BOOKS & STORY TIME
I’ve Written a Children’s Book. Meet Natalie and Dirk!
The story I carried for four years, the characters coming to life and your invitation to the free online launch.
Read article →COME AND CELEBRATE WITH ME
The Talking Fish
at Buddleia Cove
Free Online Book Launch
Wednesday 25 November 2026
8:00–8:45 pm Melbourne time (AEDT)
Online via Zoom
Register to receive your Zoom joining details.
CONNIE’S BLOG
Honest conversations.
Ideas to move you forward.
Thoughts on second chances, speaking with purpose and creating events that matter. Practical ideas, clear questions and room to see things differently.
READ & REFLECT
From the blog
LIFE & SECOND CHANCES
You do not have to stay who you were
Moving forward does not mean pretending the past never happened. It means deciding what you will do next.
Read article →
SPEAKING & CONNECTION
A powerful message starts with honesty
You do not need to sound impressive to connect with an audience. You need something worth saying, and the courage to say it clearly.
Read article →
EVENTS & PRACTICAL TOOLS
Before you book the venue, know the purpose
A clear event brief helps you make better decisions about the budget, programme, venue and guest experience.
Read article →A new story from Connie Paglianiti
I’ve Written a Children’s Book. Meet Natalie and Dirk!
I never thought I’d be launching a children’s book, but here I am!
The Talking Fish at Buddleia Cove began when I was in prison. An English teacher encouraged me to write, and I wrote a story about a little girl called Natalie and a colourful talking fish called Dirk.
Then I put it aside for four years.
I hadn’t forgotten it. I went on to contribute to a co-author book and write my memoir, encouraged by that same teacher. A US company sponsored my memoir, helping me bring my own story into the world.
But I still wanted to do something with my little talking fish.
Register for the free book launch
Getting the pictures out of my head
I could imagine Natalie, Dirk and their little seaside world. Getting those pictures onto the page was another matter.
By the time I revisited the story, AI tools had improved enormously. I could describe what I wanted, see the results and keep working on them until they were closer to what I had in mind.
And believe me, there was plenty of tweaking!
Natalie needed to look like the same girl throughout the book. Her blue hat needed to stay consistent. Dirk needed to stay little when he was beside her. Even the sand mattered. A stranded fish needs to be on dry sand!
These might sound like small things, but when you’re creating a picture book, you notice them.
I created the illustrations using AI tools, working through the details and making changes along the way. Finally seeing my story with pictures has been such a lovely feeling.
So, who are Natalie and Dirk?
Natalie lives in Buddleia Cove, a little town beside the sea. She loves exploring the beach and finding things along the sand.
One morning, she finds a small, colourful fish stranded there. She gently picks him up and takes him back to the water.
Then he thanks her.
Yes, the fish talks!
That’s Dirk. He has plenty to say, including a complaint about sand getting everywhere, even after Natalie has saved his life.
Their meeting begins a friendship, with a promise to return to the same place on the same day every year.
There’s kindness, humour and an underwater world to discover. I hope children enjoy getting to know them as much as I’ve enjoyed bringing them to life.
There’s a quieter part to their story too
The book also gently addresses the death of a friend and remembering someone special.
Loss is something many families find difficult to talk about with children. We want to protect them, but they still have questions and feelings.
I hope Natalie and Dirk’s story gives children and the grown-ups reading with them a way to begin that conversation.
You can stop, listen to their questions and talk about someone they remember. There’s no need to rush through it.
I know how much we can miss someone we love. Remembering them is part of keeping that connection.
David is helping them move and talk!
David is also helping turn the story into an animated short film.
Natalie narrates it, and there are captions, so the story can be enjoyed by watching, listening or reading along. I wanted to offer another way for children and their families to enjoy the book, including those who find reading or hearing the story difficult.
It’s quite something to see characters you’ve spent so much time imagining begin to move and speak.
There’s also a PDF colouring book, giving children a chance to spend a little more time with the world of Buddleia Cove and get creative themselves.
You’re invited to the launch
I’d love you to join me for the free online launch of The Talking Fish at Buddleia Cove.
Wednesday 25 November 2026
8:00–8:45 pm Melbourne time (AEDT)
Online via Zoom
Free to attend. Registration required.
Parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, godparents, teachers and librarians are all welcome.
And if you have friends with children, please share the invitation with them too. You can join us from anywhere, just remember to check the time where you live.
On launch night, there will be a special ebook offer of $2.99. Those who purchase on the night will also receive the animated story video and PDF colouring book as gifts.
With Christmas coming, I hope Natalie and Dirk will find their way into a few stockings and plenty of family story times.
Register for the free book launch
Or visit books.conniepaglianiti.com/talking-fish.
The Zoom link will be emailed closer to the launch. Even if you’ve clicked “Going” on Facebook or “Attend” on LinkedIn, please register through the link above so you receive it.
Thank you for encouraging me
That teacher’s encouragement helped me do something I wouldn’t have thought of doing on my own.
Four years later, I’m getting ready to share the story she encouraged me to write.
Thank you to David and to everyone who has shown an interest, sent a lovely message or shared the launch invitation. It means a great deal to me.
I can’t wait for you to meet Natalie and Dirk. 💛
Connie Paglianiti
LIFE & SECOND CHANCES
You do not have to stay who you were
A difficult chapter can become the first thing people see when they look at us. Sometimes it becomes the first thing we see in ourselves, too.
We start introducing ourselves through what went wrong. We assume that an old decision, a mistake or somebody else’s judgement has settled the question of who we are.
I went to prison at 61. At 66, I completed a Diploma of Event Management at Swinburne. At 67, I became a bestselling author, and at 68 I stood on the TEDxKew stage. Those milestones did not undo the past. They were the result of continuing to learn and contribute.
Take responsibility, then take a step
Moving forward does not require you to deny what happened. Responsibility matters. So does recognising that responsibility includes the choices you make today.
You cannot rewrite yesterday. You can decide how you treat people, what you learn, which promises you keep and what you do with the next opportunity.
Start smaller than you think
You do not need a grand announcement or a perfect plan. Start with one useful action: make the call, ask for help, enrol in the course or finish the task you have been putting off.
Small actions give you something more dependable than a burst of motivation. They give you evidence that you can follow through.
Give yourself room to grow
Other people may take time to see a change. You may take time to believe it yourself. Keep doing the work anyway.
A second chance is something you build through your decisions. The question is not whether your past exists. It is how much of your future you are willing to let it decide.
SPEAKING & CONNECTION
A powerful message starts with honesty
It is easy to spend so much time trying to sound like a speaker that you lose the person behind the words.
We add bigger phrases, polish away the rough edges and rehearse every gesture. Then we wonder why a message that looks good on paper feels distant in the room.
Preparation matters. But the audience still needs to hear a human being.
In my TEDxKew talk, I speak about responsibility, stigma and what happens after someone changes. My lived experience gives me a reason to open that conversation. The preparation helps me make it useful to the people listening.
Know what you want them to take away
Before you build your slides, write one sentence explaining what you want people to understand, question or do afterwards.
If that sentence is unclear, another ten slides will not solve the problem. Make the message clear first.
Choose the story that serves the message
A personal story earns its place when it helps the audience understand something useful. You do not have to share every detail or your most painful experience.
Choose what you are comfortable sharing. Explain what happened, what you learnt and why it might matter to the people listening.
Use words you would actually say
Read your draft aloud. If a sentence feels awkward in your mouth, simplify it. If you would never say a phrase in conversation, ask why it belongs in your speech.
Give important ideas room to land. A pause can do more than another paragraph.
People do not need a performance of perfection. They need a clear message, delivered by somebody they can understand and trust.
EVENTS & PRACTICAL TOOLS
Before you book the venue, know the purpose
An event can look beautiful and still miss its purpose.
A venue, a menu and a programme are all important. But choosing them before you know what the event needs to achieve makes every later decision harder.
I bring more than 40 years of event experience to this question, from community events to major galas and international exhibition work. The scale changes, but the need for a clear purpose remains.
That is also where I ask people to begin with my EventCore™ planning tools: the Event Brief, before the supporting plans.
Answer three questions first
Who is this event for? What do they need from it? What would a successful result look like?
A workshop designed to teach a practical skill needs a different room, timetable and experience from a celebration, a fundraiser or a product launch.
Put the brief in writing
Record your audience, objectives, scope, available budget and the decisions that need approval. Agree who is responsible for each part.
This does not have to be a long document. It does have to be clear enough that the people delivering the event are working towards the same result.
Use the purpose to test your choices
When you compare venues, suppliers or programme ideas, ask how each option supports the event’s objectives. Look beyond appearance to access, capacity, logistics, costs and the experience you need to deliver.
Keep checking the brief as the event develops. If a decision changes the scope or budget, record it and get the right approval.
A clear purpose will not remove every problem. It gives you a solid starting point for solving them.