Category: GENERAL

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What a year! The good and the bad of 2019.

From my house to yours…

I hope you are enjoying the festive season.

For me, 2019 has been a year of  ticking off big bucket list items, including swinging through the Daintree Rainforest dressed as Lara Croft (says so on my helmet!) and swimming on the Great Barrier Reef with sharks and sea turtles. For someone who has never been a water person, or liked heights, I did pretty good.

Two weeks later, of course, there was a fatal jungle surfing incident. A couple swinging through the trees on the very same cables, enjoying the same exhilarating experience, fell when those cables allegedly snapped. The incident is still under investigation, but I struggle to understand how this could have happened. The popular tourist attraction is extremely well managed and I had felt perfectly safe with very competent and attentive guides.

I WAS safe. I WAS Lara Croft!

If only super heroes were real. They could swoop in and lead us all into a safe and secure 2020.

Sadly, there would be no undoing the catastrophic bush fires, or New Zealand’s White Island eruption, but imagine how a super hero might give us hope for a brighter, safer decade–because I’m not seeing much hope in our politicians’ actions. (Politicians who think Australia’s unique and precious arts and culture will prosper and grow under the Dept. of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications!!! (We don’t even get a mention in that portfolio title. Out of sight, out of mind is what comes to MY mind!) You can read about this here.

2019 is ending with way too much bad news and some terrible tragedies, and while I’m no Lara Croft and able to save the day, I can continue to write my Australian stories so readers can escape the bad and the sad things in life, if only briefly.

I’m not a huge fan of New Years Eve. I’m one of those grinches who worries about the impact fireworks have on both our environment and our wildlife (and terrified domestic animals). But I do raise a glass to the people I love (past and present) and, as we welcome a new decade, I will be counting my blessings, praying for rain, hoping for sanity, wishing for peace, and, most importantly, donating money, goods, time and/or food to those less fortunate or in need.

We can be super heroes to those in the country struggling through drought. Rural Aid’s Buy A Bale drive is back, so consider doing your bit, even if it means buying one less book. Donate now.

Something else we CAN all do (and it costs nothing) is consider the wildlife (the cute and furry, the feathered, and the scaley) that all need to drink. No matter where you live – country or city – there will be a thirsty critter, so keep those containers topped up. (Don’t believe me? Check out these unexpected visitors dropping by for a drink.)

Most important of all…

Take care of yourself and make the most of each day. While we have it in us to get up and achieve something (or try) we must try. We can’t NOT do things because we are afraid. (Sorry about the double negative!)

I have no idea what the new decade will bring, but I know this….

And this was VERY good news and another bucket list item in 2019.

I self-published for the first time and House of Wishes is exceeding my expectations. Thank you to all who have bought, borrowed read or reviewed. My baby is doing so well (checkout the lovely reviews on Goodreads) that I am energised and madly writing book #7 for 2020. So stay tuned!

Now you’re done decking the halls, it’s time to bedazzle your bookshelf with Australian stories in 2020.

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Be-Cause I Can

Because I can, I’m lending my voice to a number of good causes and I thought you might be interested to know about them. (If you’re an aspiring writer you might be REALLY interested to know about one in particular!)

Myrtle the Turtle and I have been meandering around the eastern states over the last few years, so I thought it was time we headed west. When an opportunity arose to attend the inaugural West Coast Fiction Festival in November, knowing my involvement would be supporting a good cause (Share The Dignity) it was decided to drive Myrtle the Turtle the 4,452 kilometres to Perth from the NSW east coast.

It’s a big drive, but along the way, while passing all those beautiful WA trucks carting hay bales to drought-stricken farmers in the east, I decided I wanted to do something more to help. So, I joined forces with author mate, Josephine Moon, as well as some publishing industry heavyweights, like Allen & Unwin’s Annette Barlow, to do our bit. We’ll be raising money to buy bales for farmers by auctioning ourselves off! That’s right! Writers with manuscripts will be able to bid for our services, raising money for a good cause in the process. This is an incredible opportunity to have YOUR work get the attention it deserves!

Taking part (and there are even more, I’m told) is: Annette Barlow (Allen & Unwin), Ali Watts (Penguin Random House) and Sophie Green/Sophie Hamley (Hachette), Lousie Allan, Lisa Ireland, Annie Seaton, Jenn J McLeod, Michael Trant, Melinda Tognini, Katie Rowney.

The manuscript assessment/mentoring opportunities will be auctioned off via eBay, starting on 15 October, auctioned in three rounds: Round 1: 15 October; Round 2: 17 October; Round 3: 19 October.

Okay… There’s another mission, of course. I’ve been doing it for a while now.

 You all know how much I enjoy visiting small country towns to talk to local book lovers. Well, my Paddock to Print campaign, which is about encouraging Australian readers to support home-grown storytellers by choosing Australian-made stories, is going gangbusters. Check out all the places I’ve been, so far.

What is the campaign about?

For years we’ve been hearing the manufacturing sector – clothing and food – tell us to buy Australian-made. I thought, why not encourage people to buy or borrow home-grown stories over the imported, big-name author books? It really is as simple as asking your library or books shop for suggestions.  If you enjoy big-name overseas authors, your local librarian or bookseller will be able to recommend a local/Aussie writer whose novels are just as compelling and well-written. So, please help spread the word and buy Australian made fiction. Here I am spreading the book love at Donnybrook, WA.

And here I am on the west coast – finally – in the lovely Margaret River region (for research purposes, of course).

If you’d like to know more about the #BuyABale Fundraiser, check out Josephine Moon’s website.

If you are in Perth, I’d love to see you. Prior to the Perth event in November, readers and aspiring writers will catch me at events in Busselton (Busselton Library, 2pm October 12) and in Kwinana at the Kooliny Arts Centre’s Stories on Stage (7pm, October 31) with the lovely, Monique Mulligan.

 

And somewhere in the middle I’m Writer-in-Residence at the Serenity Press Writers’ Retreat in Capel.

So, it’s all happening in the west. Then, come December, Myrtle and I will be making the trek back home to Coffs Harbour.

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Then something magical happened.

I apologise for letting 2017 slip by without a book, but I was forced into taking a break. Not only did I need to refill the creative well, I had to remind myself why I do this writing thing. Of course it’s because I have stories to get out of my head, but I’ve realised over the last six months that I also do it for the connection writing brings me.

YOU – the emails, the social media comments, the happy hour conversations about books and publishing in camp kitchens.

To keep the books coming, I had to work out the best way forward for me and in doing so I discovered four things:

  1. I have some of the loveliest readers and a generous writer community behind me. Please, keep sharing the love and recommending my books to your friends because…
  2. Publishing is not about words, it is about numbers. The success of a book has little to do with how hard the author works, or how powerful their prose and plotlines. A book needs a team of people behind it who are equally as passionate, and that includes word of mouth by happy readers.
  3. The thought of no longer being Jenn J McLeod, Author, left me confused and depressed. (I don’t remember who I was before I decided to become a writer ten years ago or who I might end up being without it – and that’s a bit scary.)
  4. Most important of all . . . if I want more readers to be reading my stories, including those living outside Australia (and NZ) I needed to make it happen for myself, which meant being brave, believing in myself, taking back some control and making the hard decisions.

Then something magical happened and I am abuzz with this exciting new chapter in the Jenn J McLeod Author journey.

I so look forward to next year when the UK’s Independent Publisher of the Year, Head of Zeus, will publish my beautiful book with a beautiful cover and distribute it throughout the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and worldwide. Alleluia!

In fact, the adventure has already begun. Even before the final contracts were signed, I was having editorial discussions and fine-tuning the structure of BOOK #5. That’s how excited my new editor is about this book—a story that is incredibly special to me for reasons I will explain in the coming months. The yet-to-be-titled release holds a place in my heart because it proves some friendships are meant to be.

Did I mention my new editor is excited?

Well, blow me over with a feather, so am I because my new editor is none other than Rosie de Courcy—Rosie who in 1976 read a ‘little’ unpublished manuscript titled ‘The Thorn Birds‘ (later acquiring the UK rights for Futura publishing house in 1977). And if that did not have me blinded with self-doubt and disbelief that she would be interested in my story, the next bit of editor trivia did. Rosie was long time editor for another author you ‘may’ have heard of . . . Maeve Binchy!

Why am I telling you this?

Because The Thorn Birds connection is crucial to the story about how my novel first came to Rosie’s attention. You see, I had a dream and . . . (taking into account Items 1- 4 listed above and with thanks to Tess Woods for kicking my arse into gear and telling me to just bloody go for what I want) I followed that dream.

And that makes this Chinese proverb, which first came to my notice in a card, given to me by a special lady on the release of my debut novel (House for all Seasons), still relevant today.

I can’t wait to share more. So thank you for being on the journey with me and if you have fiction loving friends in the UK, it’s not too early to let them know. Maybe pass this email on or let them know about my website. I hope to be bringing a lot more fabulous UK authors to my new blog series, too: Author Portraits.