STORYTIME: MONTHLY UPDATE - April 2018

Welcome to my monthly update for April 2018. 
So here we are.


It has been a momentous and excellent month for me. A lot of wonderful things have happened (and are happening), and it is a surreal feeling, truly, to work so hard towards a goal for so many rejection-filled years only for things to suddenly just start...
            falling
                      into
                            place.
 
I feel like change is in the air.
Who knew dreams really can come true?

Writing Stuff:

Like I said, my writing is going really well. 
I have a publishing contract for my debut YA novel, a contemporary called: Making Friends with Alice Dyson.

As the name of the novel suggests, my debut is a sweet / light YA Australian contemporary. It's a friends to romance high school love story, which chronicles the final year at school for two teens, one of whom is a bit of a stick in the mud study queen, and the other an absolute whirlwind of a boy who likes getting involved in everything she’d prefer he didn’t.

At the moment I just feel so excited about this opportunity to see this story out and about in the world!
But I also know when it gets closer to release date I'll probably be so nervous I'll be shaking in my socks.....
:)

Over the next bunch of months I will be working with an editor from Wakefield Press, which is unbelievably exciting for me. I’ve never worked with an editor before and am really looking forward to the opportunity. I imagine I will learn so much!

My second piece of writing news is that I now have an agent (YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) which is another dream come true and makes me very excited and happy every time I think of it!

To be honest, my having an agent can be directly contributed to the super nice YA author, Allayne Webster, who called her agent and recommended me!!!!!! (Also I am halfway through reading her novel right now and I am gobbling it up, it is freaking great!).

I am so pleased to be represented by an agent, and after chatting with her over the phone I am really excited to be working with her.  But I also know everything moves quite slowly in the publishing industry and of course having an agent doesn’t automatically mean I’ve sold any more books, yet it still feels like a massive and wonderful milestone for me.

I can’t wait to see where everything leads.
​

Other than that I’ve been working on finalising editing on another manuscript and think I’ll probably hop back onto early edits on another first draft while I wait for real editing with an actual editor to begin on my novel, Making Friends with Alice Dyson.

​Stuff I’m thinking about lately:
 
Mmmmh.... May is my birthday, and both LifeL1k3 by Jay Kristoff AND the Han Solo movie are being released, so it’s like I get two presents (pleasepleasepleasepleaselettheHanSolomoviebegood!!!!!). 

I still kind of feel they should've just made a Lando Calrission movie though, and left iconic Han Solo alone. A bit difficult for another actor to pick up that role, and also Donald Glover is such a great choice for Lando, I would be totally happy to just watch a story about him.
But either way, I CANNOT wait to see that movie.
Not long now.

Other stuff I’ve been enjoying lately:

• So you want to be a writer. I am a little obsessed with this podcast by Allison Tait and Valerie Khoo. I am learning a lot from it and it's quite fascinating and at times very inspiring. It blows my mind that I am a real author now, with a book to be published and an agent. There’s still so much to learn though, particularly about author platforms and book marketing. And this podcast is a wonderful and fun way to learn.

 

• Into the Badlands season 3. Yesssss. I adore this show. It's like watching a graphic novel come to life, so. Much. Fun.
• The Expanse season 3!!!!! So freaking plotty and complex and just fascinating. Absolute great Sci fi.​

​​

Also, I got my husband to read Nevernight by Jay Kirstoff, which he is really enjoying, so that has been really fun for me.
My husband reads a fair bit but more Adult novels over YA, so it has been really fun sharing some YA with him!!

Also, my husband graduated uni this month!!!!!!!! And I've added a photo from the day down below. Where it doesn't belong. In my reading update. For no reason whatsoever!
​:)

Reading Stuff:

​Oh reading, how I love you! How I love books! 
They really are the best.

I have been reading loads!
Lots of lovely things and also an adult novel that gut punched me to death... Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed. It is the kind of novel that is beautiful and riveting but also leaves you feeling quite sick. The content matter is really very heavy and disturbing.
It kind of killed me. 
A writing friend lent it to me and said it reminded her of one of my novels...... hhhhmmmm. Not sure if I want my novels to make readers feel like this..... not sure if it is a compliment or what!!??


​
Great book news is I finished reading All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield this month and her writing really just knocks my socks off. And this is her debut novel! 
It is the kind of writing that draws you in immediately from the very first sentence, it is sharp and vivid and quite painful even. 
Raw maybe is the way to describe it? 

Anyway, her novel left me feeling quite unsettled, but in a good way, like it lingers in my mind every time I put her book down. I really love it, it is such a visceral reading experience.
I might potentially even be moved to write a little review on it, we will see.
It is beautiful. 

And now I've just started Allayne Webster's novel, The Centre of My Everything.

It's a different kind of reading experience again. Basically I just gobbled up half the book in one sitting, and then when I was reflecting on it, I realised how smooth it is. Almost like I forget I'm reading writing and words and 4 different points of view (4!!) and just get totally immersed into the story. So when I stopped reading I couldn't even remember what point of view it was written from or any of those kinds of details, I just remember the actual story.

I think this is a really good thing, it is so smooth and well written you just lose yourself in it, soaking up the story and events. It's quite hard hitting, but also written in a way that makes it palatable too, the subject matter could be shocking but the way it is presented means you never get turned off, rather it is a really good exploration of these (really relevant) topics, like binge drinking as such an ingrained aspect of Australian culture. 
I'm really loving reading it. 

Sigh. Two awesome books in a row makes me very very happy.
 

I also have so many great books to look forward to reading, after attending the excellent #YAdelaide evening, which was organised by Tori at the YA Circle. It was such a great evening, with conversations with 4 different YA authors, Vikki Wakefield, Allayne Webster, Margot McGovern and Beck Nicholas. It was quite insightful and interesting and I feel like I learned quite a lot.
And of course now I am working my way through all the author’s books. Which is actually pretty exciting!
 
I have also given my husband a book list for my birthday too, which has a LOAD of lovely titles I’ve been dying to get my hands on for ages. Can’t wait until those come in :)
 
And that's it folks. 
​Until next time. :)
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