My work sanctuary. By Kerrie Hess.

As a writer and illustrator I am very used to being quietly cocooned in my lovely, creatively unorganised office. I’m either tapping away at the keyboard, or drawing into a sketch pad, take-away latte on desk, Pink Martini playing in the background…  Office politics?  Nada. Wet hair still in a head towel while working?  Sometimes. 

There are of course the occasional moments when I miss the water cooler gossip of a big office.  The who is stealing from the stationary cupboard again and the who sang copacabana fuelled by too many appletinis at the Christmas party, are sadly no longer part of my work life. 

But on the whole, I love working for myself.  Aside from writing books for tweens, my work in fashion and beauty illustration can range from department store windows in the US, to Japanese t-shirt designs, all illustrated to my own soundtrack, and the sweet scent of a diptique candle. 

Two weeks ago however I left the comfort of my work sanctuary in Melbourne en route to Sydney to catch up with the lovely team at Random House and see some book editors in the name of press for Girls Only.

Our main appointment was with Amy, the editor of Girl Power. During the catch up, I was completely inspired and captivated by Amy’s path to success at such young age, I almost forgot to plug my own book.

Safely back to the Random House offices, I was asked to film a video blog for Girls Only.  I smiled and casually replied that it was no problem at all, even though I actually would prefer to run off a bridge than be filmed on camera…

Suddenly putting a freelance writer behind a camera?  Priceless…

www.kerriehess.com