Acknowledgements

First, my heartfelt thanks to my family: my mother, Margaret Ball; my sister, Sally Ball; my father, Terry Ball; and my partner, Sarah Hobday. Your support makes so much of this possible.

Thanks also to my parents in crime at Write Club, Angela Slatter and Kathleen Jennings, where so many of these stories were drafted.

Thanks to the editors who commissioned my stories for anthologies: Jennifer Brozek, Robin Laws, and Heather Woods.

The staff and student body of the Griffith University Creative Writing program, who gave me the opportunity to both learn about the short story and teach others about them as well (and really, teaching is just another kind of learning).

The team of Queensland Writers Centre., where I worked as so many of these stories were being written, and whose influence still guides my career today.