Summer is rapidly fading here in Sydney, and aside from a quick trip to Singapore with my Mum (no we didn’t get coronavirus there, but we did get our temperatures checked everywhere we went) it’s been back into the swing of author-life for me.
In early Feb I participated in a Romance Writers of Australia critique matchmakers night – basically speed-dating for writers looking for writerly friends! I was lucky enough to connect with two amazing authors, and am thoroughly enjoying being able to chat about writing-related things with them both (as opposed to attempting to talk about this with anyone else and watching their eyes glaze over in boredom). If anyone is a writer of a genre that could loosely be called romance, then these events are definitely worthwhile! Honestly, trying to make writer friends who are at a similar level professionally to you is almost impossible. But speed-dating for writers is a great starting point.
I’ve also submitted work for a number of writing-related competitions and programs, all of which I now have to wait weeks, if not months, to hear the outcomes of. I’m doing my best to just put these things out of my mind – but failing miserably most days!
But now, on to the...
Book Updates:
Eat Pray Shag
It’s been read by my awesome team of beta readers and I’ve made the last-minute tweaks and adjustments based on their feedback. I’m also so happy to hear how much they all loved this book! I think this is the best book I’ve written to date, and I can’t wait to get it out into the world and into the hands of readers. Right now it’s in the hands of my wonderful copy editor, who will go over it with a fine-toothed comb and turn it into a glossy show-dog as opposed to a puppy just returned from the park with grass fronds all stuck in its fur.
I’m also in the final stages of cover design with my amazing cover designer, and I can’t wait to show everyone the beautiful cover once it’s ready – hopefully now only a couple of weeks away.
LTE Book 3
Yes, I’m already hard at work on book 3 in the series! I’m aiming to have this one written and published by December this year so there’s not such a big gap in time between books. I’ve spent the last few weeks doing lots of planning for this book, as I’m aiming to have a much stronger outline prepared before I launch into the grind of daily word counts. Part of this time has been spent doing lots of research for some of the elements of the book – which I’ll confess have been a lot of fun! Researching and dreaming about the storylines is one of my favourite parts of book planning, although trying to nail down those ideas into a solid outline can be slightly more challenging. But I’m really excited for this part of the story, and for where Laura as a character gets to go! But I’ll share more details on this book – including the title reveal – once book 2 is out and about.
Kalileia
I haven’t had time to do anything on this book in the last month, though I’ve been thinking about it a lot and have a really solid idea on how I want to change it to make the story stronger. What happens next with this will depend on the outcome of some of the competitions/ programs I’ve applied for (as mentioned in the intro) so while I wait on those results, Kalileia is patiently waiting in the shadows.
What I’m Reading
This month I’ve read a couple of manuscripts for one of my new authorly friends who I met via RWA critique matchmakers. It’s such an honour to read an author’s work in progress, and I’m so excited about her writing and for the day to come when she lands a publishing deal!
I’ve also read two great fantasy YA books: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and Skin Hunter by Tania Hutley. Skin Hunter was a surprise read for me, as I knew nothing about it but bought it out of a BookBub promo email. I absolutely loved it though, and am really looking forward to reading the rest of the series!
What I’m Listening To
The Dark Web podcast series from Audible Original. This series is amazingly fascinating!
The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb. I’m a bit late to the party on this one (it was first published 6 years ago) but after reading Annabel’s essay in the Quarterly Review, I was really interested to read this book. And it doesn’t disappoint! I constantly find myself laughing out loud (often while out walking alone in the streets) and feeling really quite amazed by this book. This is a must read for anyone, but especially for people in their 20s and 30s who are thinking about starting a family soon! And girls – make sure your male partners read it too!
Photo by Alyssa Strohmann on Unsplash