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!