Up until now, this year has been a quiet one as far as author opportunities go, even after the release of Once Confronted in late 2016. So I went looking for opportunities and thankfully I’ve found some. 🙂 I find that sometimes an author has to keep her nose to the ground when sniffing out new ideas for marketing, and fellow authors can be a great help with that. It was through two other authors that I found some US radio shows that are happy to interview authors from all over the world. I was interviewed by one a couple […]

I finished writing a new novel this week. It’s always an exciting moment, coming to the end of a manuscript. Finally, all that had work has paid off. I made it! Soon the fun will start–that fantastic moment when I read it over for the first time and start editing. I realise many authors don’t share my enthusiasm for the editing process but I love it. I love seeing what worked and what didn’t, experiencing the excitement of reading the story in its entirety for the first time and making sure it flows well. But not so fast! I have […]

Today I’m hosting author Jeanette O’Hagan as part of a blog hop to celebrate the release of her new novella, Blood Crystal. Jeanette first spun tales in the world of Nardva at the age of nine. She enjoys writing fiction, poetry, blogging and editing. Her Nardva stories span continents, time and cultures. They involve a mixture of courtly intrigue, adventure, romance and fantasy. Here she answers some of my questions about the latest book in the Nardva world. 1. Blood Crystal is the second book in the Under the Mountain series. Does it feature the same characters or new ones? All […]

I have an award-winning book! On 1st July 2017 my latest novel, Once Confronted, won an award. 🙂 Once Confronted, my first contemporary drama, gained the Literary Classics silver award in their college fiction category. The Heir (Verindon #1) also won a silver award in the science fiction category in 2014. This brings my total number of writing awards to four. I also gained two Australasian Religious Press Association awards in my days working for The Queensland Baptist newspaper. It’s such a thrill to win any award. This one has especially delighted me, given that the story of Once Confronted […]

I think I was born to be a story-teller. All my life I’ve loved story-telling in all its forms. The story can be mine or it can be someone else’s. It doesn’t matter. The enjoyment is in the telling. 🙂 It’s interesting as I look back on my life, as I can see how all the things I’ve learned along the way have helped me with my desire to be a story-teller. After all, if you want to be an author these days it’s not enough just to be able to tell stories, you also have to be a marketer […]

I looked at my blog the other day and realised I hadn’t posted since February! Eeek! I thought I’d better rectify that. It’s amazing how quickly the years fly by and as an author, I suddenly realise how little I’d done to market my books so far this year. It doesn’t help that two of my most supportive bookstores closed down at the beginning of the year. Bookstores are becoming harder and harder to find and fewer and fewer seem willing to take authors for signings. However, I have been looking for other avenues. Not long ago I became involved […]

You’d think that after six years, I’d be over it. I first submitted The Heir to Wombat Books in 2011. I was terrified of rejection and worried they would say the book was crap. Fortunately, they didn’t, although it still needed a lot of work, which we gave it until its ultimate release in 2013. Yet here I am, about to submit my latest manuscript to my publisher, and I’m terrified of what they’re going to say. I worked on Raydon’s Muse for most of last year and managed to finish it in December. Since then, I have been going […]

This week was my birthday. I’m not going to tell you how old I was but it was one of those birthdays where I’ve gone over the hump and now am going down the other side towards my next big celebration, you know, one of those ages that end in a zero. 🙂 In the lead-up to this birthday I was feeling down about that. Sometimes it’s hard to deal with the realisation that I’m getting steadily older. I don’t usually feel that much older, and in the end, that was the thing I clung to – I need to […]

The book business is hard. I think this is true whether you’re an author, publisher or bookseller and that was brought home to me in a sad way this week. I received an email from Angus & Robertson at Capalaba Park Shopping Centre with the sad news that they are closing down. This is a great loss to the Brisbane Indie book community, as they were a great supporter of local authors. I had a signing there in November and sold 14 books. David, who ran the store, was always welcoming, always recognised me and remembered my name, and I […]

Merry Christmas! I haven’t been too regular with my blogs just recently, mainly owing to just how busy it gets when you’re promoting a new book, especially when it’s Christmastime. Having pneumonia hasn’t helped either. Even though I only have ‘walking pneumonia’ it’s still been hard to find my ‘get up and go’ to do all the things I need to do at this time of year. Not to mention that there have been break-up parties and Christmas events, usually which require baking, and also the need to do the job I have. You know, the job that actually helps […]