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Excuse me but where did May go? As a matter of fact, where have the last five months gone? Is 2017 going as crazy fast for you as it is for me?
This month has flown by – between (way too many) school events, loads of bookish events, a huge month for the West Coast Fiction Festival planning committee, the major fundraising event for the year with Share the Dignity, helping my son Tom stay fed, watered and non-suicidal during Year Twelve mid-year exams, working at the clinic, doing the final proofread for BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE, planning the book tour with my publicist, getting myself on Instagram and writing much of the first draft of LOVE AND OTHER BATTLES – I’ve barely had time to scratch myself. I tell you what, I loved my housecleaner Amy more than I ever imagined I could love another human when she flew in both times this month like a fairy godmother to save us from the squalor we’ve been living in.
May kicked off with me joining Instagram after my publicist, Amazing Alice, strongly suggested I should join before my new book with its stunning cover releases – and by strongly suggested I mean, ‘You better get yourself on Instagram yesterday young lady!’ I was really reluctant to bring more social media into my life. But guess what? I LOVE Instagram – it’s just so pretty! I was super excited to post this photo from work when a special scarf arrived there that I’d ordered with the words of the BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE manuscript on it! Check it out - I’m literally wearing my book!
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If you’d like to find me on Instagram, look for tesswoods_author .
I visited the last book club for LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT at the start of May with a lovely group of women who all bonded over a shared love of books and because they had all immigrated to Australia as adults as well. They were thrilled with the books I gave them that I’d finished reading. And I was treated to steamed cheesecake – who knew you could steam a cheesecake??
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It wasn’t just me who went along to a book club. Dymocks Joondalup launched a brand new YA Book Club for teenagers where they opened the store up in the evening so that high school aged students could have the whole shop to themselves. My daughter Lara and her best friend Ella went along for an evening where they were in book nerd heaven! They had yummy desserts and fancy cups of T2 teas, they met other like-minded teens, and talked about all the latest YA books around and those yet to be released. They discussed the book that was chosen for them as a book club read as well. After the session they roamed around the store browsing books that were all heavily discounted for them if they wanted to purchase any.
If you live in the Perth northern suburbs and you have a teenager in the house who loves to read young adult books, you should totally sign them up to the YA Book Club. Chloe, Aisling and Allyce, the lovely Dymocks staff, will dote on your kids like crazy! Here’s the link if you’re curious:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1014304595370032/
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Two of my closest friends, Rachael Johns and Natasha Lester, launched new books two days in a row. It was awesome to catch up and help them celebrate!
Here’s me and Rachael at her evening launch for her tenth print book for Harlequin, TALK OF THE TOWN, a fantastic rural romance! Rachael may be smiling sweetly in this photo but in truth she was cursing me through clenched teeth because her author talk was starting, everyone was seated and waiting and I was forcing her to pose with me. And that sweet smile on my face was me saying, ‘Just shut up and smile would you?’ Ah, the things the camera doesn’t tell you!
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The next morning was Natasha’s morning tea launch for her beautiful historical romance HER MOTHER’S SECRET. That’s our gorgeous friend Anthea Hodgson with me and Rach on the right if you were wondering. I’m featuring her debut novel in my book club next month so you’ll learn lots more about her then.
If you’re on the lookout for your next great read, both Rachael and Natasha’s magnificent new books are available in bookshops and online.
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And another talented Perth author, Sasha Wasley, released her debut novel for Penguin Books Australia. Sasha was previously a successful self-published author that Penguin snapped up when she penned a beautiful rural romance.
I was delighted to be asked to cover quote for DEAR BANJO and felt a huge sense of pride for Sasha when it hit the shelves last week. Look out for it guys, it’s a goodie! Here’s a selfie I took with DEAR BANJO on the day it arrived in my letterbox and you can see my quote too.
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Sasha’s book wasn’t the only one released this month where I was asked to cover quote. The inspirational Serenity Press team released a romance anthology called A BOUQUET OF LOVE, featuring short stories by a host of Australian authors all centred around a bridal boutique. I had the pleasure of cover quoting for BOUQUET OF LOVE with praise for the last Serenity romance anthology ROCKY ROMANCE.
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And to top off the celebrations of Perth authors releasing books in May, I had a meeting with the other authors who make up the West Coast Fiction Festival committee to choose our signing authors for next year’s festival (more on that later!) and then we all went into Big W together where we had the thrill of watching the uber-talented Jennie Jones see her Swallows Falls series re-released all at once! If you haven’t read any of the fabulous Swallows Falls books, get in quick, these won’t be around for long, they’re a limited edition release.
Here’s a photo of Jennie looking luminous with her armful of new books along with a selfie of our committee minus our remaining two beautiful team members, our treasurer, Kathryn, and our event co-ordinator Tamara.
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Topping off a very social month, last Sunday I was honoured to be involved in Share the Dignity’s DigniTea, a high-tea event that happened simultaneously in every capital city in Australia to raise money for sanitary items for Australia’s homeless women on World Hygiene Day. It was a beautiful afternoon spent in the company of my local school mum friends, author friends and two lovely tables of readers who all came along to offer support as well.
I met some truly inspirational woman, one in particular who had recently migrated to Australia to escape a violent partner, and I participated in a panel discussion about Share the Dignity and how our charity works to help women who are sleeping rough on the streets or in domestic violence shelters. My wonderful generous publishing house showed their support for me and their concern for our desperate homeless situation by sending every DigniTea event in every capital city a stack of the latest fiction novels to raffle off – I was especially thrilled when out of 250 women, my gorgeous girlfriend, Michelle Greening, won the raffle.
I asked my friend, MP Liza Harvey, to come and speak and she happily gave up her one day off to do just that and the very lovely and bubbly Nat Locke from Nova 93.7fm was a delightful MC. I was in awe of the women who organised this event, it was flawless!
Here are some photo highlights:
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Knowing that the DigniTea was up and coming, with a deadline looming on the final proofread of BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE, and after a hugely busy first half of the month where it felt like we had more school stuff on than ever before, plus the West Coast Fiction Festival planning swallowing up every ounce of my spare time, I was so wrecked by the time the Serenity Press launch was on for BOUQUET OF LOVE that I sadly didn’t the attend.
But how’s this for the meaning of friendship? Rather than sulk that I wasn’t attending the launch of a book I’d been given the honour of cover quoting for, Karen McDermott, half of the Serenity Press partnership, drove over an hour from Rockingham to come and see me and hand deliver my copy of the book. Karen knew I was exhausted and feeling overwhelmed with the amount I had on rather than me having another big night out where I’d have to do hair and make-up, dress up and drive a long way, instead we sat together in our tracksuit pants in my back garden on a Friday afternoon, snuggled in a rug on a porch swing in the sunlight and we drank tea, ate pasta and had a good old gossip.
That same morning, the lovely Monique Mulligan, the other half of Serenity Press, got in touch with me too to say she was sending love and hugs with Karen. Rather than make me feel like I’d disappointed her, my beautiful sweet friend Louisa West, whose wonderful short story opens the anthology, showered me with care. I’m so lucky to have such special women in my life.
The experience served as a timely reminder to me, and the reason I just shared the story with you is in case any of you need a reminder too, that it’s okay to say no when things get too much and your genuine friends will understand.
Which brings me onto #TeamGirls. Something very exciting launched in Australia this month and is being spearheaded by an amazing, inspiring woman I’m lucky enough to call my friend, Rebecca Sparrow. I could tell you about #TeamGirls myself, but instead I’ll let Bec tell you in her own words:
“When I was fifteen if you’d asked me what my life purpose was, I would have mumbled something about marrying Kirk Cameron and working as a children’s TV host. Neither happened (I blame the corkscrew perm and stone wash jeans. Thank you, 1987). But still, back then if I had a “purpose” I figured it was to be a reporter on Wombat or Simon Townsend’s Wonder World.
Thirty years later and my answer is crystal clear.
These days I feel like my purpose is to help teenage girls traverse that tricky path from childhood to adulthood. My purpose is to help teen girls (and their parents) navigate high school friendships, have a more positive experience online and understand that despite what society tells them they are enough just as they are.
It's why I write books like Find Your Tribe and Ask Me Anything.
It’s why I go into high schools and talk to teenage girls about resilience and giving back and the idea of your high school legacy and – most of all - the power of finding those friends who like you for who you are and have your back.
And it’s why I’ve agreed to be an Ambassador for #TeamGirls – an initiative put together by Suncorp, Netball Australia and ReachOut, Australia’s largest online youth mental health organisation.
They came to me and said this initiative isn’t about financial services. Or netball, for that matter. It’s a group of organisations coming together to ask: How can we help young girls feel confident? Confident about their bodies. Confident about their abilities. Confident with money. How can we help our girls navigate the mixed and confusing messages society fires at them? What part can we play to teach them about friendship and being role models for each other?
So, I said: You had me at hello.
As part of my work with #TeamGirls this year I’m going to be writing stories, creating a podcast, hosting events and generally encouraging all of you to be a part of the #TeamGirls movement. If, like me, you want our daughters, our granddaughters, our nieces and goddaughters to feel confident in their own skin, to have the skills to navigate high school friendships, to know how to tap into that inner grit when life throws them a curveball, to back their opinions and their ambitions and to support each other to be the best they can be – well, congratulations and welcome to #TeamGirls. Let’s do this. https://teamgirls.com.au/articles/”
I hope Bec has inspired you to get on Facebook or Instagram and post a photo of your own for #TeamGirls to spread the word about this excellent inititiative - it can be of you with your family, friends, anyone who’s on your #TeamGirls. Here’s Bec with her beautiful daughter and then there’s my beautiful daughter with her best friend and me with mine. There’s nothing I don’t adore about the #TeamGirls movement.
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Having the support of my #TeamGirls, I slowed right down for a few days, burrowed myself at home and that’s when I was able to finally completely finish with BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE!
It’s such a massive relief to know that the work on a book is completely done. Three drafts, a structural edit, a copy edit and a proof read later, it’s finally on its way to the printers and when I see the story next, it will be when the postie delivers my copies of the book. I can hardly wait! The early advance reviews have been incredibly rewarding after all the hard work that’s gone into it, so I hope the rest of you enjoy it too when it hits the shelves in July. I sent the pages back to my publisher Mary, a.k.a. Mary The Love Of My Life, in a state of chaotic hot mess (an apt reflection of my life this month I think!!) and I love this photo she posted on Twitter :)
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Whatever you got up to this month, I hope you were surrounded with love and that June brings you all much happiness. It’s my birthday in June so I’m expecting much happiness in the form of shoes and cake ;)!!
Lots of love to you all,
Tess x
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LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT - re-release:
I was thrilled to bits to hear that LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT is getting another round on bookshelves in the lead up to the release of BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE. It’s a smaller print version so the good news is it’s cheap! The new version will be released on June 19th and will retail for $14.99.
You’ll find it at airports and bookstores like Dymocks. You can also pre-order it online at Booktopia and have it delivered. Here’s the pre-order link –
http://www.booktopia.com.au/love-at-first-flight-tess-woods/prod9781460754559.html
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BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE Australian Tour Dates:
Amazing Alice has organised these events for me and I really hope I get to meet lots of you and re-unite with those of you I met last time. I’m also SUPER excited to be launching in Sydney and Brisbane for the first time!
Here are my tour dates, ticketing details will follow next month:
PERTH:
Saturday 29th July, 7pm – official launch and book signing at The Rendezvous Perth Hotel, Scarborough. This cocktail party event is by invitation only. Invitations are being sent out next week!
SYDNEY:
Monday 7th August, 6pm – Sunderland Library (The Shire), in conversation with Melissa Sargent and book signing.
MELBOURNE:
Thursday 10th August, 6pm – Dymocks Melbourne (Collins Street), in conversation with Jade St Clair and book signing.
BRISBANE:
Friday 11th August, 6pm (venue TBA), in conversation with Renee Connoulty and book signing.
PERTH:
Tuesday 15th August, 6pm – The Great Court, Wanneroo Cultural Centre, author talk, book reading and signing to launch National Reading Hour for the Shire of Wanneroo.
BUNBURY:
Thursday 7th September, 6pm – location TBA, author talk and book signing.
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Tess Woods Winter in Western Australia Writers' Retreat July 3rd to 9th 2018:
I'm delighted to announce that I'll be running a six-night writing retreat next year on the stunning South West Australian Coast!
I chose Winter in Wales for my first writing retreat but when it came time to plan a second retreat, I couldn’t resist sharing my favourite part of the world with you.
My retreats are designed for writers to indulge your love of writing far away from the stresses of your everyday routine, to be inspired by the tranquil setting around you and to have absolutely nothing to do but write, to be pampered and to learn new writing and author branding skills in a relaxed and supportive environment.
We’ll be staying in a boutique guesthouse set in the beautiful Tuart Forest, three minutes away from the breath taking Geographe Bay coastline. Situated on nine acres of private woodland, the only other locals you'll see will be birds and kangaroos. There’s an outdoor decking, indoor heated jacuzzi, luxurious private rooms and a gorgeous guest lounge with log fire, leather recliners and bookshelf packed with books.
The world famous Busselton Jetty is only a stone’s throw away and we’re within wine glass holding reach of the glorious Margaret River Wine Region.
The retreat package includes:
- accommodation. There's a private suite in the guesthouse for every guest, each with queen bed, kitchenette, ensuite, reverse cycle air conditioning, writing desk, flat screen TV, and a beautiful view.
- all meals (excluding alcohol). This includes an amazing buffet breakfast daily in the Grand Morning Room overlooking the pool, trips to winery restaurants and homemade meals by me (Did you know I love cooking as much as love writing?)
- a sixty minute one-on-one critique session with me.
- prior to the retreat, I will read and annotate forty-pages of your manuscript as well as your full synopsis in preparation for our session.
- daily morning workshops on writing craft and author branding run by me.
– a thirty minute one-on-one session on digital branding, website and business card design with my son, Tom, who at the time will be doing a double university degree in graphic and digital art.
- privately chauffeured (read: my hubby's rented minivan) group outings. These will be casual afternoon visits to local scenic spots, tourist shopping strips and wineries. No outings will be organised in advance so that we can be spontaneous. (My family is staying onsite in a detached cottage so my hubby will only hang around when a driver is needed.)
All outings, group workshops and one-on-one sessions are optional. If you choose to spend the entire retreat squirrelled away writing and have me slip meals under the door to you, that's perfectly fine with me!
The total cost is $3850 per person and doesn't include flights or airport transfers which will need to be arranged by you. However, my lovely husband will be doing one trip from Perth to Busselton on the first day of the retreat and a trip back to Perth again on the last day in the minibus so you're welcome to hitch a ride with him.
Applications are now open for the retreat and are to be sent via email to tess@tesswoods.com.au
Applications should include a brief (informal) description of where you're at in your writing journey and what you hope to get out of the retreat. Also if you have any food allergies please let me know so I can allow for that in meal preparation.
Writers of general commercial fiction and romance genres from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply. Writers of other genres are also welcome, but my experience is only as a women’s fiction/romance writer so if that’s cool with you, it’s cool with me!
I was completely swamped with emails for my last retreat once I advertised it on Facebook. I stopped accepting applications after twenty-four hours. So if you’re keen, get in quick! I’ve let you know about the retreat first and will be advertising it on Facebook on Friday. Also, the writers who asked to be waitlisted for retreat announcements have been privately contacted.
The initial application is purely an expression of interest with no expectation for you to commit until you decide to formally accept my offer in writing.
Looking forward to meeting some fabulous new people for an amazing week away!
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West Coast Fiction Festival - signing authors revealed!:
Our committee has been bursting to share with you the incredible line-up of authors we have coming to the West Coast Fiction Festival in November 2018 for our massive one- day signing event and evening cocktail party to raise funds for Share the Dignity.
We had a staggering amount of applications from local and international authors and it was extremely difficult to narrow the list down. In the end, we came up with a group of authors we believe is the highest calibre of any group signing that’s taken place in Australia. We chose half traditionally published authors and half self-published (indie) authors of general women’s fiction and romance and we’ve signed on some of the biggest names in the country.
We’re revealing authors every day to our excited reader group on Facebook! If you’d like to join our reader community where you’ll get all the latest news about the festival, learn about the attending authors, be made aware of new releases and book sales and get to know other book lovers, we’d love to have you join us! Here’s the link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1802237353423295/
Every night we’re updating the website after revealing authors to the reader group first. Here’s our current list with more authors being revealed every day until we’ve shown you the full list.
http://www.wcfictionfestival.com.au/attending-authors.html
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May Newsletter Subscriber Winner:
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Congratulations to Keith Stevenson who won this month’s prize – a pack of six gourmet spice mixes from a Melbourne family run small business, Gourmet Morsels. I’ll be emailing you to grab your postal address, Keith, and I hope you love the spices as much as my family love ours! We’re ordering the packets in by the kilo now! Here’s the Gourmet Morsels website for anyone who’s inspired to shop locally and support an Aussie small business (oh and they have free delivery!) - http://gourmetmorsels.com.au/
For Writers:
This fantastic article by Sean P Carlin is about time management and making time to write in a busy day by doing short sprints. He has an interesting concept about stopping writing as well even in the middles of a scene when sprint time is up, so it doesn’t take up too much of your day. Read what he says here:
http://www.seanpcarlin.com/don-roos-kitchen-timer/
This is one of my all-time favourite articles for writers, the legendary Stephen King shares his Top Twenty Tips. More sound advice you will never find:
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers.html
Authors a la carte – Amanda Knight's Apple Crumble:
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This yummy and simple family favourite has its origins in war time which makes it appropriate for this gorgeous debut author to share with us in celebration of her military romance new release SITUATION CRITICAL.
You can find the recipe in the link below and you can also find out all about the warm hearted love story that the hugely warm hearted, beautiful inside and out Amanda has burst onto the Aussie romance scene with.
http://www.tesswoods.com.au/authors-a-la-carte---amanda-knights-apple-crumble.html
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Book Review: ACHE: Eliza Henry Jones:
Eliza Henry Jones is the youngest author I’ve featured in my book of the month and is easily one of the most talented too. I’m pretty sure it’s also the first time I’ve featured a literary novel. That’s because I’m shallow and I like fast easy to consume commercial books! But Eliza’s stories have that elusive X-factor which make her a darling of the Australian literary scene as well as a commercial success. For someone so incredibly talented and lauded, this gorgeous Melbourne girl is also one of the sweetest, humblest, self-deprecating people you’ll ever come across. If you haven’t read Eliza’s first novel, IN THE QUIET, make sure you do. Also read this one! I love this woman to bits and I’m happy dancing that I get to see her again soon. Eliza she shares my well documented grannyish pleasures - we’re both knitters, tea drinkers and veggie patch lovers!
Next week on my Facebook page, you can win a signed copy of ACHE from Eliza, so keep your eye out for that competition!
Here’s a snap of Eliza and me at HarperCollins author day last year – in my defence, I was wearing flats! Doesn’t she look like she could be Nicole Kidman’s daughter?
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Blurb:
A year ago, a devastating bushfire ripped Annie's world apart - killing her grandmother, traumatising her young daughter and leaving her mother's home in the mountains half destroyed. Annie fled back to the city, but the mountain continues to haunt her. Now, drawn by a call for help from her uncle, she's going back to the place she loves most in the world, to try to heal herself, her marriage, her daughter and her mother.
A heart-wrenching, tender and lovely novel about loss, grief and regeneration, Ache is not only a story of how we can be broken, but how we can put ourselves back together.
My review:
Once again Eliza Henry-Jones has left me in a dazed state after finishing another of her extraordinarily beautiful and moving novels. Ache is the most perfect title for this book - Annie aches for her past, she aches for her marriage, for new and old loves, for her young daughter, for her old home - but she mostly aches for herself and her own brokenness.
Henry-Jones has an exquisite way of making the reader feel while remaining unsentimental and non-melodramatic in her writing. The beauty is in how spare she is with her words, something I'm in awe of as a fellow writer. The attention to detail even in the spareness of words, however. still manages to take your breath away. She has a gift of drawing you right into each scene, into whoever's head she wants you to be in in that moment.
The relationship between mother and daughter in particular is incredibly well drawn and utterly heart-breaking. Somehow though, through tragedy and the grief that follows, Henry-Jones makes it okay and when you finish the story, it's the healing and the hope that stays with you.
Ache is literary yet still commercial, a love story but also a story about Australia, about the land and its inhabitants and it is nothing short of a masterpiece. Hats off from me.
About Eliza:
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Eliza Henry Jones was born in Melbourne in 1990. Her fiction has been published widely in journals and anthologies. She was a young writer-in-residence at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre in 2012 and was a recipient of a Varuna residential fellowship for 2015. She was shortlisted for the Express Media Outstanding Achievement by a Young Person in the Arts award in 2015.
Her debut novel "In the Quiet" has been shortlisted for the NSW Literary Awards, the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and longlisted for the Indie Book Awards and ABIA Awards.
Henry Jones has qualifications in English, psychology and grief, loss and trauma counselling and completed a thesis exploring bushfire trauma in fiction.
You can find Eliza on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and here at her website:
http://www.elizahenryjones.com/
An Interview with Eliza Henry Jones:
How long did it take you to write your book?
ACHE took me about three years to write! I started in 2013.
How did you come up with the title? Did you have alternative titles?
The title Ache popped into my head before I’d even finished the first chapter. I felt like the idea of aching tied really well into how many of us deal with trauma and grief. The book went through many rewrites – far more than my debut novel, In the Quiet. Sometimes I think a story can outgrow or shift away from its title, but Ache always felt right – it always fitted the story I was writing. I wasn’t sure whether it would end up being the title of the finished book, but I’m very glad it is!
Where is the novel set and why did you choose to set it there?
The novel is technically set in a fictional town – I wanted to be very clear about the story not being based on any real events or places. However, the landscape has been strongly influenced by the Dandenong Ranges, which is a place I’ve been besotted with for my entire life. How consuming it is - the mountain ash, the tree ferns and the lyrebirds. The way the environment shifts uniquely from season to season. I decided to set Ache in a similar rainforest because I am constantly fascinated by the environment of the hills, and the relationship between these huge, temperate rainforests and fire – how these huge, wet woods can’t actually exist without fire.
How did you go about researching the settings and scenarios in your book?
Formally studying psychology and grief, loss and trauma counselling provided a wonderful springboard for writing Ache. I also completed an honours thesis on representations of bushfire trauma in fiction, which gave me an academic framework for writing about what are very complex and multifaceted issues. I talked to professionals and researchers involved in trauma and bushfires and also read so many bushfire books and articles that I now need to wear glasses! Phew! At the end of the day, I think what all of my research sort of came back to was that there is no universal way for dealing with this sort of trauma – people’s responses are as unique and complex as they are.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on my third novel for HarperCollins (the last in my three book deal!), which is scheduled for release in 2019. In some ways it’s similar to In the Quiet and Ache and in other ways quite different. I’m also working on a couple of projects in different genres, which I’m very excited about!
What was your road to publication like?
My road to publication was both quite long and quite short. In the Quiet was the tenth manuscript I’d written – one a year since I was fourteen. Which is a lot of writing, particularly when some of the earlier manuscripts had over three hundred false starts and drafts before I decided I was finished! I now have scoliosis (I used to sit with my feet up and twist towards the computer monitor) and a hole in my keyboard. I also wrote some short fiction and poetry and had a few placings and wins in awards and competitions, which is always such a lovely boost and can really spur you on when you’re feeling despondent. I signed with my agent when I was twenty-two, but that manuscript unfortunately didn’t get picked up. But that was okay - while I was watching the rejections rolling in, I was writing In the Quiet. So while my writing career has taken off while I’m still quite young, I feel like the hundreds of rejections I’ve gotten over the years have taught me a lot. It’s definitely not something I take for granted.
Do you take negative reviews of your book personally or do you shrug them off?
I think there’s a big difference between someone simply not connecting with your work and giving a lot of thought to articulating why and the reviews out there that are just plain nasty. I quite enjoy the thoughtful negative reviews – it’s always fascinating hearing thoughtful responses. I find the nasty reviews can sting a bit, but it’s part of the job. You just get on with it.
What is the most gratifying thing you feel or get as a writer?
Two things really stand out for me. When the writing just flows and feels effortless – where all the threads come to together and you can’t type quickly enough and find yourself holding your breath, like it’s a spell you’re desperate not to break. And hearing from people who’ve read my books is always pretty magnificent and magical!
How do you usually communicate with your readers/fans?
I love hearing from people who’ve read my novels! I often talk to people through Facebook, my Instagram or my website. Although face-to-face is definitely my very favourite.
What was the first grown up novel you ever read and how did it shape you?
Carrie by Stephen King when I was VERY young. I snuck it off my mother’s bookshelf and I think it scarred me deeply. This was quickly followed by Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta novels. I now go to great lengths to avoid crime and horror books – make of that what you will!
Thanks Eliza!
See you later folks, here’s a smile to leave you with until next month...
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Love at First Flight is in stores now and Beautiful Messy Love is up for pre-order and will be released on July 24th 2017
You can order them online as paperbacks or eBooks here:
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