Window in the Dark, or Boo to a Goose, was dictated by Cusack in response to a suggestion by close friend and former NSW Teachers' Federation President, Sam Lewis, that she might write her story of her school teaching years in preparation for the centenary celebrations of the NSW Education Department.
The (then, 1970s) current NSW Teachers' Federation had other ideas for a publication, which became Sydney and the Bush : A Pictorial History of Education in New South Wales [compiled by Jan Burnswoods and Jim Fletcher]. Sydney : N.S.W. Dept. of Education, 198
Cusack tried several other avenues for possible publication including APCOL, and published extracts in the journals Nepean Review and Hecate.