InkRoom

Darrel and Sally Odgers were both born in Tasmania and met and married there in the late 1970s. They have two adult children, Tegan and James. Sally wrote her first novel in three exercise books with a faulty pen when she was six years old. Was it any good? Who knows! No one, including Sally, has ever been able to understand her writing. That’s why she taught herself to type on a chunky old typewriter when she was eleven. It’s also why she can’t touch-type. As soon as she got a bit of speed on the keys she started writing her second book. At least she could read that one. Her first book was published when she was fifteen, and since then she has written at least one book every year.

Sally’s favourite place to write is down by the river – and that’s where she and Darrel dreamed up the Jack Russell: Dog Detective books. Writing the series was great fun especially as Sally and Darrel own two adorable Jack Russell dogs. Sally’s favourite so far is The Kitnapped Creature.

Sally has some good advice for young writers. She says, “Learn how to write proper sentences. Learn how to spell. Don't EVER rely on a spell checker. It will help you with words like wsa or hte, but it WON'T help with mistakes like the ones in the following sentences.
He is afraid he will loose his way.
OR
She lead the weigh to town.
Once you have the basic skills of sentences, paragraphing, punctuation and spelling, then you can concentrate on writing wonderful stories that people will actually WANT to read.”

Sally Odgers should know. She has written over 270 books and has held writing workshops in every state of Australia, as well as the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. She is keen to encourage young writers to follow their dream.

You can read more about Sally and Darrel at www.sallyodgers.com or find out the latest about Jack Russell at his own site www.jackrusselldogdetective.com Soon Jack will be joined on the shelves by his daughter Trump, starring in the Pet Vet series. The first two titles are Cranky Paws and The Mare's Tale.

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And here is our recipe for Dog Soup! 

No, no, it's not soup made from dogs. It's soup FOR dogs! This soup is great for older dogs or puppies, but they all seem to like it. Get a grown up to help you, 'cos stoves are hot.

Boil six chicken legs in three cups of water until the meat falls off the bones. Let it cool, and then break the meat up and put the bones in the compost bin. Don't give them to the dog, 'cos cooked chicken bones can make your best four-legged friend sick.

Chop up two carrots and a small head of broccoli. Boil or steam this until soft. Now, mash it all up with the chicken and water. Add a small spoonful of powdered chicken or beef stock (the sort you use to make soup for people). Now put the lid on the pot and set it in the fridge. In a few hours, your dog soup will look like wibbly wobbly jelly. You can serve it cold or you can warm it in the microwave. You can even float a sprig of parsley on top and put a napkin over your arm.

Dinner is served!

This will feed a little dog for nearly a week.