Books I've Read: The Sunset Crowd

 

I picked this book up at the library because it sounded like it could be a fun read. I mean, Hollywood in the 1970s?  Kind of right up my alley, right?  

The book is told through the eyes of Bea Dupont, a New York rebel who wound up in LA after a stint is an exclusive Swiss boarding school and a failed attempt at college.  Making a living as a photographer, Bea is part of the downtown LA scene because of her profession, but isn't wholly a part of it.  her position behind the lens gives her a unique perspective and it from this viewpoint we meet the rich and famous characters that populate her world.

There's Evra, the daughter of Hollywood royalty who has turned her back on movies and makes her living by clothing the elite and famous from her iconic store, Sunset on Sunset. She parties with models and rock stars and sleeps beside the hottest up and coming screenwriter in Hollywood, Kai de la Faire.

Bea is Kai's oldest friend, having been to school with him in Switzerland. He wa the subject of her first great photograph and she's harbored a crush on him since she was fifteen.

When Theodora Leigh steps into Sunset one day, returning costumes from the Paramount lot, she catches everyone's eye.  Not only is she strikingly beautiful, but she speaks perfect mandarin and ushers through a $30K sale in Evra's store without blinking an eye.  

Before long, she's a part of the crowd, using every connection and invitation to advance her dream of producing a movie.  It's not until the group reach the Riviera and the Cannes Film Festival that the truth starts to be revealed and Theodora's facade begins to come down.

This was a fast-paced book full of intrigue and jealousy.  Theodora was a delightful villain, the depth of her ruthlessness and ambition revealed little by little as the pages turn.  And this is a rarified world few of us ever get to experience, so it was fun to get taken to these glamorous places and events, and to brush shoulders with the rich and privileged.

I do have to say, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending.  I was there until they left Cannes and the delightful series of reveals that sent Theodora's facade crashing, but everything after that didn't quite ring true to me.  And after watching Bea hang on the fringes for so long, I really wanted her to get her moment in the sun.

But, if you liked Daisy Jones and the Six, this is a pretty good comp title for that, and you'll probably enjoy it too.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

From Rodeo Drive to the French Riviera, Karin Tanabe's The Sunset Crowd is a tale of survival and reinvention, of faking it until you make it, and the glittering appeal of success and stardom, as it seeks to answer that timeless question―who gets to have the American dream?

Money and fame: in 1970's Los Angeles, everyone is fighting to reach the top, but very few have the talent, ambition, and luck to get there.

Meet LA darling Evra Scott. The daughter of an Oscar-winning director and a Brazilian bombshell actress, Evra is the city's reigning style queen. By day, she's at the helm of Sunset on Sunset, the store beloved by Hollywood's young and beautiful. By night, she's on the arm of Kai de la Faire, Hawaii's hottest export, and the screenwriter of the moment.

Enter Theodora Leigh. The twenty-something Paramount assistant looks like a big screen star, but her sights are firmly set behind the scenes, as she fights to become a movie producer in a town where sex and sexism sell. Theodora's got the talent and instincts, but she's not willing to wait. Luckily, getting ahead by any means necessary is LA's mantra.

Observing it all is Bea Dupont, a photographer for Rolling Stone and Vogue, who never misses the party, but always keeps to its fringes. A Manhattan blue blood turned West Coast bohemian, Bea holds Evra's Sunset crowd together. She's also Kai's oldest friend, and she's harbored a not-so-secret flame for him since they met at an elite Swiss boarding school.

But in Hollywood, no one stays on top forever. And it's not long before Theodora's unrelenting ambition sets in motion a dramatic quest for power in an industry that is as glamorous as it is duplicitous. From Rodeo Drive to the French Riviera, The Sunset Crowd is a tale of survival and reinvention, of faking it until you make it, and the glittering appeal of success and stardom, as it seeks to answer that timeless question--who gets to have the American dream?

Weekly Goals 16-6-25

 I had a pretty busy, social weekend this week, so didn't get a ton of writing done.  I did add about 2K to the MS though and started writing Devon's parts for later in the book. I figure she'll take control for about 20K in total, so we'll see how I do there.  I have a 4-day weekend this week, so hope to get a lot done over those days.  The Monday is a bonus day off, so I'll go and do a full day at the library writing.

Had one more rejection for A Stranger to Kindness.  Disappointing because that agent's MSWL sounded like she really wanted that book.  Still have quite a few out there, but a couple are reaching that "no reply means no" kind of length of time, so might be written off.  

So the goals this week are to write, write, write.  And to send out another small handful of queries.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 13-6-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

I have quite a busy one this week, with two parties to go to tomorrow night and a movie to go to on Sunday - it's one of my all time favourite films, Sunset Boulevard which I'm pretty sure I've never actually seen in a cinema. So, looking forward to that.

I accidentally started a new book this week.  It's MG, which is not like me at all, but so far it's come really easily.  It is a story I've had hanging around for years though.  One of those books I wrote as a baby writer that never worked the way I wrote it.  I'm not putting any pressure on myself with it now, but it's kind of a fun thing to play around with.

It's been a long time since I had two novel projects on the go at the same time and I'm not sure how it's going to play out.  I'm definitely committed to Arlo and Devon's story first, but it's kind of fun to have an email window open to jot down bits and pieces of this other story whenever things come to me.  Which is how I've written what I have - I didn't realize it was close to 5K until I transferred it into Scrivener.  Quite a fun way to work, to be honest, no pressure, not work count awareness, just an email to myself to keep adding to as I wish to.

I hope to get some work done on Arlo and Devon's book over the weekend, but it probably won't be a lot to be honest.  Thankfully the following weekend is another long one, so I plan to get some serious writing done over that.

What are you celebrathing this week?

Books I've Loved: Glasgow Boys

 

I picked this book up at the library without really looking at what it was about, partly because I enjoyed Young Mungo and partly because the cover said something to me.  And boy am I glad I did!  This book could have been written for me.

It's about two boys in the foster system in Glasgow.  Finlay is 18 now, and out of care.  He's just starting a nursing degree at university and is struggling to balance coursework, a placement and the job he needs to keep himself fed.  He's always been shy and finds connecting with people both difficult and terrifying, yet he needs a support network in this new environment.  He's just not sure he can have it.  Not with Akash, the handsome medical student he hasn't seen since primary school, or with the two girls who seem determined to make him part of their group.

Banjo is a year younger and still at high school.  He's just been placed with a new family and has started a new school.  He wants desperately to stay here until he ages out, but is so filled with hurt and anger, he finds it difficult to contain and keeps getting himself into trouble. He meets an enticing girl at his new job and is quickly brought into her warm circle of family and friends, but even this isn't enough to keep him from seeking out violence to calm the rage blazing inside him.

Three years earlier, Banjo and Finlay were roommates at a care home and developed a bond that still ties them together, even though they haven't spoken in three years and both think their relationship has been damaged beyond repair.  

If these two boys are going to be able to move on, to love new people, they need to forgive each other and themselves.

Set against the grim background of Glasgow's working class, this book talked to my heart.  Both Finlay and Banjo are the kind of beautiful, broken boy I love to read about and, indeed, to write.  They have huge hearts, but have been so beaten up by life, it's hard for them to let them show.  There are definitely some massive parallels between this book and A Stranger to Kindness.  I understood these kids in a deep and powerful way.

It's a story about love and connection on so many levels.  Not a romance (but there are elements of that in there) it's really what I would call a true love story, a story examining all the different kinds of love that exist in the world.  And the power all those different loves haave to heal even the deepest of wounds.

So, I strongly recommend this one.  It's heartbreaking in all the best ways and will likely bring a tear to your eye more than once.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

A striking debut exploring the power of identity, community and the Scottish working class. This coming-of-age story is an incisive look at young masculinity and the way even the most fraught childhood is not without hope.

Neither Finlay or Banjo can remember the last time they had a hug.

Against all odds, 18-year-old Finlay has begun his nursing degree at Glasgow University. But coming straight from the care system means he has no support network. How can he write essays, focus on his nursing placement and stop himself from falling in love when he's struggling to feed himself? Meanwhile, 17-year-old Banjo is trying to settle into his new foster family and finish high school, desperate to hold down his job and the people it contains. But his anger and fear keep boiling over, threatening his already uncertain future.

Underpinning everything is what happened three years ago in their group care home, when Finlay and Banjo were as close as brothers until they stopped speaking. If these boys want to keep hold of the people they love, they have to be able to forgive one another. More than this, they must find a way to forgive themselves.

Weekly Goals 9-6-25

 Didn't get as much writing done over the weekend as I would have liked.  I'm at a point where I can't really move the plot to the next stage without the timeline being disrupted, so I need to think of some new plot things to happen in there to make the timing work.  Or just skip to the next bit I know the plot points and figure out how to fill things in later.  

With writing the book as journal entries, I can fill in a lot of dates with "nothing interesting happened" kind of entries, but I don't want to do weeks of those or the reader will get super bored.  But I also don't want to write a whole lot of stuff that's not important just to fill in the days.

So my goal this week is to figure out if I can switch up the timeline a bit and still have things work the way they need to.

And maybe to send a few more Stranger to Kindness queries out.  I got one more rejection over the weekend, but also sent out one more query because the book I just finished reading was so perfectly aligned with my own, I just had to query the author's agent.  Luckily she thanked her in the acknowledgments so she was easy to find.

What are your goals this week?

Cover Reveal: Standing Too Close

 It's that time!

Standing Too Close will be out in the world on 8 August and I'm excited to share the beautiful cover art!

Seventeen-year-old Blue Lannigan believes in exactly one thing: his two younger brothers deserve more than the crappy apartment and abusive, drunken mother they’re stuck with. And when he comes home to find one brother bruised and bleeding (again), the other cowering in terror (again) and their mother drunk off her ass, blaming all three of them for her tanked singing career (again), Blue decides waiting until he’s eighteen to leave is no longer an option. 

Deciding to hole up in an empty house at the lake until he can figure out what to do next, things get more complicated when the owner of the house arrives unexpectedly. Especially when Blue realizes the unconscious woman they’ve tied up on the couch isn’t a stranger after all, but someone who could give him just what he’s looking for.

After avoiding reality and playing house, a scene at the grocery store lands him in handcuffs and his brothers with a social worker. Add to that losing his job and being stuck in a group home he hates, and Blue’s sole purpose becomes finding his brothers and getting them out of whatever hellhole they’re in. Blue’s hopes unravel, and betrayal rips his heart in two as he tries to reconcile the role he plays in his brothers’ lives while trying to figure out his own.

Releasing 8 August 2025.

Celebrate the Small Things 7-6-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend! 

Winter appears to have arrived with a vengeance this week with wind and rain and cold.  Just in time for the weekend.  Luckily, I have very little planned for this weekend other than writing and the usual chores.

I didn't get much writing done during the week, but I did come up with an interesting plot thing that I'm going to go back and write into one of the chapters I wrote last week.  I think it opens things up a little more for future events and makes them more plausible. 

Only one rejection for A Stranger to Kindness this week.  I've sent off a few more queries too, to the agents who open only the first week of the month.  Fingers crossed one or more of them want to see more.

What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG - June 2025

It's the first Wednesday of the month so it's time for the Insecure Writers Support Group.

The awesome co-hosts for the June 4 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi,  Melisa Maygrove, and Jean Davis!

 

This month''s question is a good one: 

What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

There were a bunch of books that had a huge effect on me growing up.  I actually wrote a whole blog about The Outsiders and how much that book changed my life here, so I won't go into detail about how much S.E. Hinton's books impacted me.

As a lifetime reader - and I'm talking a really long time here; I learned to read at three and haven't stopped since - there are a lot of books that have affected me in different ways.

As a very small child (under five) I loved the picture books by Tomi DePaola, especially the ones about the witch Streganona.  I remember being taken to a bookstore to meet him once, and still have a copy of The Clown of God and Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs that he signed.

There's the Willard Price adventure books, all 13 of them from Amazon Adventure all the way through to Arctic Adventure.  I was utterly obsessed with these books from the time I was about eight until I was eleven or so and read and re-read them over and over.  A lot of what I know about nature and science and stuff like that comes directly from these books.  I re-read a handful of them again when my kids were young, thinking they might like them as much as I did.  But you know what?  They're actually kind of dreadful...

The same thing happened when I re-read The Eagle of the Ninth, another book I was obsessed with for a while when I was young.  I literally read two copies of this one to rags.  But it's really not that good.  Actually very boring..  What I saw in it, I don't know.

When I was a teenager, there were the Hinton books I mentioned earlier, but also a book called Center Line by Joyce Sweeney and one called Term Paper by Ann Rinaldi that had a big effect on me.  And one I can't remember the title of, but involved a bunch of kids digging a huge hole in their back yard.  If you know what I'm talking about, let me know...  I thought it was by Elizabeth Winthrop, but I couldn't find it anywhere in her catalogue so that might be me dreaming.

I did have a tendency to get obsessed by books as a kid.  We moved a lot and while we usually had access to a library, often they were small and not very good so I was forced to revisit my own bookshelves frequently.  And when I was young, YA wasn't what it is now, so once you graduated from the kids' section there wasn't anywhere to go but the adult section.

I read a lot of very age-inappropriate horror at twelve.

I feel like some books I re-read so many times their text has become part of my DNA.  Books that are so much a part of me, I'm not even sure they were things I read or things that actually happened to me.

I still can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing...

What books had an impact on you? 

Weekly Goals 2-6-25

 I had such a successful writing day on Friday, I'm going to try and have another one today.  What better way to celebrate the King's Birthday, right?  I won't get the full day today because I have things I need to do this morning, but I plan to use the whole afternoon.  Hopefully I can add another 3000 words or so.

So, that's the main goal for the week.  To just keep writing the new book.

The other one is to send out a few more queries.  There are a bunch of agents that only open the first week of the month, so they're the ones I need to get to this week.  I still have quite a few queries out, but the longer they're sitting there, the more likely they are to be a pass, I think.  Especially with the number of no-response-means-no agents there are these days.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 30-5-25

   

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!  And it's a long weekend too.

I made it longer by taking Friday off as well, so I have four days to myself.  Friday is a writing day and I'm planning to bed myself deep in the new novel.  Really push the narrative forward so I have some momentum to keep going.

Only one rejection for A Stranger to Kindness this week.  A bunch of agents open for the first week of the month, so next week I'll be sending out a bunch more queries.  Fingers crossed this version works.

Nothing much else has been going on, so nothing much to celebrate, I'm afraid.  It's that time of year where we're sinking into winter and everyone's going into hibernation.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Loved: Invisible Son

 

I didn't think I was ready to read a book about the pandemic and all the political unrest that came about alongside it.  Turns out I was wrong.  Because I really liked this book.

It opens with Andre getting out of juvvie, with an ankle monitor and a lot of kind, but gruff instructions from his case worker.  Andre is a little indignant about the whole thing because he knows he's innocent of the crime he was convicted of, but he wasn't able to convince anyone else of that, so he did the time.  He feels that it's totally unfair that he still has to be monitored.

His indignation fades when he gets home to discover his father hasn't even bothered to stay home from work to greet him.  He's embraced by his grandparents and quickly reconnects with his next door neighbors, one of whom is his long-term crush, Sierra.  But everything isn't the same.  Sierra's brother Eric is gone and no one seems to know where or why.  Andre has suspicions - Eric was definitely involved in the crimes he was convicted for - and he's been counting on him to be able to prove his innocence.

Andre starts searching for Eric, but things just don't add up.  Leads turn into dead ends and it becomes increasingly certain that Eric's adoptive father is lying - but about what?  As COVID19 spreads and people begin getting sick and dying, even those close to Andre, the search for Eric becomes more complicated and dangerous.

And when Sierra joins the Black Lives Matter protests on the streets, Andre is forced to make some difficult decisions about his own life and the community he so desperately wants to hold together.

There were a lot of issues brought up in this book, but because they are all seen through Andre's eyes, it never felt overwhelming.  He is a wonderful POV character, a good kid who has seen and experienced too much to be innocent, but wants more for himself than the life he sees others falling into.  He's smart and passionate (especially about 80s and 90s music, which makes for an interesting quirk) and endlessly loyal to the people he cares about.  He's not naturally a rule breaker, but is not above exploiting a loophole if he finds one and it's useful.

The other thing I liked very much about this book was that Andre's family were close by. So often in YA books, parents and authority figures are killed off or just absent (and yeah, I'm guilty of that as much as any other YA writer) but both Andre's family and Sierra's were very present in the book,  whether for good or bad.

The background of COVID and the riots grounded this story into a reality that felt very contemporary and scarily accurate.

So I'd recommend this one.  It's exciting, sad, scary and very relevant.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

From the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of This Is My America comes another thriller about a wrongly accused teen desperate to recclaim both his innocence and his first love.

Life can change in an instant.
When you’re wrongfully accused of a crime.
When a virus shuts everything down.
When the girl you love moves on.

Andre Jackson is determined to reclaim his identity. But returning from juvie doesn’t feel like coming home. His Portland, Oregon, neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, and COVID-19 shuts down school before he can return. And Andre’s suspicions about his arrest for a crime he didn’t commit even taint his friendships. It’s as if his whole life has been erased.

The one thing Andre is counting on is his relationship with the Whitaker kids—especially his longtime crush, Sierra. But Sierra’s brother Eric is missing, and the facts don’t add up as their adoptive parents fight to keep up the act that their racially diverse family is picture-perfect. If Andre can find Eric, he just might uncover the truth about his own arrest. But in a world where power is held by a few and Andre is nearly invisible, searching for the truth is a dangerous game.

Critically acclaimed author Kim Johnson delivers another social justice thriller that shines a light on being young and Black in America—perfect for fans of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Dear Justyce by Nic Stone.

Weekly Goals 26-5-25

 I didn't get much work done on my book over the weekend because I forgot that I'd signed up to do a 48 hour short story contest, so most of my writing time was taken up writing my story for that.  But I don't mind because it was fun.  We had to include three objects - a gun, a daisy and a canoe - set a scene on the beach, and have one character rob a bank.  Quite a lot to fit into a story between 1,000 and 3,000 words.

But I managed.  I'll find out next week if I win.

So this week I need to get my head back into the book.  It's a long weekend, so I took Friday off work to be able to have four days off and will use Friday as a writing day.  I know it hasn't been long since I last had some writing days, but I kind of feel like I wasted them writing all that stuff I've ended up throwing away.

After not getting a lot of rejections last week, I've three in the last 24 hours, two of which were from agents that really sounded like they were looking for my book.  So that's disappointing.  On the plus side, I still have a few queries out, and my list of agents still to query is long.  I guess I might need to tweak the query again.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 23-5-25

  

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

And I have absolutely nothing I have to do.  What luxury!  

My critique group are working through the first part of my new book and seem to be liking it so far.  Hoping to add a few chapters this weekend so there's a little more to get on with.

Only one rejection for A Stranger to Kindness this week.  No requests yet either, but I'll take it.  I'm on my 4th version of the query now, but I'm still not sure it's doing the trick.  Have I mentioned that I really, really hate querying?

I've taught five classes at the gym this week because of people being sick, so should be a decent payday.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've read: Mister Magic

 

While I didn't particularly enjoy Kiersten White's first book for adults, I have enjoyed her YA books enough that I was willing to give this second adult outing a bash.  And I'm glad I did, because I actually enjoyed this one quite a lot.  It was creepy!

Back in the day, Mister Magic was a kids' TV show. No one who saw it has forgotten it, yet there are no recordings, no clips on You-Tube, no evidence that it actually existed except in the minds of its viewers.  And those memories have to be skewed - people remember it being on at all hours of the day and night; what TV show for kids does that?

Now, 30 years or so after it went off the air because of an accident on set, the five remaining cast members are brought back to the place the show was filmed and face-to-face with the past they've all tried so hard to forget.

Or maybe, not forget exactly.  The Circle of Friends, as they were known while on the show, may have forgotten the details of what happened back then, but they've never stopped longing and searching for the happiness they felt while they were all together.  And now they're together again, they all seem to be sliding far too easily back into the roles they used to play.

And as they talk about what they did as children, and the mysterious figure that gave the show its name, they begin to suspect they were being used for something far more nefarious and sinister that entertaining children.

This was a fun read that delves deeply into the weirdness of childhood memory and the way we can feel nostalgia for something we only half remember.  Not to mention the often-unpleasant conditions child performers are expected to work within to keep their adult bosses happy.

Add to these things a sinister and all-too-perfect town in the Utah desert, some uniquely unpleasant characters, a house that feels like it's probably haunted and the still-traumatized performers as adults and you have a recipe for a chilling psychological thriller with something supernatural at its core.

What that is, I won't go into, but it is definitely worth a read to find out.

So I'd recommend this one.  It's eerie and layered and really got into my head when I read it.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Who is Mister Magic? Former child stars reunite to uncover the tragedy that ended their show—and discover the secret of its enigmatic host—in this dark supernatural thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast, known as the Circle of Friends, have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic.

But with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former Circle of Friends has.

Then a twist of fate brings the castmates back together at the remote desert filming compound that feels like it’s been waiting for them all this time. Even though they haven’t seen each other for years, they understand one another better than anyone has since.

After all, they’re the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But as the Circle of Friends reclaim parts of their past, they begin to wonder: Are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?

Weekly Goals 19-5-25

 I did a bit of writing this weekend and have consolidated a bunch of old, short diary entries into single longer ones.  Which means I've managed to get Arlo and Devon together in less than 10K instead of the 30Kish it took me when writing from Devon's POV.  And there are a couple of entries that maybe aren't needed. But I'll leave them for now.  I can always cut them later.

So my goal this week is to keep going.  Write more and progress the story.  There's something really freeing about writing this book in journal entries because it's so subjective.  I always write first person POV, but writing it like a journal means it's even more in the character's head and he's only going to write the things he's thinking about and noticing.  I'm enjoying it.

I'm teaching a bunch of extra classes at the gym this week because some of the instructors have come down with Covid.  I did one yesterday and am covering two today.  Should be a good week for both fitness and my bank account.

What are your goals this week? 

Celebrate the Small Things 16-5-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

I've had an okayish week.  Didn't start off too hot, but got better.  Went and saw my friend perform a stand-up show in the Comedy Festival which was hilarious.  And because it was my birthday, the friend I went to the show with took me out to dinner beforehand and I had the most beautiful piece of steak.  It's been months since I had steak.  Yum!

Then I had the opportunity to go to an author talk with Neal Shusterman.  I've reviewed a few of his books on the blog, including two recently.  So it was fascinating to hear him talk about the books and his writing process.  Always interested to hear how other writers write.  It's always so different to the way I do it...  Afterward I got to get my book signed.  A little embarrassing since I read this in the bath and it got a little damp in places so the copy I gave him was rather fat.

Got a little more written on the new book.  I put the first few sections up for my critique group and so far, feedback is good.  Will write more this weekend although I just got asked to cover a class at the gym tomorrow and it's new release week so I need to learn the class.  I didn't do it earlier because I didn't think I'd have to teach it - there were no days scheduled where the regular instructor wasn't going to be there.  Luckily I've done this a couple of times, so I don't think it will take me too long.

Only one rejection this week so far.  I've tweaked my query again and I think it works better now.  I've only sent the new version out to about 4 agents, but I'll use this one for the next batch I send and see if that helps.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

 

I'm usually a little skeptical about reading books by well-known actors (thank you, James Franco for writing the most pretentious drivel I've had the misfortune to read) but this one seemed so in the wheelhouse of the writer, I decided to give it a whirl.  Plus, after spending 30+ years working in the film industry, I figured it would be kind of in my wheelhouse.

And it was!

It's kind of slow to start with and initially, I struggled to figure out how the various parts might fit together, but they did and it was all quite delightful.  The historical sections reminded me a little of books by Fannie Flagg even if the characters here weren't quite as sharply hilarious as Fannie's always are.  Maybe it's the small town setting and the time period...

Once we got through the history and into the making of the big, Marvel-type movie, things became more familiar.  Enough so that the little footnotes about what things mean got irritating after a while.  But that's a small criticism.  So often books about filmmaking gloss over the actual filmmaking process to move on to the more glamorous parts of the business - premieres, press junkets, awards shows and the like.  This book got right in there, with the assistants and assistants of assistants, with the make-up artists and bit players.

And who better to do this than Tom Hanks, who's spent so much of his life on sets with these people and knows exactly the rhythm and chaos of making a film?  Some of my favorite moments were those chaotic ones when you know everything is spiraling out of control, yet somehow, you have to claw yourself back to safety, get back on track because very day over schedule you go is costing millions.

And as a bonus, this book has actual comic books built in!

Yes, there were parts that got a bit baggy and some of the characters were less characters than types, but in a book with enough characters to demand a 10-minute credit crawl, there were enough distinctive people in there to make up for the handful of sketched-in types.  Some more editing could definitely have been done on this book to tighten it up, but overall, I enjoyed reading it very much.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

From the Academy Award-winning actor and best-selling author: a novel about the making of a star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film . . . and the humble comic books that inspired it. Funny, touching, and wonderfully thought-provoking, while also capturing the changes in America and American culture since World War II.

Part One of this story takes place in 1947. A troubled soldier, returning from the war, meets his talented five-year-old nephew, leaves an indelible impression, and then disappears for twenty-three years.

Cut to 1970: The nephew, now drawing underground comic books in Oakland, California, reconnects with his uncle and, remembering the comic book he saw when he was five, draws a new version with his uncle as a World War II fighting hero.

Cut to the present day: A commercially successful director discovers the 1970 comic book and decides to turn it into a contemporary superhero movie.

Cue the cast: We meet the film's extremely difficult male star, his wonderful leading lady, the eccentric writer/director, the producer, the gofer production assistant, and everyone else on both sides of the camera.

Bonus material: Interspersed throughout are three comic books that are featured in the story--all created by Tom Hanks himself--including the comic book that becomes the official tie-in to this novel's major motion picture masterpiece.

Weekly goals 12-5-25

 I didn't get a whole lot of writing done over the weekend, but I did some.  I think writing this book from Arlo's perspective is definitely the way to go.  He's way more fun to write.  I hope to get another 4-5K added this week.  I'm aiming for each of his entries to be around 1K give or take.  Then when I get to the part of the story where Devon takes over, her parts can be longer or shorter as need be.

I sent a big batch of queries out, so will wait and see what happens with them before I send any more.  One rejection already, but that was from an agent I did wonder about sending to.

Got a draft of the cover art for Standing Too Close and I'm excited to share it with you.  It just needs a little tweaking to get it right.  Hopefully I'll get the final version before the end of the week so I can share it.

It's my birthday this week, so I'm going to do my best to celebrate that too!

What are your goals this week?  

Celebrate the Small Things 9-5-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

It's been a long week so I'm looking forward to it.  Not that I have a whole lot planned...  I have a new spin class to learn for next week, but I've been through it once already, so it shouldn't be too hard.

I haven't done a lot of writing this week, but the prompts for the contest I try to do every day worked for diary entries a couple of times this week, so I have two new Arlo sections to add to the book.  I hope to go through and bulk up the existing entries a little and then move forward with the rest of the book all from Arlo's POV.  We'll see how that goes...

Only had a few rejections this week, and weirdly, they have mostly been for Guide Us, not for A Stranger to Kindness. I stopped querying Guide Us in October, so these are from a long time back!  Not sure yet if the new query is working better - I've had one rejection from that version so far.  No requests from either yet.  It's kind of brutal!

Got feedback from a new beta reader which was really positive.  She even wanted to know more about Meg and Ozzy so it was fun to be able to say that Ozzy actually has his own book which is already published.  She emailed me back the next day to say she'd bought it.  That's what I like to hear!

And that's about it for me.  What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Break to You

 

Continuing on my Neal Shusterman kick, I read this book he co-wrote with two other authors.  It's set in a juvenile detention facility which I was interested in since A Stranger to Kindness also has some parts set in a facility like this.

Or, not quite like this - this centre houses both boys and girls, but they are strictly segregated with the common areas being used by girls and boys at separate times.  Which opens the doors for a clandestine romance between inmates when a girl accidently drops her journal in the library and a boy discovers it.

The pair then write back and forth, using the journal to get to know one another and to fall in love.  And then to set in motion a daring plan to actually see one another in the flesh.

I enjoyed this book and feel like the depiction of detention is more realistic than in some other books I've read with similar setting.  The characters were interesting and diverse and I particularly liked the contrast between the boys' behaviour and that of the girls. 

I learned some interesting things too, like the fact foster kids with nowhere to go sometimes end up in detention centres.

The planning and the way everyone on both sides of the prison worked together to get this pair of wannabe lovers together was probably very unrealistic, but made for a very satisfying story nonetheless.

The only thing I found disappointing, was the ending which seemed very abrupt and not entirely satisfying.  I felt like it was almost like the authors were leaving things open for a possible sequel, but not quite...

But overall, I enjoyed this very much and raced through it far more quickly than I've read a book recently.

So I'd recommend it.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Bestselling author of Scythe and Challenger Deep Neal Shusterman, here with coauthors Debra Young and Michelle Knowlden, tells an intense yet tender story of two teens, trapped in impossible circumstances and unjust systems, willing to risk everything for love—no matter the consequences.

Adriana knows that if she can manage to keep her head down for the next seven months, she might be able to get through her sentence in the Compass juvenile detention center. Thankfully, she’s allowed to keep her journal, where she writes down her most private thoughts when her feelings get too big.

Until the day she opens her journal and discovers that her thoughts are no longer so private. Someone has read her writings—and has written back. A boy who lives on the other side of the gender-divided detention center. A boy who sparks a fire in her to write back.

Jon’s story is different than Adriana’s; he’s already been at Compass for years and will be in the system for years to come. Still, when he reads the words Adriana writes to him, it makes him feel like the walls that hold them in have melted away.

This fast-paced, highly compelling tour de force novel exposes what life is like in detention—and reveals the hearts of two teens who are forced to live in desperate circumstances.

Weekly Goals 5-5-25

 As I suspected, I didn't get a whole lot of writing done over the weekend.  I did rework my query letter for A Stranger to Kindness after getting a couple more rejections.  It's not significantly different, but I think the stakes are a little clearer now.  I hope, anyway.  I sent this one out to four or five agents, so we'll see if it works better.  A whole swathe of agents I identified as being a good fit for this book are currently closed, so fingers crossed some of them re-open.

I toyed around with Arlo's diary entries, and I think it might work to have the whole book told this way.  It just feels terrible to have written 30K already and then just ditch it all.  But I think this is the direction I need to go.  I thought Devon's arc was the most compelling one, but I think Arlo actually has more growth to make..  And we'll still see Devon's arc, just through Arlo's eyes.

So my goal this week is to work on this.  I'll need to pad out the diary entries I've already written since they're only about 300 words at most, and I'll need them to create more of a driving narrative to move the story along.

So that's my goal for the week.

I also have this horrible thing going on with my lips that's making life quite unpleasant.  I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so hopefully we can figure out what the issue is and do something to fix them up.  It's annoying not being able to smile.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 2-5-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

I have a few things on this weekend, so I'm probably not going to get a whole lot of writing done.  Plus, I'm starting to think that maybe the problem I'm having with the book is that I'm writing it from the wrong POV.  I've been enjoying writing Arlo's diary entries far more than Devon's parts, so I'm curious about maybe trying to write the whole this as Arlo's diary.  There is a section he wouldn't be able to write, but I think it could make sense for Devon to fill in his diary at that point.

So I might have a go at splitting out the diary entries and having a go at telling the whole story that way.  Why do I always prefer writing boys?  And why do my boys always have more voice than my girls?  It's weird.

I've had a couple more rejections for A Stranger to Kindness which is disappointing.  I need to get to sending another round of queries.

We had a huge storm here yesterday and it has got really, really cold.  I think winter has hit for real now.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: How to Survive 1985

 

I read this author's first book, Royals a few years back and quite enjoyed it.  So when Netgalley offered me the opportunity to read this in advance of publication, I jumped.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this one so much.

In Royals, a group of kids were trapped in a shopping mall while the world went on without them outside.  They were there for several weeks and had time to develop relationships, have fights, and work out how to get back into the real world before the mall destroyed them.

In this book, the same characters find themselves transported to 1985 for some reason.  They're not together in their own time, so one by one they arrive in the past and somehow manage to find each other.  Some stay for the full length of the book, others vanish back to 2025 quite quickly without really seeming to have any real reason to be there.

This book happens over only two or three days, not really enough time for the characters to even get properly familiar with the strange new world they find themselves in.  And in the time they're there, nothing particularly challenging happens to them.  Even finding their way back to their own time doesn't seem difficult - it just happened when they went to the place they arrived at the right time.

This felt a little unfinished to me.  It was super short and not a lot actually happened.  I was suprised when I realized I'd hit the end already because it didn't feel like enough had happened for it to be a whole book.

Which is a shame, because I enjoyed the earlier book with this characters.  And there's so much possibility with a time travel story where kids get to hang out with their parents at the same age.  There are so many more interesting aspects of the 1980s this book could have explored through the lens of someone from 2025.

So, I was actually disappointed by this one.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

When four friends find themselves thrown back in time to 1985, how will they handle being teens in their parents’ era? And will they ever get back to the future?

It takes Shannon a while to work out what’s happened. She went into the cinema in 2025 and came back out … in 1985? Somehow she’s travelled forty years back in time.

But this isn’t the first time something strange has happened to Shannon and her group of friends. Is there a chance that whatever mysterious forces brought them together a year ago have sent them back to the 80s with her? To find her friends, she’ll have to navigate a world with no smartphones, no internet, and – worst of all – no access to bubble tea. Plus, what’s with the hairstyles?

Once they’re reunited, things only get more complicated. As the group tries to find a way back to the future, some friendships are strained while others blossom into something more. Can they stay together – and stay friends – long enough to survive 1985?

In another warm, wise and life-affirming story, Tegan Bennett Daylight takes her beloved cast of characters from her debut YA novel Royals on a fresh adventure, to discover something about their roots and how far their generation has come.

Weekly Goals 28-4-25

 I think I've figured out which version of the book I'm going to go with.  Annoyingly, it's my original version so most of the stuff I ended up writing last week is going on the scrap-heap.  I figured that if it was going to take until chapter 11 or 12 for my characters to meet anyway, I might as well go back to the original.  So I've made the new stuff fit with that version and I'm still at around 31K.

It's a little irritating that this is the way it's worked out, because I now feel like I kind of wasted my week off re-writing stuff that didn't need be re-written.  If I'd trusted what I was doing, I would have been much deeper into the story by now. 

Consider this a lesson learned.

I've had another rejection for A Stranger to Kindness so I need to get onto sending out another batch of queries.  It would be so useful to know if it's the queries or the pages that are getting me the rejections.  I hate querying.

I have to go back to work today which is likely to feel like something of a shock after having 10 days off.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 26-4-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

I've made progress on the new book.  I haven't written as much as I'd hoped to over the break, but I'm at around the 32K mark.  I'm pretty sure most of what I've written is pretty diabolical, but I'm going to keep going in the hope I'll be able to peel the good stuff out of the crap in revision.  At least I've finally got my two characters together now.   It just took 12 chapters to get there.

And because I went back and re-wrote the beginning to try and get them there faster (it didn't), now I have two versions of the start of the book and I'm not sure which works best.  Which is all very annoying.  Seriously, if I ever say I'm going to write a book start to finish again, please tell me to get off the crack.  It's just not the way my brain works or the way I pull stories together.  I feel like this one is already a nightmare editing project and I'm not even halfway through drafting.

I sent my first queries out for A Stranger to Kindness and have already had three rejections.  So I will try and get a few more out next week.  I love this book so much, but it is a character journey rather than a super-plotty story that races from one place to the next.  I worry that maybe those early chapters (which is all an agent sees in a submission package) might feel too quiet.

I guess we'll see what happens.  Keep your fingers crossed for me..

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: All Better Now

I've read a bunch of books by Neal Shusterman and even though they're not the kind of thing I usually read, I've enjoyed almost all of them.  So when I heard he was coming here to do a talk in May, I decided it was time to pick up his latest offering and read it before I go to his event.

This book deals with a pandemic very much like COVID and cleverly uses the things we know about pandemics now, and the way people behave, to create a very realistic picture of what might happen when there's another one.

The virus in this book is quite different to COVID though.  It completely transforms those who recover from it, making them gentler, happier, less consumerist, more altruistic people.  Billionaires give away their money.  People rush to help those in need.  No one buys anything made of plastic.

Obviously, the people in charge of the world and its economy aren't thrilled by this.  The army isn't thrilled by this.  The uber-wealthy who haven't contracted the virus aren't thrilled by this.  And factions develop, the line between the uninfected and the recoverees becoming stark enough to create conflict.

An interesting group of protagonists explore this new world, each navigating through their own status as infected, recovered, or, in one case, naturally immune.

There's the son of the world's richest man who has been protected and coddled his whole life, but more so since the virus.  When he is infected and recovers, he becomes a super-spreader, convinced everyone deserves the gift of being the new person he's become since recovering.  Trying to contain him is Mariel, a homeless girl who has a pragmatism that will balance out her friend's dreaminess.  She's immune to the virus, the first person to be discovered to have this trait.

Which makes her valuable to Morgan and the scientists she's stashed away in the arctic to find a vaccine against the virus.  Her immunity may be the key to crushing this thing.  Morgan only has the power and wealth to run this lab because prior to contracting the virus herself, one of the world's wealthiest women elected her to be a successor.  Knowing the virus would make her lose her ruthless, cruel streak, this woman handed over everything and instructed Morgan to carry on the nefarious work.

With the cure/vaccine about to be unleashed on the world, creating a planet more miserable than any we've known, the two factions will inevitably, clash.

I really enjoyed this book.  The idea of a disease that makes you a better person appeals to me.  Maybe this is exactly - well, maybe not quite; these people are so altruistic they're willing to dive into the ocean to save drowning people even if they can't swim - what the world needs to reset itself.  Maybe we do need a virus to show us what it is to be content and truly happy.

The intrigue and plots and the very definite line between the infected (embraced) and not (unembraced) was fascinating to watch.  And there were some fabulous villains in there to hate.  I particularly liked the old lady billionaire whose entire life had been devoted to making tis miserable for people she disliked.  In petty, annoying ways.

So, I'd recommend this one.  It's fun and fast-paced and while speculative, has enough reality in there to make it feel all too possible.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

From New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman comes a young adult thriller about a world where happiness becomes contagious and the teens caught in the conspiracy by the powers that be to bring back discontent.

An unprecedented condition is on the rise. It behaves like a virus, with the first symptom being a fever, but those who contract it experience long-term effects no one has ever seen utter contentment. Soon after infection, people find the stress, depression, greed, and other negative feelings that used to weigh them down are gone.

Almost everyone revels in this mass unburdening. But people in power—who depend on malcontents tuning into their broadcasts, prey on the insecure to sell their products, and convince people they need more, new, faster, better everything—know this new state of being is bad for business. Soon, campaigns start up convincing people that being happy all the time is dangerous. There’s even a vaccine developed to rid people of their inner peace and get them back to normal because, surely, without anger or jealousy as motivators, productivity will grind to a halt and the world will be thrown into chaos.



It’s nearly impossible to determine the truth when everyone with a platform is pushing their own agendas, and two teens from very different backgrounds who’ve had their lives upended in different ways by the virus find themselves enmeshed in the center of a dangerous power play. Can they reveal the truth?

Weekly Goals 21-4-25

 I have the whole week off this week so my goal is to write a lot.  I spent the weekend fixing up the place I feel like I went wrong with the book I'm working on, and now I'm charging forward with it.  I should be able to re-use a few bits and pieces I'd written earlier, but probably not the whole lot.

So this week is all about the new book which I'm calling Street Smarts at the moment, but don't think that will be a permanent title.

I'm also going to send out a handful of queries for A Stranger to Kindness.  Just to kind of test the water.  I got some feedback on my query and I've tweaked it as a result, but it will be interesting to see how it goes in the wild.  So wish me luck...

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 18-4-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

Holidays!

It's Easter, so we have a four-day weekend, plus, because it's ANZAC day on Friday next week, I only had to take three days of leave to get a 10 day break.  Nice, huh?

I'm not going anywhere, but I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get a good way through the new book, so my plan is to try and write at least 5,000 words a day over this break and get a good way in.  I had initially thought I'd be able to finish the whole thing, but realizing I went the wrong way in about Chapter Two means I'm not as far in as I thought.

But it's fine.  I'll fix that chapter up and get things moving in the right direction, then I'll see if anything I've already written can be salvaged. I'm pretty sure some of it can.  Just probably not all of it.  And if I can get 40-50K written over the next week or so, that will be fantastic.  I'll be right in the story then.

I'm also hoping to send off my first few queries for A Stranger to Kindness over the next week, so please keep your fingers crossed for that.  I feel so protective of Harley and Wolfe, I can't bear to think of them being rejected.

Oh, and that exciting thing I alluded to that I couldn't talk about?  Turned out to be nothing.  Just another disappointment in a week that's been a little disappointing on numerous fronts.  But this is a celebrate post, so I'm not going into that....

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: The History of Love

 

I found this one in the bookshelf in our office breakroom.  Because we run a Writers progamme as part of our Festival, we often have books given to us at work and when they've been read, they end up in the library in the Whare Kai.  Plus, other people (myself included) often offload books they've read into those shelves if they're not ones they want to keep at home. Anyway, this one looked interesting enough, and I needed something to read, so I picked it up.

It was one of those books that have a variety of POVs, all linked by a single thing - in this case, an obscure book called The History of Love.  

There's Leo, an old Polish man who has had one great love in his life and his love was so huge, it spilled over into a book he wrote to contain his emotions. Both the book and the woman are long gone now, and Leo is in New York, trying to prove to himself he's still alive.  At least for one more day.

Also in New York is Alma, a fourteen-year-old girl whose father has died, leaving her mother desperately lonely.  When they met, her father gave her mother a copy of a book called The History of Love, in Spanish.  when a stranger writes and asks her mother to translate the book into English, Alma decides the man asking for this must be her mother's next soulmate.

As the various characters in this book circle closer and closer to the truth about The History of Love, all their lives might be changed forever.

I enjoyed this book.  It was well written and the various different relationships revealed themselves quietly.  It wasn't something completely absorbing or mind-blowing, but it was interesting enough to keep me reading.  It was also quite sad, or maybe, melancholy would be a better word.  It left me with a bit of an ache in my heart for all the lost opportunities the characters had.

So I'd recommend this one.  It's not right up there among my favourite books of the year, but I did enjoy it .

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer is trying to find a cure for her mother's loneliness. Believing she might discover it in an old book her mother is lovingly translating, she sets out in search of its author.

Across New York an old man called Leo Gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer. He spends his days dreaming of the lost love who, sixty years ago in Poland, inspired him to write a book. And although he doesn't know it yet, that book also survived: crossing oceans and generations, and changing lives...

Weekly Goals 14-4-25

I didn't do a lot of writing over the weekend, but I think I figured out that I've gone the wrong way with this book.  I thought originally I needed something dramatic to happen to get Devon out of her house, but was convinced by a bunch of other people that a slow fade would work.

Maybe in real life.

In fiction, I think you need more and certainly, the slow fade isn't working for this book. It's taking far too long for me to get the characters to the place they need to be and I feel like a lot of what I've written is really boring.  So I'm going to go back and figure out where I need to add the dramatic bit that forces Devon's change, then I'll be able to get this book on track.

Very glad I've figured that out now because I have the whole of next week off to write and was really planning to get this book done in that week.  Not sure I'll manage that now, but I should be able to get a good way into it anyway.

So that's my goal this week.  To figure out where I went wrong and to fix it before I move on further into the story.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 11-4-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

It's been a busy week and I'm tired.  I haven't been feeling all that great either, so am looking forward to maybe getting a little time to rest.  I've had this weird lip thing going on, where my lips have suddenly got really dry and cracked and no lip balm seems to help.  I finally went to the doctor and was given some cream to use, but I suspect it's just steroid cream and will clear things up for as long as I use it, but won't actually fix the problem.  But maybe that's me being cynical...

Hoping to get some writing done this weekend.  I'm a little stuck right now on how to get Arlo and Devon together.  I mean, I know how they meet and why and everything - I've even written that section - I just can't seem to get Devon there.  From where I am, I still think it's another two chapters.  And I think that's too long.

But I'll figure it out.  I always do in the end.  Unless I trunk the book, but I don't feel like I'm at that point with this one quite yet.  And next week's easter and I have 10 days to immerse myself in the book and figure it out.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Loved: Boy Swallows Universe

 

I can't believe I didn't discover this book sooner; it's so up my alley it's not funny!  The writing is glorious, the story is edge-of-your-seat gripping and the characters are absolutely unforgettable.

The book follows the exploits of one Eli Bell, starting when he's around twelve,and finishing up when he's on the threshold of adulthood.  Eli is a sensitive, observant kid, prone to crying, yet tough as nails at the same time.

He has to be.  His mother is a junkie, his father a drunk he barely knows, his stepfather deals drugs and his brother chooses to be mute (sound familiar??).  And his babysitter is the legendary crook and prison-escape artist, Slim Halliday.

Growing up with Slim's stories of goodness, crime and derring-do, Eli has a nose for a good story and an over-developed sense of right and wrong.

But life isn't kind to Eli and his family, especially when his stepfather crosses the drug kingpin in town and gets himself disappeared, his mother thrown in jail and Eli himself mutilated.  But true to his adventurous spirit, even losing a finger doesn't slow Eli down.  It might take years for the opportunity to take Tytus Broz down, but he will be taken down.

And in the meantime, there are other adventures to be had, from falling for the crime writer at the local paper to breaking into a prison to spend Christmas with his mother.

I loved this book.  Eli is such a delightful character, even when he's in some stupidly awful situations.  And the relationship he has with his silent, possibly magical older brother is beautiful.  You know what a sucker I am for a good brother relationship...  The depiction of Brisbane's criminal underworld in the 1980s is perfectly drawn in its gritty, slightly shabby and worn-out criminality.

And the writing is gorgeous.  As a wannbe reporter, Eli's editor tells him he's too flowery, too focused on the details, and the author is just as focused on the details - to great effect.  There's some gorgeous language in this book, even though it's as tough and gritty as the streets the Bell boys grow up on.

So yeah.  I loved it.

But don;'t just listen to me.   Here's the blurb:

A novel of love, crime, magic, fate and coming of age, set in Brisbane's violent working class suburban fringe - from one of Australia's most exciting new writers.

Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crime for a babysitter. It's not as if Eli's life isn't complicated enough already. He's just trying to follow his heart, learning what it takes to be a good man, but life just keeps throwing obstacles in the way - not least of which is Tytus Broz, legendary Brisbane drug dealer.

But if Eli's life is about to get a whole lot more serious. He's about to fall in love. And, oh yeah, he has to break into Boggo Road Gaol on Christmas Day, to save his mum.

A story of brotherhood, true love and the most unlikely of friendships, Boy Swallows Universe will be the most heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novel you will read all year.

Weekly Goals 7-4-25

 I got all the edits done on Standing Too Close over the weekend, so that's gone back to my publisher.  I expect it will be a few weeks before I get the next round.

So this week, it's back to the new book.  I finished chapter seven this weekend, and I feel like it's still going to be another two or three chapters before Devon and Arlo meet.  Is that too far into the book?  I think I'll be at around 20K by then, which feels like it might be too far.  But I guess we'll see.  Writing a book from start to finish is weird...

I have a function to cater for work this week which will be a nice change from being in front of my computer all day.  Looking forward to that.

And that's really it for goals this week.  What are yours?

Celebrate the Small Things 4-4-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

I got edits through from my publisher for Standing Too Close, so that's going to be my weekend.  I flicked through them yesterday and there's nothing too major that needs to be done.  I started yesterday, but didn't finish, so I plan to try and get that done today.  Then reward myself by going to a movie.

Oh, and Standing Too Close will release on 8 August.  Cover reveal to come...

It's so weird going back into that book.  A Stranger To Kindness was born out of writing that book, and I've spent so long working on that one now, Standing Too Close feels very, very long ago.  But apparently it made my editor cry, so that's something!  I do remember there's a scene in there that made me cry when I wrote it which has never happened to me before.

Something else potentially exciting happened this week, but I can't talk about it yet.  So I'll just tease you with that much.  Again, more to come...

What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG - April

 It's the first Wednesday in April, so it's time for the IWSG!

The awesome co-hosts for the April 2 posting of the IWSG are Jennifer Lane, L Diane Wolfe, Jenni Enzor, and Natalie Aguirre!

This month's question really had me scratching my head.

What fantasy character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with?

You see, I don't really read fantasy.  I've never enjoyed fantasy books much. I've tried reading The Hobbit about 10 times, and never got far into it.  I think there are two types of people in the world - the ones who like The Hobbit, and the ones who don't.

I've tried reading other fantasy too, thinking maybe I just don't like Tolkien, but I've had the same reaction to most other fantasy books I've tried.  Just. Not. My. Thing.

Interestingly though, one of my longest-term CPs, Breanna, is a fantasy author.  High fantasy too.  With complex magic systems and wizards and battling tribes.  The stuff I usually find a complete turn off if I come across it in a book's description.  And I love her books.  She has a unique voice and an even more unique way of making what are probably fantasy tropes something specific to the worlds she's created.  In her published novels, the way magic is used and the effect it has on users is something I've never come across before.  And her new stuff...  well, you fantasy lovers are in for an absolute treat when these books come out.  

So, to answer this question, I'd have to say, if I had to go on a quest or sit down for a bevvie with a fantasy character, it would have to be one of Breanna's. I have a specific one in mind - he's one of the heroes of her newest book that I'm reading for her at the moment, as she writes it - but as the book isn't finished yet, I'm going to have to go with one from one of her published novels: Corcoran Gray from Lord of Secrets.  He's kind of a scoundrel, but a loveable one, in his own way.

But to be honest, there are characters in a bunch of books I'd love to spend time with, even some of my own characters.  By the time I've finished writing them, they kind of have lives of their own and I'd love to know more about them.  But fantasy characters?  Not so much...

Who would you pick?

Weekly goals 31-3-25

 I ended up going up the line on Saturday after all, so my writing time this weekend was a little limited.  I did almost finish the chapter I was working on, and I've written a whole lot of bits and pieces for later in the book.  I do feel like it's taking too long to get my main characters to meet.  I'm over 10K into this book and they haven't even seen each other yet.

Which is always the thing that happens to me when I start at the beginning of a story - I take 10K or so to find the actual start of the book.  Although, I'm not entirely sure that's the case this time.  I feel like everything has been happening quite organically up until now.  Just slowly.  I guess we'll see how it all turns out.

So my goal this week is to keep going, get some more words down.  It's only a couple of weeks until Easter and my 10-day writing marathon to try and get this finished.  The more I get done in advance, the better.

What are your goals this week?