Seasonal Update – December 2022 – Juliet Marillier | The Official Site

Time for a long-overdue update. Firstly, all my best to you for the festive season. Here in Australia we are heading into the hottest period of summer, with bush fires already causing destruction. The southeast of the country has been experiencing extreme flooding. Climate change is making its mark here in a big way and we can only hope those in positions of power are brave enough (and principled enough) to take swift and meaningful action. The image above is from the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales. I interpret this as nature doing its best to keep going despite the often destructive impact of our own species.

Those who follow this blog and/or my Facebook Author Page will know that I’ve had some difficulties getting started with a new writing project. This has meant no new novel in 2022, and none in 2023 as it’s now too late (I am not one of those authors who can turn a book out in a couple of months – I’ve never understood how some amazing people manage it!) The Baba Yaga project which I wrote about so enthusiastically stalled because of a disagreement between me and my agent. I don’t blame him – he was actually right about various reasons it wouldn’t have worked without major changes. However, that did hit me hard, and I felt sorry about disappointing the readers who had responded with such great ideas and questions about the project. Following that setback, I wrote a couple more proposals for new projects, which were also turned down, and that left me extremely lacking in motivation and self-belief.

I did manage my regular posts for Writer Unboxed, where I will be posting again on January 11 with the first instalment of a new blog series called Old Pathways, New Writing. These posts will appear on WU every second month in 2023, and will link the elements of druidry (think, the place of humankind in nature; the power of storytelling; the divine within) with my best guidance for writers. I wrote some short fiction in 2022, and had a couple of stories published. You’ll find my story Greatheart in the anthology The Art of Being Human from Fablecroft. This publication was funded by a Kickstarter and is available only in ebook. It’s well worth the read, containing wonderful writing from various authors. I also wrote The Parting Glass, which is mainstream rather than fantasy, for an anthology called The Wishing Stone, published by Serenity Press. While we did see some print copies of The Wishing Stone, as well as a real wishing stone, at the Serenity Press writers’ retreat in Ireland, the book has not yet been widely distributed – when I get any news on availability I will let you know. I had fun writing that story, which combines two things that light up my life (singing and dogs) in a tale about a quiet man with hidden depths. I also completed a story for the anthology The Other Side of Never, which comes out in 2023 from Titan Books. My story is called The Reeds Remember, and it’s based on the Greek myth of Pan and Syrinx. It could be considered a sort of Peter Pan origin story. Titan’s dark fantasy anthologies are always great, and I’m sure this one will be no exception.

I’m still hoping to get a major project off the ground in 2023. I do have plans for another collection of short fiction, along the same lines as Prickle Moon, with some reprints and some new stories. I hope to regain enough confidence to start on a new novel or series, but this time around I will keep details to myself until I am quite sure it’s going ahead, to save disappointment.

One thing about not doing much writing: it leaves heaps of time and brain space for reading. I’ll put up another post soon to tell you about some excellent books I’ve read this year.