Drew Bale - author

31/12/2025

This is my top books read in 2025.

Lord of the rings, the fellowship of the ring.
The Bourne Identity.
Wonder.
Ready Player One.
Eleven Rings - Phil Jackson.
Project Hail Mary.
Rabbit Soldier Angel Thief.
Legends and Soles - Sonny Vaccaro.
Not everything counts, but everything matters - Ivan Cleary.
The N64 Encyclopaedia.

I would recommend anyone to read any or all of these.

31/12/2025

Happy New Year everyone.

This time last year I had 2 goals for the year. The first was to read more and the second was to write more.

I had 2 reading goals within my 'more reading' goal. The first was to read 17 books that I hadn't gotten around to. And the second was to read at least 20 pages of a book a day. How did I go?
I read 53 books (yet still missed a couple from the 17 I intended) and read a total of 14643 pages; which was almost double my intended reading.
This picture is my read pile.

My writing was not as successful, but my Maths says I can move some reading time into writing time and still read a bunch. Here's hoping for a different story (literally) in 2026.If you know a publisher send them my way if they want to jump on board.

Thanks for everyone's messages of support, including Collins Booksellers Orange who frequently act as cheerleaders.

Here is to a great 2026.

11/10/2025

It was great to hang out with this group of authors, and the Collins Booksellers Orange team.
Until next time.

09/10/2025

I haven't been on the Facebook for a while, but that doesn't I haven't been hitting the books. Reading lots (trying to read a book a week), writing when I can, and idea-ing in my notebook.
However, this weekend, Saturday the 11th October, I have been asked to venture down to my local bookstore, Collins Booksellers Orange, for a meet and great of local authors - including myself and others.
I will make an appearance, but way better is hearing Freya Blackwood reading 'A song for a king' just before. We are so lucky to have this Aussie Legend living and creating within Orange. Don't miss that, especially if you have young kids.

There is a whole bunch of other promotions and offers available, so get down and love your bookstore this weekend.

08/03/2025

Busy start to 2025, but making good with my goals and smashing into.

Already getting excited about this one.

17/02/2025

Get amongst it. No fee, basically anyone can enter. Get your writer on

BANJO PATERSON WRITING AWARDS CALL FOR ENTRIES:

This year, we are pleased to announce there will be NO ENTRY FEES in the annual Banjo Paterson Writing Awards competition.

Entries for the annual Bano Paterson Writing Awards open TODAY Monday 17 February, 2025 – the anniversary of Banjo’s birthday.

The awards, established in 1991, aim to honour Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson, acknowledged as a great writer and favourite son of Orange, with a competition encouraging Australian content. However, entries do not have to be written in Banjo’s style of bush writing.

There are three categories with generous prizes to be won:

1. Short Story with a maximum word limit of 3,000 words. First Prize $2,000
2. Contemporary Poetry not exceeding 200 lines. First Prize $2,000
3. Children’s section, for entrants 16 years and under, Short Story 1,000 words or Poem no longer than 30 lines. First Prize $200, Second Prize $100 and Third Prize $100.

Entries are due Friday 2 May 2025 at 5pm. They can be emailed or posted.
Winners will be contacted by phone on Wednesday 18 June 2025 and publicly announced at the annual Orange Readers and Writers Festival to held on Saturday 2 August 2025.

Check the 2025 Entry Form for full terms and conditions and include with your entry:
http://www.cwl.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2025-Banjo-Paterson-Entry-Form.pdf

Previous winning entries can be found at Central West Libraries’ online resources Recollect for inspiration at: https://central.recollect.net.au

23/01/2025

I love creating lists and they can be about absolutely anything. This week is about books, so I decided to share it here.

There was, is, a podcast called Desert Island Discs that I listen to. The premise of the show is that it gives a short interview of a celebrity who discusses 8 songs they would take with them if they were stuck on a desert island.

This list is the same idea, but with books; and ten, not 8.

So here are the books I would take, and why.

1. Ivan Cleary, not everything counts, but everything matters - I am very into this book at the moment. It talks about how to overcome challenges, growth mindset, connection, communication and leadership; revolving around football. It probably helps that he is coaching at least one of my former students.

2. Salamandastron - Redwall was my first big chapter book series I read. This was also my first collection, and this book was the first one I owned. This book was read and reread a thousand times, hence how loved it looks, and reminds me of reading with some friends at school, on the bus, and wherever else I could. It also really reminds me of the school and city I grew up in.

3. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. I love Star Wars, and this is my most loved book. It lived in the bottom of my bag for years. It fits in between 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the jedi'. It fills in the gap between the movies and adds extra information which helps explain those movies.

4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - One of my favourite series, and as this is where it all begins it is easy to fall back in love with the magic all over again.

5. Lord of the Rings - My favourite trilogy ever. If stuck on a desert island what better time to jump back into middle earth. Plus once you finish this story, you can try and decipher the appendices included to see what else is happening and where it all fits in. Such fun.

6. Dinotopia - a childhood favourite. Dinosaurs, what else do you need. The charm of this book is it describes a eutopian society where humans live alongside the dinosaurs. There are still conflicts, but there is also language, laws, history and everything else that makes it interesting. Could get lost in this for a while.

7. Marvel Encyclopaedia - there are hundreds of different characters, teams, places, storylines inside this book. No matter how many times I have read it, I always find something I had not seen before, or simply overlooked. Full of ideas and links that can keep your imagination going for hours.

8. Ready Player One - the book I am currently reading (almost finished). It is a great book in its own right, but it is also filled with nostalgia and references from 80s (mostly) media, including video games, songs, movies and television shows. This would keep the nostalgia sparks buzzing.

9. The Martian - my favourite book (and movie). If stuck on a desert island, what better book would you want than one where someone is alone on a desert planet. All about survival, problem solving, and just getting on with it. A must.

10. Shakespeare, the Complete Works - I haven't read this, but would like to. Again, when you have nothing but time, what better way to spend it then reading, contemplating and analysing Shakespeare's stories. I may even be able to learn part of another language.

Those are my ten. Ideas? What are yours?

23/01/2025

Soon . . .
This was the cryptic message I posted on this day 5 years ago. It was all because I had decided to release a book independently for a few reasons.
1 - I didn't want to face another rejection letter. I have had many, some no responses, and I will get more. But, if a story is good, rejection or not it should be read.
2 - I had a small audience that wanted to read it. That was enough incentive to kick it all off.
3 - being an author was always a dream. Other people should not be able to decide how I dream.
4 - why not?

So, now, there are some numbers to assist with my journey.
5 Years of being an author.
Thousands of books sold.
Some best-selling titles.
4 published books.
5 Completed unpublished books
Multiple rejection letters
Some positive feedback letters
Invitations to author events

but also no books released in over a year.

So,

2 currently in the works.

Hoping a bunch of these numbers change in 2025.

Stop, hoping won't work.

It will happen.

Thanks to those who have followed so far. Let's see what the rest of 2025 brings.

The dream has not been achieved, it has merely been activated.

Back to work

01/01/2025

Happy New Year.

My goal for 2025 is to read more, and to definitely write more.

The stack of books in the pictures are the books that I read in 2024.

The other pic, with the books spread out, are the books I would like to read in 2025. The top row is the ones I didn't get to in 2024, mostly because I got distracted by other books.

Happy reading, and writing.

11/12/2024

I am a person of O-Town this week, grab a copy of this week's Orange City Life and see a face made for radio on the inside near the front. Thanks to Orange City Life for thinking of me, and always Collins Booksellers Orange for supporting this local.

Link in the comments