Heading back, looking forward
Hello everyone,
As I’m writing this, on a Saturday, I’m staring down the barrel of 8 or 9 or 10 weeks of full time + work.
I think it’s important to clarify that when I’m working full time in schools I still have business things to do. I still work some weekends, I still have to ship orders, complete accounting, design books, etc, etc. This means that these periods end up being quite exhausting.
I want to flag this but also say, as a promise, let’s not dwell on this. There would be nothing more dull than 8-9 weeks of me saying ‘gosh working with kids is tiring’. You know that already, as do I, so let’s talk about anything else.
Oh while we’re here. If you’re a teacher in a Victorian school and want to host me in 2026 I’m starting to run workshops at schools and there’s also the Creatives in Residence program I’d be happy to apply for as well.
But what I felt like sharing today was that the rest of the year feels fairly locked in, and it can be good to share where we’re up to.
In October I have the following on:
a) Grind away earning cash by working with teens, Monday to Friday.
b) Same Page Art Book Fair October 18+19 - if you’re in Melbourne this is one of my favourite fairs. It’s fun, friendly, not too busy, run by awesome people and something I really enjoy being present at each year. Come see me next weekend (October 18+19) at Same Page in Preston!
c) The first draft of my upcoming book Ten Eighty will be ready this month - I am so keen to see it. It’s been interesting working with someone new on this. For a while I thought I’d make the book myself, but as I worked on it I realised I needed help from a designer. I was working with one person and enjoying it immensely, but as the baby came along I realised I needed to find someone else, a bit more strident and with a bit more of an editorial focus. It’s always hard swapping people because I feel like a dickhead letting someone down, but the thing is each person has different skills and sometimes it still takes me a while to work out who’s the best person to work with.
d)The next two Tall Poppy Press books should be pretty much in production this month. There is one where we had a bit of a shit show with a printer (they just stopped communicating) so we’ve had to swap printers, which has pushed that book’s due date back like 2-3 months. Which is never a good feeling.
In November I will be focusing on:
a) Working with teens
b) Organising 2026 - I have three books lined up already and want to confirm 2-3 more by the end of November. There are two big events I’m co-leading that are happening in early 2026 and I want to organise all the graphic design, social media, website, etc, stuff for those.
c) I want to release some new merch in March and make it a bigger thing than the two pieces we released so far. In November I’ll be working with a new design team to create some pretty interesting and gorgeous merch.
d) Finalising Ten Eighty’s design — this should be print ready by the end of November. I want it locked away before the baby comes.
e) Two books go to print this month
f) Any product that is getting released before July, 2026 needs to be designed and print ready by January 1st, so this will be the month I cut off any new projects and start aggressively pushing them until 2nd half of 2026. I just cannot imagine doing lots of design and production work with a newborn. Frankly, I just want to be a Dad, sell some books, and spend time with friends and family.
Can I pause here and say that I am immensely grateful to live in Australia where there is government funded parental leave for people like me who work for themselves? It’s surprisingly generous and will make it a lot easier to be a parent, support my partner and enjoy infancy.
It’s also a good time to publicly thank my partner for being very supportive of my weird career. She doesn’t get enough kudos.
In December I will be
a) Wrapping up my work with teens (phew)
b) Heading to Tokyo for the Tokyo Art Book Fair, just before Christmas, and grabbing lots of presents for my family there. This will be a lot of fun.
c) Starting to relax for summer. Summer is such a shit season in Australia. It’s too hot and all the fun stuff (eg beach) is packed with bumpkins. But we have some beach days planned, it’ll be cherry season, early magnoes will be ripe and present, and I’ll get to do a lot of me things, like move furniture around my house, buy a new couch, set up the baby’s things, go for some long runs, etc.
Anyway, I have a few things I should get on with. I have to print some photos for my sister, keep working on a grant application, do some cleaning, have a shower and buy some bread. Nothing crazy but nothing that exciting.
I should probably write about how the New York book fairs went for those who have told me they’re keen. Perhaps next week will be a good wrap up of the three book fairs (2x NYC, 1x Melbourne).
Please do come see me next week at Same Page in Preston, even just to drop in and say hello while having a coffee. If you’re northside it’d be great to say g’day. I’ll have flowers, decorations and a big smile. I think my gf will be there too so for those who love chatting to her that’s a draw. She usually comes, not for me, not for the books, but for her annual pilgrimage to Preston Chicken Shack where she buys too much chicken, too many chips and has a good time eating them while sitting at the book table with me.
Matt