Category: Promote & Publish

Posted on by — 15 Comments

I’m The Next Big Thing apparently!

TNBTBanana
Okay, I know this Next Big Thing thing is BIG, and even though I’m fond of my town emblem, the banana is probably NQR. (Oh, anyone familiar with edits will know those letters stand for ‘Not Quite Right’. And I should know as I am mid-edits for the very first time. NQR is now tattooed on my brain!)
So what is Next Big Thing?
It’s a kind of online chain letter (and who am I to break the chain, given we are two days out from the next Apocalypse).
Sara Foster (who took part in my Author Harvest blog – delightful woman) tagged me as part of The Next Big Thing. I get to tell you about my current book (see Q&A below) and then I drag tag four unsuspecting, gullible, naive, lovely, supportive, generous writer friends: Allison Tait, Cate Ellink, Kerrie Paterson and Lily Malone to do the same. Then we promote each other to billy-o. (That’s okay as I am particularly keen for you to get to know these ladies. All three have debut novels due out next year, like me. 🙂
So, without further excuses (or desperate measures to avoid this “Amway of the author network”) here goes…
1) What is the working title of your current/next book?
House for all Seasons – my debut novel – will be available March 1, 2013. The Simmering Season will follow 12 months later. (Both perfectly timed for Mother’s Day).
2) Where did the idea come from?
See inspiration answer – Q9
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Contemporary Australian fiction (and I love the tag line on my gorgeous cover “Small towns can keep big secrets”)
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Oooh, what an exciting thought! Four strong females. Too easy…
Cute as a button Abbey Cornish (Sara), Tall, lanky kick-arse Cate Blanchett (Poppy), fiery, feminine and fabulous Nicole Kidman (Amber), all-around good egg, Toni Collette (Caitlin).
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Four women, four unravelled lives. The truth will bind them forever. (Okay, so that’s two sentences. (Yes, I am author. I recognise that! But it’s my blog.)
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
The delightful Clare Foster (Curtis brown Literary Agency) sold my two books to the amazing Larissa Edwards, who heads up publishing at Simon & Schuster, Australia.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft?
The first draft (50,000) words was courtesy of NaNoWriMo 2010.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I am influenced and encouraged by different books for the authors specific styles/strengths: Lisa Heidke’s witty dialogue; Posie Graeme-Evans’ stunning scene-setting, Sara Foster’s wicked weaving of plots and characters; Monica McInerney’s eclectic cast and clever characterisation; the mischievous Marian Keyes for the giggle factor, and Jodi Picoult’s tackling of real-life issues.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I remember it was early spring. I was sitting outside relishing the warmth on my face after a cold, cold winter and appreciating the different seasons we get to experience here in Australia.

The changing seasons inspire me. I love the contrast – and contrast makes for great characters and conflict. So I wanted to create four female characters as different as the seasons.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Why, the blurb – of course!

Bequeathed a century-old house, four estranged friends return to their New South Wales hometown, Calingarry Crossing, where each must stay a season at the Dandelion House to fulfil the wishes of their benefactor, Gypsy.

But coming home to the country stirs shameful memories of the past, including the tragic end-of-school muck up day accident twenty years earlier.

Poppy, a tough, ambitions journo still craving her father’s approval;

Sara, a breast cancer survivor afraid to fall in love;

Amber, a spoilt socialite addicted to painkillers and cosmetic procedures;

Caitlin, a third generation doctor frustrated by a controlling family and her flat-lining life.

At the Dandelion House, the women will discover something about themselves and a secret that ties all four to each other and to the house – forever.

So here we are. The Next Big Thing is done and dusted. Quite painless (although maybe I haven’t got it quite right as I think I’ve been double tagged with Pamela Cook in the new year. But that’s okay. Looking forward to it.)
Over to you fellow DIGRITS: Lily, Kerrie and Cate.
Posted on by — 8 Comments

Schlepping to Sydney for a Simon & Schuster Session

I’m taking time out of my Author Harvest to post a publishing journey update.

I have just returned from a meeting with my publisher in Sydney (Simon & Schuster). J and I flew down for the day to meet the team tasked with publishing and promoting my debut novel House For All Seasons early next year. The welcome we received was so wonderfully warm (although walking into the boardroom and being seated at the head of the table with a few dozen pair of eyes trained on me was a tad daunting.)

I need not have worried. Even though I was a long way from my country comfort, I was ‘at home’ from the first hello hug. And when Larissa Edwards (Head of Publishing) introduced my book, telling her team the tiniest detail of each character I knew I was in the right place and in the very best hands.

She got it! — me, my story, my characters. (Isn’t that what every author wants? For a reader to ‘get it’?)

After meeting my publicist, interstate sales reps and chatting with staff, three star-struck Simon & Schuster authors spent two excited hours chatting over coffee — the delightful Anna Romer (L) and Karen Davis (R) – both with debut novels out August 2013. The three of us clicked immediately (and discovered so many connections – too many to be coincidences – we decided our writing journeys had led each of us to that meeting and it was the start of a very special friendship.)

I will be featuring these talented ladies in my Author Harvest, so stay tuned.

Oh, and in case the special star treatment went to my head… This was my reality the next day. What this author REALLY does some days!

 

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Not THAT kind of hero!

As writers of fiction we conjure up heroes on a regular basis.

I don’t use the word hero loosely, and unlike the media and certain sports commentators, I don’t attach the ‘hero’ label to just anyone.

Today I did.

Today I heard from two very different types of heroes who told me about even more real-life heroes:

  1. those generous people who have planned to say ‘OK’ to organ and tissue donation to save lives, and
  2. those who say ‘OK’ to donating despite grieving the unexpected loss of a loved one.

In the name of research for book three – Season of Temperance – I attended a presentation by North Coast Area Health’s Organ and Tissue Donation Nurse, Anne Judd, and liver transplant recipient, Adam Gilmore.

As Anne explained the role of a country-based organ and tissue donation coordinator to  the audience of mainly sexagenarians (and I am probably being generous there) I became aware of the depth and breadth of a role that exposes her to extremes: grief, anger, joy, fear, limitations, legalities, timeframes and clinical decision-making…

Wow! I will never complain about having a desk job again.

Then there was Adam.

Hero?

You bet. What this man and his family endured sounded too unreal to be true. Sadly there are too many more just like him.

What a story Adam had to tell.

How did I feel after listening?

Blessed and baffled – baffled that last year Australia had only 337 organ donations, while 1,700 waited on lists. Sadly, 20% of those waiting died without receiving a transplant.

More than anything, and most importantly, I was inspired to spread the ‘donate life’ message – hence my blog post.

Okay, I hear you! You are alive and well. What can you do? (After all, one can only “rip our heart from our chests” in fiction books – right?)

Let me tell you what you can do right now:

  1. Inform yourself on the subject and make the choice that is right for you. Get the facts, dispel the myths, be inspired – www.donatelife.gov.au
  2. Start the conversation with family (parents and children) so they understand your choice.
  3. Register your decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register and encourage friends to do the same.

Do it today, tomorrow, next week. But do it. Please.

Just click here to Donate Life online.

Now share this with your friends.