Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to thank you for starting up your very own ‘youth’ blog. As someone who has just written a book all about blogging it pleases me greatly to think of the Australian Prime Minister staring at a computer screen and screaming, ‘Why won’t this image upload? I keep pressing ‘Upload’ and nothing happens. And how do I make all my links fluorescent green anyway?’

However having looked at your youth blog I thought I would offer a few suggestions so that your blog might be somewhat more appealing to the kids.

To start with I think you should include some reference points for young people. And when I say ‘reference points’ I mean lolcat jokes. For example you could include a picture like this:

It will demonstrate that you can make fun of yourself and that you can speak the contracted language of the young.

I like the way that on your last blog post you asked readers to tell you what they would do if they were Prime Minister for a day. You should know that while some people think you are a stern taskmaster with no sense of fun, I can assure you that ALL young people would love to be you for a day. Mainly so they could call Obama and have a chat with him on the phone.

Which makes me wonder – when you call leaders of foreign nations do you use Skype? It’s cheaper than calling on the phone you know. Plus you could do video link-ups. Just imagine being about to see the looks on the faces of the Burmese junta when you tell them about new sanctions being introduced on their country!

I think that your blog would also benefit from some widgets. For example how about a widget to countdown to Malcolm Turnbull’s birthday?

Nothing says ‘bi-partisanship’ more than getting the leader of the opposition a present for his birthday.

Finally, I like a blog post that finishes on a light note – sometimes with a YouTube clip that gives me lolz.

Perhaps a clip like this one would be a good starter?

I think if you follow my suggestions and ‘funk up’ your blog you will immediately garner a strong following from every member of The Youth demographic. After all, The Youth are the future of this country’s federal electorates.

Kind regards,
Andrew McDonald
Author of The Greatest Blogger in the World

I did an event at Gasworks Arts Park in Albert Park today as part of the Story Festival and DIY was the theme of the day.

We were in the Garden Studio at the back of the festival where I talked about Greatest Blogger and blogging and writing stories. With the help of the delightful group of kids (and some of the parents) we made up our own story about a rollerskating turtle called Fluffy.

Then everyone got to work making their own books  - filled with words and illustrations and bound together with ribbon. There’s nothing quite like making your own book from the words to the hole punches to the ribbon binding. DIY book culture is a fine thing indeed.

This is my attempt at doing a video reading of my book (and two others). Make sure you hang out to see the final book I read from. It’s one of my favourite childhood books.

Oh and subscribe to my YouTube channel while you’re at it!

I tried to do a Skype video link-up with Hawkesdale P12 – a little school in the south of Victoria, just inland from Port Fairy and Warrnambool – today but was thwarted by bad internet caused by bad weather at Hawksdale.

Some students from Hawksdale P12 attended my Melbourne Writers’ Festival session in August and have been in touch with me on this blog ever since. It was a shame not to be able to chat to them properly again today. It has left me with a dark and stormy feeling inside. I will now express my feeling of storminess with this very literal pictorial representation:

I don’t want to get on my high horse – for horses are hard enough to ride without being metaphorical as well – but there’s a new Australian film out called Charlie and Boots that stars Shane Jacobson and Paul Hogan and I was never even consulted!

For those who don’t know, two of the main characters of The Greatest Blogger in the World (the romantic leads in fact) are called Charlie and the Boots. Now I can hear you saying to yourself “Well ‘Charlie and Boots’ if very different to ‘Charlie and the Boots’” but I’m not sure one little ‘the’ makes it OK.

No doubt the producers of the film saw my book when it was released two months ago and quickly changed the characters names and title of their little film after realising the hookyness of ‘Charlie and the Boots’. Never mind the fact that the film would have been in production for years.

And they no doubt thought they could entangle themselves from potential legal action by putting a ‘the’ in there. Well, they may have. But what’s more powerful? The Australian legal system or my blog. That’s right, film producers. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

PS. The similarities between the film and book characters’ names may have simply been due to some Jungian-style collective unconscious creativity a couple of years back. We may never know. Not consciously anyway.