(Maintaining my position that Sunday updates can also completed on a Monday! I’ve now set myself a reminder… )
Reading:
This week I finished Found by Australian indie author Melissa Pouliot – a complex, engrossing, moving story that breaks the mould of a traditional murder-mystery.
Found moves between multiple character viewpoints and between decades to tell the story of Annabelle, a seventeen year old runaway who has been missing since the 1980s, and the impact of her disappearance on her family and friends, thirty years later.
I loved the evocation of time and place in this book – the grittiness of Kings Cross in the eighties and now, Melbourne, Far North Queensland – the settings are vivid and real. And although the novel moves between characters, their individual voices are so clear it never becomes confusing.
This was a great read, and made even more poignant by it being based on true events – Melissa Pouliot’s own cousin vanished at age seventeen, and she herself has lived with the mystery of that disappearance for decades. I’d definitely recommend it.
Writing:
I finally sent the draft of my next YA contemporary novel, Mirror Me, off to beta readers for feedback!!
I’ve come to love this stage in the process where I can take a breath, feel a sense of (momentary) accomplishment, and think about something else for a while (in this case, starting on Book Two in my fantasy series Darkfall).
I used to be terrified about getting feedback but now it’s one of my favourite parts of the writing process – accessing brains other than my own poor brain, which gets tired and stale, and getting fresh ideas and perspectives is valuable beyond measures.
Publishing:
This weekend I received a proof copy of the paperback of my novel The Space Between!!! The photo is of me in my car just after I picked it up from the parcel centre. It is such a wonderful feeling to hold it in my hands after so much work.
Thee are a few tweaks still t
o make to the cover design (which overall I’m thrilled with, thanks to my awesome designer Zoella Rose) and soon it will be finished and ready to go.
I’ll be running a Goodreads Giveaway in the next few weeks, so stay tuned…
I also received the copy edits back on The Dying Flame, the first book in my Darkfall series, from my equally fabulous editor Jemimah at Oddfeather Creative. I’ll be working through those in the next few days, and looking on track to have the book available by late October, which is hugely exciting!!!
Watching/Listening:
This week I listened to the whole of the podcast Trace in basically one go. Trace is an amazing example of painstaking investigative journalism, looking into an unsolved murder from the 1980s, and uncovering new leads that revive the hope the case might be solved. It’s incredibly gripping, dark, and really gets under your skin. There are some real surprises, and very confronting stories, but if that’s your kind of thing I’d absolutely recommend it.
I’ve also finally, after a couple of very late nights, caught up with Game of Thrones – SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Won’t say anything else about that at this stage.
That’s it from me for this week! Go well, everybody.
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