Where, oh where, has 2018 gone? I’m finding it difficult to believe that we’re halfway through August and that Spring is literally only weeks away (though that fact I am LOVING!)
In March this year I married the love-of-my-life and went on an amazing honeymoon to the Cook Islands and New Zealand. Our wedding day was perfect, but let me just say that wedding planning is a definite way to decimate whatever writing time I usually manage to claw together! After finishing the last round of edits on Laura the Explorer at the end of January, I planned to take a writing hiatus until after I got back from my honeymoon in April. Not only was I feeling drained creatively at the beginning of the year, but the honeymoon itself was a fantastic time to recharge. I returned ready to get back into writing but was railroaded by my day-job, which had managed to grow from being a part time thing to a full-time stress-monster in my absence. Fast-forward a few months and I feel like I’m finally getting back on track.
So – on to the book updates!
Book Updates:
Laura the Explorer
In January, I reported that LTE was going to an acquisitions meeting with Pantera Press. This it did in fact do, and sure enough about a week before my wedding they gave me a response. There was a contract on offer, but it wasn’t quite the contract I was expecting. They very kindly told me to get back to them once I was back from my honeymoon and able to think clearly again. So, come April, I did get back to them with some requested changes to the contract. Sadly, those changes weren’t things the publisher was willing to negotiate on, and they wished me the best of luck elsewhere.
Cue many tears (on my part). But I also welcomed a newfound resolve that becoming an indie author is in my best interests. And now, a few months on, after having let the book sit idle for a while (because in all honesty I just couldn’t bare to look at it), I am back on track. We’ve taken a two-and-a-half-year detour from the original self-publishing plans, but I have to believe it was worth it and that the book is so much better/ stronger/ faster (faster?) than before.
Today I started contacting editors, and I’ve pulled out and dusted off my old marketing and launch plans. More publishing news to come soon.
Kalileia
Okay, so unsurprisingly this didn’t win the TEXT prize. Having looked at it again, there are still a few plot problems that I am currently working on ironing out. In the spirit of getting back into writing (did I mention my writing dreams were somewhat crushed earlier this year?) I attended the Kids and YA Festival at the NSW Writers Centre in June which was hugely inspiring, and last week I wrapped up a four-week course on redrafting facilitated by the Australian Society of Authors. Both events have re-ignited my writing confidence, and the redraft of Kalileia is trucking along nicely.
Other writing projects
For now, I’m focussing on Kalileia and getting LTE prepared for launch. Part of the LTE launch plans involve getting a move on with LTE 2, so my next job in the upcoming weeks is going to be re-commencing work on the sequel.
What I’m reading
Too many books over the last six months to list them! It is very rare, however, to discover a book that literally makes me cry with a combination of awe and despair – awe that anything could be written so beautifully and despair that I shall never match such levels of mastery.
One such novel that does this to me, which I recently re-read for perhaps the fifth time in my life, is Tanith Lee’s Don’t Bite the Sun. Originally published as two novellas, I discovered the double edition when I was in high-school, and to this day it remains one of my favourite books. I can’t recommend this enough if you enjoy fantasy novels!
Photo by Alfred Schrock on Unsplash