let me take you through the process so you can weep along with me and send me sympathy cards afterwards. Believe me, you wouldn’t want the misery of writing for the very young to take up any more than 10% of your time either, unless, of course, you enjoy being on Prozac and you look great in a strait-jacket. If it took up any more of my life it would be the death of me. It nibbles merely at the edges of my life. You will know that I loved writing this speech because it kept me from having to writing for children! Writing picture books is not what I live and breathe, in my daily life. Those who have heard me before will know how much I detest writing picture books. ‘Page-ripping writer’s rage: from first idea to final word in a picture book’ © Mem Fox Here’s the story of its creation, from a speech I gave at the International Reading Association in the USA. It makes me laugh aloud every time I see it. Here’s a hilarious ‘Where is the green sheep?’ clip made by Penguin’s Marketing and Publicity department. We have a green sheep toy in house which we hide from each other from time to time, so one of us has to say: ‘Where IS that green sheep?’ We might find it days later, sitting sweetly the wheelbarrow in the shed, or tucked behind the cereal in the pantry cupboard, or under a cushion that’s rarely moved, or behind the spare toilet rolls in the loo.

Judy Horacek (right) and me, at the launch in Canberra of Green Sheep, 2004

Where is the green sheep by mem fox