So I’ve decided I’m going to start writing a regular thing each month, where I give a brief update of what I’m working on and what I’m doing and events and so on. Sound all right to you? Yeah, it sounds all right to me, too. It’s actually kind of nice to be figuring out my priorities and stuff for the month. I’ve talked about my love of list-making here, so I guess this is more on the theme. And please excuse the title, I’ve been watching a lot of The West Wing lately…
What I’m writing:
I’m on deadline this month – April 30th, to be exact, and it’s already been pushed back a month, so this time I can’t fake it. I’m finishing the final 100 pages of a new book, which will be announced in more detail once the contracts have been approved (yes, it’s sold, but no, I can’t tell you about it yet).
It’s a standalone, and it’s NOT a YA crime book…but that’s all I can tell you. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more! Please don’t throw things at me! I promise I’ll give you all the gory details as soon as I’m allowed.
What I’m up to:
Well, I got a haircut – nice, huh? It was just perfect the next day, too, when I had to dig up the broken septic pipe in our driveway…hahahaha *clunk*
On Wednesday, April 6th, I visited RMIT’s Creative Writing class, run by Simmone Howell, and chatted to students there about YA crime, and writing a series, and generally let the students pick my brain. The last time I went to one of these classes, I was about a week from deadline with Every Move, and I was a mess – bird’s nest hair, haggard face, wearing my winter writing clothes (daggy corduroy trousers, huge holey woollen jumper) cos all my normal clothes were dirty… I promised Simmone I’d try to look more professional this time, and I think I pulled it off! Anyway, it was great fun.
That’s it for events at this stage – I’m having a gloriously event-free April, which is good, because see: deadline, above, and also it’s my third son’s birthday, plus Term Two and junior footy season have both started, which means I have morphed into a taxi who bakes birthday cakes and nags you about your homework.
What’s bugging me:
Meh, I’m kinda bug-free right now. I had a bit of a niggle on about Love Triangles the other day, so I wrote a blog post about it, and that’s coming soon.
#LoveOzYAbookclub:
April’s title is HOW TO BE HAPPY by Dave Burton – you can check out the title selection post here, and an interview with Dave was posted here. The discussion post is going up later in the month, so check back if you’re interested. Feel free to sign up to bookclub, if you want – we’re reading a book a month, and it’s all OzYA, so if that floats your boat, come aboard on the FB page.
On My TBR:
Well, I’ve actually just read HOW TO BE HAPPY, and it was genuinely amazing – teen memoir is a new genre for me. I’ll be detailing my reaction more in the bookclub discussion post.
I’ve also just bought an e-copy of THE MIDNIGHT DRESS by Karen Foxlee, and I’m looking forward to getting into it. I borrowed MAN-MADE BOY by Jon Skovron from the library, and loved it – I thought it was quite original and inventive, and managed to convey a lot of insight into relationships and growing up in a story ostensibly about monsters.
I also borrowed BROWN-EYED GIRL by Lisa Kleypas, because she is the bad-arse queen of romance. But (apart from HAPPY) I might very well avoid all reading until I’ve gotten this manuscript finished – I am extremely hopeless with reading (think: hours lost), and I just can’t waste time this month.
That’s all I can think of for now. Is there anything you’d like to know in these updates? I mean, I could put out a weekly newsletter, but I just thought that might be a bit boring…(more spam! Ugh!) But if there’s something you’d like to know, drop me a line in the comments here and I’ll see if I can squeeze it in next month!
xxEllie