Spring has arrived with unusually warm weather (and possibly no rain all month in Sydney?), which is unusual for this time of year. But I’m not complaining – I love warm weather, and with the days getting longer and daylight savings beginning tomorrow (yay!) I’m finally getting back into the swing of writing.
My writing mojo has also improved largely due to the fact that this month I converted my spare bedroom into an office! Not only did I buy an awesome new desk from Temple & Webster, but I also got a proper computer chair too. This might not sound that exciting, but one thing that was making my working-from-home days so much harder was that I was trying to write at the dining table on a rather uncomfortable dining chair (Great chair for dinner parties – not so great chair for typing on laptop). Investing in a designated writing space as well as an ergonomic set-up has made a HUGE difference. I used to wonder why after an hour’s worth of writing I’d get so super fidgety that I couldn’t possibly work any more. Now I know that it wasn’t just writer’s block kicking in – it was genuine neck/back ache!
Book Updates:
Laura the Explorer
Still with the publishers after submitting the requested revisions at the end of June. Still waiting to hear back on what they think of the newest version (and hoping like hell that I finally got it right this time!)
Kalilea
The final structural changes are almost complete – I’m hoping that the October long weekend, which commences pretty much right now, will see me with a completely finished, polished manuscript ready to send out to agents and/or publishers.
Next week I’m attending the ‘Open House with Hachette’ at the NSW Writers Centre, and I’ve submitted the first 20 pages of this manuscript to them for review. Part of the day will involve me sitting down one-on-one with an editor from Hachette to receive feedback on my submission, so I’m really excited to get some feedback on this from a publisher! The day will also involve discussions with other Aussie YA writers, and hopefully we’ll all get some really good info from Hachette on the current publishing landscape for YA fiction.
What I’m Reading
This month I read:
Heart of Mist by Helen Scheuerer
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas
I wasn’t planning on writing comments about the books I’ve read, however I feel the need to say that Tower of Dawn was amazing! I was a little concerned after reading A Court of Wings and Ruin, which I didn’t enjoy as much as Sarah's other books, but Tower of Dawn saw her writing right back on point and I loved this book! It surpassed my expectations, and I cannot wait for the next one.
Until next month xx
Photo by Antonio Ron on Unsplash