Julie taps into her creative side with 'Superconscious Dave'

Wagga author Julie Busuttil was on a roadtrip when she ‘wrote’ the first draft of her children’s book Superconscious Dave and the Purple Fandango.

“I actually voice recorded it in about two hours on my way down to a girls weekend in Batemans Bay,” she laughs.

“It turned out to be a rhyming book, which is not what I intended at the start, but from there I embarked on a whole new learning journey of publishing and proof editing and typesetting and all these different things that go into it.”

Julie says the idea for a story following the adventures of a ‘superconscious’ alien named Dave came after she completed an online course during COVID-19 lockdowns.

“The course was all about understanding that everyone has that creative side and they can choose to tap into it, and it’s not as hard as people think,” she explains.

“So I thought, ‘OK, well, I’m gonna put this to the test’.”

As the story began taking shape, Julie enlisted friend Susan Buik to work on the illustrations.

“We were just sitting around one day, and I said, ‘Sue, I’m gonna write a book, can you illustrate it for me?’ It was as simple as that, but at the time, I think both of us didn’t really think we were serious,” she says.

“When I presented the draft manuscript, she said, ‘Oh, OK, right. Well, this is happening!’ and it was a joint learning curve for us as an author and illustrator.”

The pair’s first book was published in December of 2021 and follows the curious alien to Earth where he learns to manage his intentions and retrieves the ‘purple fandango’ from a tree.

They have now followed it up with a second adventure, Superconscious Dave and the Mysterious Poo Eater, released in November.

“He actually goes back in time to ancient Egyptian times, and he learns about Khepri, which is an Egyptian god most commonly referred to the dung beetle these days,” she says.

“It tells a story of essentially the dung beetle and why poo is so important to the dung beetles.”

While Julie says that selling kids books is tough, she is hoping to publish a third Superconcious Dave adventure and has also released a line of plush toys to accompany the book.

“They love the dolls, because everyone loves dolls!” she says with a laugh.

“Writing a book and publishing it was easier than the promotional side. That is tough because that genre is oversaturated with just so many different children’s books out there.”

Julie hopes that kids enjoy her quirky books and the messages they contain.

“They are a bit alternate because my interest is the human conscious mind and beyond that, what else is out there?”

“It can sound a bit ‘far out’ for some people, but I’m actually the most practical person you’d ever meet.”