I met British writer Margaret Skea at last year’s Historical Novel Society Conference in London, when we both stayed in the student accommodation at Marylebone Hall. Margaret is an award-winning writer of both short fiction and historical novels. Her new book, A House Divided, a sequel to Turn of the Tide, was released last month. I was delighted when Margaret agreed to an interview. Margaret, congratulations on A House Divided [...]
Hi all and apologies for not posting more regularly. I am really under the pump work-wise just now with the manuscript for Blackthorn & Grim Book 3 due to be submitted by the (extended) deadline of late January, so I am not attending to my social media very well. I have done a recent interview with the lovely Anne Gracie for Word Wenches, where she and I discuss Dreamer's Pool, [...]
Pan Macmillan's Australian edition of Tower of Thorns will be officially released on October 3. I have a couple of public appearances coming up to mark the occasion. The US edition, a lovely hardback, comes out from Roc on November 3. Saturday October 3: Book Launch at Stefen's Books in Shafto Lane, Perth CBD starting at 11am. I will do a reading, answer questions and sign books. From around [...]
We're getting close to the release date for Tower of Thorns (Blackthorn & Grim book 2) and I'm excited to share the news that the audiobook edition from audible.com is now in production! Like Dreamer's Pool, Tower of Thorns has three characters who share the narration chapter by chapter. For the audiobook edition we have, again, Natalie Gold reading Blackthorn's chapters and Nick Sullivan reading Grim's chapters - in this [...]
I was delighted when Tasmanian author Prue Batten agreed to an interview to coincide with the release of her new historical novel, Tobias. Prue was formerly a journalist and now describes herself on her website as ‘a cross genre writer who is also a farmer, dog owner, gardener and embroiderer.’ Prue also enjoys cooking – no surprise, really, since both gardening and cookery involve the same alchemy as writing fiction [...]
September's book is Hear Me Roar, edited by Liz Grzyb and published by Ticonderoga. The subtitle is 17 Stories of Real Women and Unreal Worlds. As the editor says in her introduction, the anthology features ‘the stories of women who, every day, need to be strong and brave in many different ways that aren’t always recognised as such.’ I love the fact that these stories are not all about warrior [...]
How do you decide which point of view to use when writing a story – first person, third person, a combination, or something else like a diary, letters, or even second person? How do you know which will work best for your particular story? The reader who raised this question asked me whether I deliberately chose first person for my young adult books (the Wildwood and Shadowfell books) because it [...]
Half way through the year already - where has the time gone? Blackthorn & Grim book 3 is due in at the end of 2015 and I still have quite a bit of it to write. It's relatively rare for a novelist to make a living at it. Most of us have day jobs and/or a partner contributing to the family finances. Many professional writers have children to look after, and although we [...]
Perth readers, I'll be presenting a Novel Writing Master Class on Saturday August 15, at the Rockingham Arts Centre, 11 Kent St, Rockingham, from 11am to 2pm. I'd planned to promote it here, but all the places filled up within 15 minutes of the word going out from the organisers. The good news is that I will be running the master class again on December 12, same time, same place. [...]
Readers may already know that as well as being a full time writer, I’m a foster carer for an animal rescue group. I specialise in dogs that are elderly and/or have health challenges, so quite often my foster animals end up staying permanently. Some are ‘foster fails’ – dogs the foster carer falls in love with and can’t bear to let go. Others might be called ‘forever fosters’ – dogs [...]
