Out of hibernation

I've been hibernating for the past month, especially in terms of blogging. But now I can finally 'fess up as to why my blog posts have grown so thin over the past few months.
On Friday, I attended an event at the State Library of Victoria where Lynne Kosky, the Victorian Minister for the Arts, announced the shortlist for the 2008 Victorian Premier's Literary Award.
As she read out the shortlist for the prize for Young Adult fiction, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Secret-keeping is hard work. Not being allowed to discuss the sixty-five books that I read as one of the judges of this prize has made blogging and talking books pretty awkward. Along with my very savvy co-judges, Simmone Howell and Anna Ryan-Punch, I wrestled my way through the weighty kilos and kilos of nominated books in less than nine weeks. Phew.