Well this year has truly flown past! Spring has arrived, which means we’re well on our way to the end of the year. Rather than lament how sorely neglected this blog has been, I’ll instead share what has been happening in my writing world this year.
Book Updates:
Laura the Explorer
So. Many. Revisions.
This has truly been the biggest learning curve and learning process as to how the world of traditional publishing works! I’m still blown away that a publisher is working with me and giving me such amazing feedback when I don’t actually have a contract with them… and yet I’ve heard from other writers that this is quite normal (for this publisher at least!). Along with the revisions there has been enormous wait times. But this is just all part of the process with traditional publishing – and it does take a bit of getting used to. Luckily, I have other writer friends and the amazing people online who share their experiences, so I know this is normal. Yes, you can expect to wait close to 4 months for a publisher to get back to you. No, that doesn’t mean they’re not interested – they are actually just very busy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide for very good ‘news’ when I had hoped to give at least monthly updates on my book’s progress. But I can report that right now LTE is back with the publishers again and I’m trying to distract myself with other things and not think about it too much!
Kalilea
So this is the name of the sci-fi YA novel I’ve been working on. I finished the second draft of this earlier this year (it was around about May) and sent it off to a group of beta readers. I had some really amazing feedback from them, and I know that they are all keen to read book 2. One thing I felt still needed work (and this reflected in the feedback from my readers) is that the world-building could be fleshed out a bit more. I knew this was always going to be a bit tricky, because trying to create a country that is set in the future comes with so many problems! After spending four weeks in Europe in July though, I’ve returned to Sydney with a whole lot of fresh perspective, ideas and solutions to a lot of the world-building challenges. This means I’m now right back into final edits on this manuscript, cleaning up a few things and fleshing out a few others. I know I’ll be able to solve all the little niggling inconsistencies now, and I’m super excited to finish this draft. What I will do with it once I’ve finished though is something I’m considering quite carefully… attempt the traditional publishing route or go down the self-publishing path? More info to come on this soon.
What I’m reading
I thought I’d start including a summary each month as to the books I’ve been reading. In the past few months here’s some of the books I’ve read:
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
The Lone City trilogy by Amy Ewing
The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Draekora by Lynette Noni
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Her Mother’s Secret by Natasha Lester
My (Not So) Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella
Until next time!
Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash