Brooke Clark

Thanks, it’s actually been very upsetting. My daughter has been mostly avoiding the socials today, which I’m relieved about, so she’s doing ok. I can’t stop checking to see what’s being said, though, so I’m not so great. Some of the things being said are horrible.

One of my kids has coprolalia as part of her Tourette’s, and it can be so distressing for her. Threads is a cesspool of Tourette’s bashing at the moment, but this article is really balanced - there are two groups of victims in this, and the organisers should have done things very differently.

Book cover: Burn, by Patrick Ness

One of my favourite authors! Burn, by Patrick Ness

Screenshot of The Muppet Show ad

Oh my heart! The nostalgia! #themuppetshow

Social media post by Richard Osman, screenshotted by the Instagram account iamthirtyaf: Just explained to a delighted American that we call ‘crosswalks’ ‘zebra crossings’. Then she asked what we call ‘crossing guards’ and I said ‘lollipop ladies’ and now she thinks I’ve just made the whole thing up.

I know Richard Osman is British but we use the same words, and jeez I love Australian language! 😂

Book cover: Vigil by George Saunders

Can’t BELIEVE Djokovic got through in the Aus Open tennis. In better news, George Saunders’ new book, Vigil, is in stock at Readings next week! You don’t understand how excited I am - Lincoln in the Bardo is one of my all-time favourite books.

My work desk - diary, pens, a cup of coffee and some flowers along with the corner of a monitor and keyboard

I’m back at work today after a long break. It’s actually going to be good to have a distraction from the sh*tshow that’s going on in America - I can’t seem to stop reading about it and listening to it.

Dan Ricciardo’s suit

Front of the 2011 Red Bull that Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel drove

Ayrton Senna’s suit

Decal: F1 The Exhibition Melbourne

F1 exhibition today! I’ve been watching F1 since I was a kid and went to my first race in 1996 when it first moved to Melbourne, so it was very cool to see. And the hubby was in heaven ☺️

#f1 #f1melbourne

Thank you ☺️ My daughter is doing much better at the moment, thank goodness.

Picture book - The Story of Ferdinand

Picture book - Don’t Forget

I had half an hour to kill so I popped into Readings Kids, as you do. Found one of my favourite childhood picture books, The Story of Ferdinand, and got teary reading Don’t Forget by Jane Godwin and Anna Walker, so unfortunately I had to buy them 😬

Doesn’t pay to kill time in a kids’ bookshop…

Sleeping emoji

It’s been a massive few weeks for us, with multiple hospital visits for my eldest & very little sleep. New specialist has referred us for a 5-day hospital admission to try to figure out what’s going on. In the meantime … zzzzz

PS: Paramedics are worth their weight in gold. Pay them all the money.

Auditing online courses today. Things I check:
- Are headings good signposts?
- Is the writing clear & easy to understand?
- Does it follow learning design best practice?
- Do the activities link back to the learning objectives?
- Is the page accessible?

Course creators, do you keep these in mind?

I’ve been an Asana user forever. After my ADHD diagnosis, I fell down the ADHD productivity rabbit hole and stumbled across one I hadn’t heard of before: xTiles. So far it seems to do most of what I like about Asana, but I can also make it look pretty! There might finally be a challenger for Asana!

At Intopia’s Disability and Inclusion event today, listening to all things online accessibility. Lots of interesting conversations. My biggest takeaways so far are that we shouldn’t shame anyone for trying to be accessible (perfect is the enemy of progress), and that you can start small.

Great timing - a work colleague just showed me a Chrome plugin called Toby this morning. I’m looking at it now so I can’t yet say it’s great, but so far so good. You get 60 free tabs and it’s $4-something US per month for more.

I’m with you there. I love my smaller car, but it just doesn’t meet our accessibility needs. It doesn’t fit my daughter’s wheelchair, so we have no choice but to buy a bigger car.

Feeling awesome on day 3 of a hospital stay for my kid, for some treatment that might help some of her disabilities, while there’s talk of disability and inclusion services being cut with a change of government.

My ragdoll cat, Jax

Timeline cleanse

Book cover: The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig

Just finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Oof, the feels at the end. 😭

(ID: Book cover, The Midnight Library)

You’re not wrong. Every year for the past 4 years I’ve been saying, ‘Next year will be better.’ Still waiting 😬

So disappointed I didn’t get to see you in Melbourne. Come back soon 😊

Book cover: ‘Meerkat Mayhem’ by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek

Mem Fox has published a new picture book. Exciting! One of my favourite pic books is ‘Whoever You Are’. Every time I read it to my girls when they were little, I would cry 😂 The use of repetition and perfect rhythm … they’re so important in picture books. Oh, and Mem Fox is the best!

In the crowd at the Pearl Jam concert in Melbourne, Saturday night.

At Pearl Jam last night in Melbourne 😊

Book cover: Charlotte’s Web, by EB White

Book cover: The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig

Trying to read in bed at night instead of doomscrolling. Loving this.

It’s so good to see all the people I used to follow at the bad place posting here 🥰

It’s mesmerising.

Excellent! 😊

If anyone has made a starter pack for Australian children’s book authors (especially picture book authors), editors, online accessibility resources or neurodiversity, I’d love to hear about them 😊