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I hope while you’re reading this, that your feet are up and you’re looking forward to a break over Easter, I know we are! Our family is planning to do very little aside from heading to the beach and going on a picnic with our friends after mass. All four of us are hanging out for some serious down time.
It’s been a really busy start to the year for all of us. Tommy began his double Bachelor Degree in Graphic Design and Digital Design at Curtin University which is over an hour away from home on public transport, so he’s been adjusting to a long commute and Lara’s had a full load with rehearsals for the school musical, Mary Poppins, taking up every spare minute including all day every Sunday. On top of his regular work, Paul’s been training a new physio, Conor, at one of our clinics and I’ve been juggling redrafting my new book with physio work and volunteer work, so life has been a wee bit hectic for everyone.
Now it’s time to kick back and rest and eat our body weight worth of Cadbury crème eggs :)
But first, I’ll fill you guys in on all the latest goings on!
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Perth Festival Writers' Week:
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I spent hours upon hours preparing for my very first time at Perth Festival Writers’ Week (PFWW). I didn’t really need to prepare for my individual session where I was the one being interviewed but I obsessively researched the other authors for the panel I was speaking on plus the authors I was interviewing myself.
I was in awe and daunted by the calibre of the people I was about to meet! On the morning of the first day of the festival, I gave myself a stern talking to about not getting foot in mouth disease and not making a big fool of myself as I’m prone to do. That lecture was forgotten pretty much as soon as I turned up when I saw one of my long held idols, Maggie Beer, walking up the hallway as I was going to the green room. I worship Maggie Beer! Like, seriously, people, I worship her! The poor woman’s eyes widened in alarm as I left my mortified hubby behind, ran up the corridor and took a running jump at her! She had no idea who the crazy woman bowling her over was and then she found herself signing books right next to me too with me smiling like the village idiot at her the whole time – she was an absolute sweetheart though and she even kept Paul, company, chatting away to him later when I was busy. I now love her more than I ever did!
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I was so terrified that nobody would come to my individual session that I forced/bullied my husband and two of my close friends to come and be my rent a crowd to guarantee that I wasn’t speaking to an empty room – no kidding I actually did. But when it was time for my session on Saturday morning, with the lovely Monique Mulligan interviewing me, I was completely stunned to find that every last seat was filled. I was truly, truly stunned. They let some extra people in to stand at the back and then the ushers were TURNING PEOPLE AWAY. I tell you, my head got so big from this that it almost didn’t fit through the door on the way out! That kind of thing has never ever happened to me before!
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Next up was my panel session with Manal al-Shariff and Amal Awad about crossing the cultural divide as Arab women living in Australia. Leading up to the session, I was so nervous thinking of these two fierce world beating women with such big stories to tell, and wondering how I would fit into the deep discussion about race and feminism that was planned. What ended up happening though was a totally hilarious hour where we were all in fits of laughter about our upbringings – we shared with the audience some of the common phrases about being modest girls that our parents drummed into us growing up, how we hid our boyfriends from them and the funnier parts of our cross cultural marriages. It was like having a fun gossip with friends except with an audience thrown in. I formed an instant bond with these two and the hilarity of our session has continued in text messages between us since, now that we’re separated by distance again.
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I was exhausted after the relief of two sessions done so I skipped out on the rest of the first day. Instead I grabbed my friend, the very brilliant author, Sara Foster, and we headed straight for Hungry Jacks drive thru and pigged out on burgers and chips at home. It was great to able to chill for a few hours before the party.
I’m really not much of a party girl. Parties and socialising en-masse fill me with dread. But on the Saturday night I did put in a brief appearance at the party on the rooftop terrace at Perth City Library. I was there for long enough to see stunning fireworks over the Swan River and have my photo snapped for The West Australian with my gorgeous friend, talented debut author Michelle Johnston, before I hot-footed it outta there!
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On Sunday, I went to the festival at lunch time to meet my foreign rights agent, Natasha Solomun (who works with my agent Jacinta di Mase). It was such a bonus to have her here in Perth and to have some quality time together. A happy surprise was being joined by one of my best friends who happened to be wandering about and spotted us, publisher of Serenity Press, Karen McDermott. Our impromptu get together was the highlight of the weekend for me, I love these two women so much!
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Then it was time for me to conduct my first ever interview, with megastar rural romance author, Fleur McDonald. I LOVED this session and I fell in love with Fleur who is a remarkable woman, not only as one of the best loved authors in the country but as an advocate for equality for women living in rural areas. She does a great deal in helping women in country areas access domestic violence services and she’s also a strong voice for women in agriculture. In fact, she does so much for the community that I’m amazed she has time to write at all.
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After my session with Fleur, I got to enjoy some pressure-free sessions as one of the crowd. I was very taken by the intelligence, wit and warmth of two fabulous women, Sisonke Msimang and Mia Freedman and I was hanging off their every word in both of their sessions.
Finally, it was time for my interview with famous Aussie actor, Steve Bisley, and highly acclaimed broadcaster and journalist, Caroline Baum. These two were a hoot! I walked into the green room before the event to find Steve bellowing, “TESS!” across the room and crushing me in a hug. How did he recognise me? Apparently my “Tessness” was written all over me! What I didn’t know before I met them, even after all my hours of research on them, was that Steve and Caroline are close friends. So my meticulously timed session plan of which questions I would ask, was thrown out the window as they took to the stage and bantered like nobody’s business. I occasionally reeled them in with a question, but mostly I sat back and laughed along with the audience at the stand-up comedy hour they gave us.
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I met so many new people that weekend that my head was spinning by the time I got home. I’ve never addressed crowds that large or been part of such a massive event and I left there inspired. If it’s the last time I ever get invited, then I’ll be forever grateful to have experienced PFWW this year.
I owe the curator of the festival and my good friend, Will Yeoman, a huge debt of gratitude for bringing me to the attention of so many new readers with this amazing platform he gave me.
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LOVE AND OTHER BATTLES:
I’ve been working pretty hard lately redrafting my third novel which is due for release with my publishing house, HarperCollins, next year in June. Almost every day I think about how stressful it would have been to have had a 2018 release date and it makes me so happy for the decision to take a year off publication.
I also go through phases almost every day of thinking, “This book needs immediate burning, it’s the biggest pile of crap I have ever read!” to “OMG I am for real a literary genius!” Ah, this crazy writers’ life – my poor long-suffering hubby having to live with me when I’m neck deep in a book like this and become an unhinged lunatic!
LOVE AND OTHER BATTLES is in two parts, to which I gave the highly original names, Part 1 -LOVE and Part 2 - OTHER BATTLES :). I handed in Part 1 to my publisher, Mary, AKA the love of my life, earlier in the month and now I’m just about to hand over Part 2 to her as well. Then it will be a bit of time away from writing for me while Mary chews it over and sees what can be improved. I’m so lucky to be with my publisher because Mary gives me a strong and detailed editorial input before my books go off to a structural editor and then there’s also a copy edit. So by the time it’s proof reading time, my stories have had a lot of attention from different eyes. It really does take a village. By the time BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE came out, I felt that it was just as much Mary’s book as it was mine. It’s really exciting to be at this stage of the next book, where my initial job is almost done and it’s just about ready for it to be Mary’s turn to work on it before it comes back to me again.
BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE REPRINT:
I was so thrilled to be listed as one of 2017’s Top 100 Books by Better Reading Australia. This was such a special honour that HarperCollins have released a new special edition of BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE with a shiny sticker on it to mark the occasion! You can find it at all Big W stores in their Top 100 section (right down the bottom row thanks to my ‘W’ surname!) and in May it will be released in the independent bookshops like Dymocks and Collins. Best of all, it’s cheaper than the original, retailing at only $12!
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GIRLS GENERATION – THE STORY SO FAR:
In August last year I came up with the idea of dedicating some time to mentor underprivileged teenage girls. It took six months of planning and red tape but we got there in the end and this term I’ve started volunteer teaching a group of twelve incredibly bright, articulate and simply gorgeous girls aged between 14-16 years of age at Ballajura Community College, Perth.
My intention was to empower girls through creative writing, through reading and through discussions. I wanted to even up the scales a bit when I saw the amazing opportunities given to my daughter who is the same age but who comes from privilege. I don’t believe potential should come down to privilege. And I truly believe that the best way to empower girls is to educate them.
What I didn’t expect was how much these young women would change my life in such profound ways. These girls have not had an easy ride by any stretch of the imagination and their resilience, their eagerness to learn and their boundless enthusiasm for this programme has inspired me beyond measure. I’m completely besotted with them! I went into this thing to help them but being around them has actually done more good for my soul than I could have ever imagined. I think I’ve ended up helping myself more than them!
And they’re working so hard in our sessions and at home. Our sessions are supposed to run for two hours but so far the girls have chosen to stay in at recess and at lunch so we could keep going. Through generous donations from Dymocks Joondalup and Collins Booksellers Bunbury, I’ve set up a book club for the girls. At the start of every session they each give a review and star rating to their current read. I love it when a girl gives a glowing review of a book and then when it’s time to choose a new book, the others lunge for that one! They really value each other’s reviews. The bad reviews are side splitting - they don’t hold back when they don’t like something!
After the book club bit is done, we spend an hour discussing a topic relevant to their lives. The girls have amazed me with how respectfully they hear each other out and how open and honest they are with their experiences. So far we’ve covered sex and consent, female friendships, and family relationships. We’re still to cover the topics of social media and peer pressure, drugs and alcohol, careers, their place in the world and the legacy they want to leave when they finish school.
The girls know that what is said in our class stays in our class and they are not allowed to share anything that’s revealed during the sessions to anyone outside the group. It’s a sacred environment but it’s also a fun and special environment with mugs of hot chocolate and yummy treats and lots and lots of laughs. They’ve had me crying laughing in there every time.
After discussion time, the girls brainstorm story ideas, because after every session they go home and write a piece on the theme we spoke about that’s then submitted to me for review and critique before the next class.
I’ve been moved to my core by the stories the girls have produced – confronting, raw, imaginative and so so clever – honestly they have blown me away. And watching them grow and develop as writers with each new piece they submit has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
I’m putting together a book of their stories as a memento for them and they will all be published authors before the year is out because Serenity Press are publishing their book! Very exciting times ahead. The girls have named their group ‘Girls' Generation’ and this will also be the title of their upcoming book which will include their heartfelt advice for other teens. What do you think of this photo I took of the girls last week as inspiration for the book cover? I can't stop looking at it, I love it!
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AXE THE TAX:
In case you missed this on Facebook, there are still a couple of days left to sign this government petition to get rid of GST on sanitary items. I feel very strongly that this is a huge injustice on Australia’s most vulnerable women. Please please sign the petition!!
Here’s what I posted on Facebook:
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Did you know that in Australia, pads and tampons are considered a luxury item and taxed accordingly? I don’t know about you but I certainly don’t consider getting my period a luxury!
This #internationalwomensday please get behind Share the Dignity and help us get rid of this ridiculous tax once and for all! Women who are homeless have it hard enough without having to pay a “luxury” tax for basic essential items.
Please go to https://www.sharethedignity.com.au/axethetax/ and add your name to the petition today.
Of course, the government isn’t making it simple to lobby them so it’s a three-step process: fill in your details, then confirm you aren’t a robot and then confirm (again) by clicking the link on the email they send you. The whole process will only take you a minute so please do take that minute out of your day today and make your International Women’s Day count! Tell your friends to join the movement too and let’s make this tax history.
Thank you everyone.
CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS:
This term, I’ve also been visiting local high schools with a presentation I wrote called TEN STEPS TO A GREAT CREATIVE WRITING PIECE. My son, Tommy, is a brilliant artist but really struggled with writing all through school, especially with story writing (don’t worry, the irony here isn’t lost on me!) I came up with this guide for him to help him pass his English exam and I ended up presenting it to his whole class at Sacred Heart College.
I’ve since been giving this talk to high schools around Perth. It’s been lovely heading out and meeting lots of senior school students and their motivated teachers. I’ve visited four schools this term, with one last one booked in for a couple of weeks’ time. I’ve been really pleased with the great feedback from my workshops so far and it makes me happy that it wasn’t only Tommy that my guide has ended up helping.
If you’re based in the Perth metro area and you’re interested in having me come out to your child’s high school to help with their creative writing assessments for ATAR exams, your school can get in touch with me at tess@tesswoods.com.au My presentation runs for 45 minutes and I allow 15 minutes for question time and the cost to the school is $250 plus GST.
TOBY’S LEMON PIE RECIPE:
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I recently shared the story behind the lemon pie that Toby makes for his dying wife, Jen, in BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE. The reason I chose lemon pie for that scene was because it’s my family’s favourite dessert. Here’s the dirt on the origins of the recipe as well as the recipe itself for anyone who wants to give it a crack!
http://www.tesswoods.com.au/tobys-lemon-pie.html
I BROKE UP WITH MY PHONE AND GOT MY LIFE BACK:
Every year when our family goes on holidays, Paul and I deliberately choose places with no WiFi so that we can all disconnect from the world to reconnect with ourselves and each other. I treasure this time away from the pressures of social media.
This year, we spent summer in Europe and for most of that time we were offline. I kept the Instagram app on my phone so I could post photos of where we were when I did manage to find WiFi, but I disconnected Facebook and Twitter.
Usually after a break, I feel refreshed and ready to be active on social media again. But something changed in me this time and I don’t know why. Maybe it was because it was a longer break than we normally take? Maybe it was because I had such a busy start to the new year? Who knows. What I do know is that I couldn’t bring myself to put the Twitter app back on my phone, so I didn’t. And I haven’t checked Twitter since. Maybe aliens have taken over my Twitter profile and are posting all kinds of random crap in my name. If so, good luck to them. I won’t be back to check. I’ve kept my profile open so that my publisher has me on there for their own promotional use, but for me, my time on Twitter is over.
And then there was Facebook and this posed a bigger dilemma for me. You see, Facebook was crucial in building my career. I've been extremely active on Facebook for the last three years and worked hard to get my fan base there. But when I came back from Europe, after the peace and quiet of no Facebook, I found it really difficult to have it in my daily life again.
I’ve spent the last couple of months wondering how I could balance my craving for distance from social media with my desire to stay connected to the fan base that I’ve come to know and care about and don’t want to abandon as well as staying connected to my friends and family who live far away.
And then the decision was made for me when I wrote a post about #axethetax for Share the Dignity. The post was shared just under a hundred times so it brought in lots of new people to my author fan page. But while almost everyone was lovely and supportive, I had a few random people send me aggressive and abusive messages and comments, one so bad that I reported it to Facebook as abuse - it was the first time I have ever done that.
I was feeling shaken after the threatening messages, especially because not in a million years would I have thought that a post campaigning for homeless women who struggle to afford tax on sanitary products could ever be seen as anything but positive. I decided to give myself some time away to think about how to handle things.
The thinking time helped me make a decision to take both the Instagram and Facebook apps off my phone permanently. However, to keep the connection alive with my followers and to see what my colleagues and friends are up to, I decided to reconnect the apps once a week to go through my feed. (It literally takes 30 seconds to reconnect apps. If you think this sounds like a hassle, it really isn't.)
So these days, if I have something I want to post on Facebook or Instagram, it gets posted on the same day that I scroll through my feed too. I’ve given myself a full couple of hours where I can post whatever I want to post and then scroll to my heart’s content and catch up on all the gossip and look at the all the pretty pictures and funny videos. I cherish that time now where I get to sit with a cup of tea and see photos of my friends' faces, find out what they have been up to that week and check out which new books have people’s attention so I can add them to my reading list.
But that’s it, after that time, I disconnect both Facebook and Instagram and then I get six whole restful newsfeed-free days. I just keep an eye on my notifications on my 'Pages' app - this is an app for my fan page that I can still look at without my personal Facebook profile being connected. That way I can keep responding through the week to any comments made on my author fan page in response to whatever I've posted the week before.
I follow about 420 people on Instagram and another 150 people on Facebook. Now there’s no way I can see everything almost 600 people have posted in a couple of hours a week, so I know I will miss heaps of stuff. Maybe my decreased interaction with some people, my lack of likes and comments, has pissed them off. Or maybe nobody noticed or maybe people did notice but it didn't bother them. I don’t really know. The worry about that isn’t big enough to make me go back to being on social media every day though. I think if I lose any friends purely because I haven’t seen or liked their posts, then they probably weren't friends worth keeping anyway!
And I cannot begin to tell you how huge the difference is that this one small change has made to my life on a day to day basis. I was forever staring at my phone! If I had a free five minutes in the car at school pick up, I immediately stared at my phone, when I had my early morning cuppa every day in bed, I stared at my phone. In a long queue at Woolies, I’d stare at my phone. News feeds are ever evolving - there was always something new to look at to keep me distracted. .I’d find my kids repeating something to me because I hadn’t heard them because my face was in my phone.
It’s funny how on holidays I didn’t miss not having Facebook, I guess it’s because we were out of routine. But back home, I realised how addicted to my phone I had become when for those first few days after I took off the apps, I kept grabbing my phone over and over without even realising I was doing it to check for social media updates before remembering the apps were gone.
And you know what? I don’t check my phone any more. Instead when I wake up, I have a cuppa and I rest and welcome in a new day in my own head space rather than being confronted with the lives of 600 other people first thing every morning. When I’m early for school pick up, I sit quietly in the car and rest. My kids get heard the first time they say something. My husband doesn’t always have someone else in the room with us – it used to be him, me and my phone. Now it’s just him and me.
I don’t know if my next book will have half the sales of my last one because I’m so much less active on social media. I’m not sure how big the role of Facebook and Instagram exposure is when it comes down to book sales. But if I do pay the price of this decision with decreased sales, then so be it. It will be worth it for the peace of mind that breaking up with my phone has brought me.
And just to be clear, I haven't completely cut myself off from my friends either - I still have messenger connected so my friends and I still message each other when we have something to say. But you'd be amazed at how much less intrusive it is to message one friend than to be bombarded with an ongoing newsfeed of hundreds of friends.
My life is just as hectic as it was before but the new pockets of rest during the day, the lack of bombardment of status updates and the sanity of not having a phone almost surgically attached to my palm 24/7, makes taking the social media apps off my phone one of the smartest and healthiest decisions I’ve ever made.
A BOOK DEDICATION!
I have a lovely story to share with you! In early 2015 when I was a brand new published author who was a complete outsider in the writing industry, a best-selling Aussie author plucked me from obscurity, gave LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT an amazing review and promoted me on her popular website. People like Monica McInerney only found out about me and my work because of this author. That best-selling author was Jenn J McLeod. She was the very first heavy weight to throw her weight behind me.
The support Jenn gave me at the beginning has remained steadfast for the past few years. An example - just a few weeks ago, out of the blue, I received a gorgeous gift of a canvas print from her with words that reminded her of BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE.
Fast forward from when Jenn first promoted my book in early 2015 to December 2016 when I was looking for a meaningful Christmas gift to send to the UK to my beloved friend and brilliant publisher of Maeve Binchy and Colleen McCullough, Rosie de Courcy. Rosie loves horses, so that Christmas, I thought of a perfect book for her - Jenn’s beautiful sweeping saga, SEASON OF SHADOW AND LIGHT which featured a very special horse in the story. So I sent her my own used copy as a Christmas gift from the heart. Rosie didn’t know Jenn back then but because I sent it to her, she read the book.
Well, she must have liked it because guess what happened next? Rosie signed Jenn for a worldwide book deal for her next book with her award winning UK publishing house, Head of Zeus! How incredible is that? This partnership between Jenn as author and Rosie as editor has resulted in a stunning novel – A PLACE TO REMEMBER.
Jenn’s books are all wonderful, she’s a truly gifted story teller. A PLACE TO REMEMBER is told with tenderness, wisdom, compassion and that trademark McLeod humour.
When the book was released recently, I went to buy a copy and look what I found inside – A PLACE TO REMEMBER is dedicated to me. TO ME!!! I quite literally stood in the middle of the shop and cried.
This is one of the most special things anybody has ever done for me. Thank you lovely Jenn, and I wish you every success with your poignant new story, A PLACE TO REMEMBER. It’s in shops everywhere folks, go and buy it, you won’t regret it.
Plus who wouldn’t want a book dedicated to me, right??
Here's the blurb:
A man loses five years of his life. Two women are desperate for him to remember. Running away for the second time in her life, twenty-seven-year old Ava believes the cook's job at a country B&B is perfect, until she meets the owner's son, John Tate. The young fifth-generation grazier is a beguiling blend of both man, boy and a terrible flirt. With their connection immediate and intense, they begin a clandestine affair right under the noses of John's formidable parents.
Thirty years later, Ava returns to Candlebark Creek with her daughter, Nina, who is determined to meet her mother's lost love for herself. While struggling to find her own place in the world, Nina discovers an urban myth about a love-struck man, a forgotten engagement ring, and a dinner reservation back in the eighties. Now she must decide if revealing the truth will hurt more than it heals...
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NEW AUTHOR WEBSITES TO CHECK OUT!
I feel like a proud mother hen showing off these beautiful, original new author websites for the writers who came to my Winter in Wales Writers' Retreat. Watch this space for news as their careers take off! I’m thrilled to introduce you all to the official websites for these gorgeous future best-selling authors –
Kelly Van Nelson http://www.kellyvannelson.com/
Joanne Austen Brown http://www.joanneaustenbrown.com/
AT Morgan http://www.atmorgan.com/
Enisa Haines http://www.enisahainesauthor.com/
Joanie McNeil http://www.joaniemacneil.com/
Ceri Gale (Ceri’s husband has been very ill for some time so the poor thing hasn’t had a chance to really add much to her site yet, but here’s a taster!) https://www.cerigale.com/
What’s even more special to me, is that all of these websites were designed by my talented and wonderful son, Tom.
If you’re an author who’d like a budding graphic designer to create you a brilliant website for next to nothing, Tom only charges $20 per hour and he works fast! You can contact him here – thomaspaulartistry@gmail.com
BLOGS ABOUT OUR WALES WRITERS' RETREAT:
Some of the gorgeous women who attended my Wales writing retreat in December, surprised me with these wonderful journal entries. These blogs are such a special treasure to me. If you’re keen to see what goes on at a writers’ retreat, have a look at these fabulous articles. Thanks so much lovely ladies, you have touched my heart!
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BOOK CLUB PICK – THE LACE WEAVER by Lauren Chater:
I’ve been waiting for my gorgeous friend, Lauren’s, debut novel to hit the shelves ever since she told me she was writing it, so I’m delighted to finally be able to share its triumphant release with you all! Lauren and I have known each other for a few years now and even though she lives in Sydney and I live in Perth, we make sure we catch up when either of us is visiting and it’s always a laughter filled reunion.
Lauren is a genuinely warm hearted, multi-talented (you should see her cookies!), humble and loyal person with a wicked sense of humour. I adore her and I also adore THE LACE WEAVER, her magnificent story of two young women and their families and loves during World War Two in Estonia. I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of THE LACE WEAVER while I was in Europe. For a few freezing snowy mornings in a row, I woke up hours before my family just to have quiet time to read it! The photo here is me holding the book in front of a beautiful berry tree in Lapland, Finland. I felt like that tree was put there just to show off the stunning cover. I hope you all add it to your list of books to read and rush out and buy it because it’s a wonderfully moving story. I must warn you though, I cried bucket loads towards the end.
I hope you enjoy this glimpse into Lauren’s world, I love how raw and real she is in her interview too!
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Blurb:
A breathtaking debut about love and war, and the battle to save a precious legacy
Each lace shawl begins and ends the same way – with a circle. Everything is connected with a thread as fine as gossamer, each life affected by what has come before it and what will come after.
1941, Estonia. As Stalin’s brutal Red Army crushes everything in its path, Katarina and her family survive only because their precious farm produce is needed to feed the occupying forces.
Fiercely partisan, Katarina battles to protect her grandmother’s precious legacy – the weaving of gossamer lace shawls stitched with intricate patterns that tell the stories passed down through generations.
While Katarina struggles to survive the daily oppression, another young woman is suffocating in her prison of privilege in Moscow. Yearning for freedom and to discover her beloved mother’s Baltic heritage, Lydia escapes to Estonia.
Facing the threat of invasion by Hitler’s encroaching Third Reich, Katarina and Lydia and two idealistic young soldiers, insurgents in the battle for their homeland, find themselves in a fight for life, liberty and love.
Praise for The Lace Weaver:
‘A beautifully written and utterly compelling story of love and war and resistance that shines a light onto a dark and tragic period of history while also illuminating the enduring power of love and friendship. Unforgettable and emotionally wrenching, and as exquisite as the lace the women of the story weave.’ Kate Forsyth.
‘A sweeping historical story set in Estonia and Russia during the tumultuous year of 1941 … This is a meticulously researched novel, and Chater seamlessly incorporates the symbolic motif of the Estonian lace-weaving tradition and the Tartu knitting circle to link the past and present … Recommended for fans of Kirsty Manning and Kate Morton, this is a gut-wrenching tale about a devastating time in history. Full of hope, heartache and the power of keeping traditions alive.’ Bookseller and Publisher.
‘From the very first line, I was captivated by this tale of two very different, but equally heroic, women. There is beauty to be found everywhere: in the writing, in the women's friendship, in the tragedy, and in the motif of the lace shawls, which weaves the story together.’ Natasha Lester, author of Her Mother’s Secret and A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald.
'A rich, textured and evocatively told story of love, loss and the ties that bind. The setting is exotic and intriguing and presents a unique side of the war ... I found it difficult to put this haunting novel down and it will stay with me for a long time to come, I’m certain. Lauren Chater is a bold new force in Australian historical fiction. Bravo on a glorious debut!’ Tess Woods, author of Beautiful Messy Love and Love at First Flight.
‘Beautiful and brilliant … An impressive, powerful and skillfully told anti-war novel from an extremely gifted writer’ Backstory journal.
About Lauren:
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Lauren Chater writes historical fiction with a particular focus on women’s stories. After working in the media sector for many years, she turned her passion for reading and research into a professional pursuit. In 2014, she was the successful recipient of the Fiona McIntosh Commercial Fiction scholarship. In addition to writing fiction, she established The Well Read Cookie, a blog which celebrates her love of baking and literature. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two children. The Lace Weaver is her first novel, and she is currently working on her second, Gulliver’s Wife. See www.laurenchater.com and www.thewellreadcookie.com
An interview with Lauren Chater:
How do you go about researching settings and scenarios in your book?
Setting plays a really big role in all my stories. In fact, I’d say it really dictates the way my characters think and act. I’m a big believer in visiting the places where my books are set. I just can’t write about a place with any authority unless I’ve spoken to the people who live there, eaten the food and tried to understand the topography. In fiction, it’s the small details that count; is the ground in the forest loamy or dry? What kind of birds live there; how do they sound? What are the seasons like; does the landscape change slowly or does winter come all at once? What songs do people sing? What recipes do they pass down to their children? If that seems like a lot of questions, it probably is. I might not end up using the information directly, but if it helps me to understand my characters better, it isn’t wasted.
What do you know now that you wish you knew before you were published?
How slow the process is. I mean… really, REALLY slow. We are talking Flash-Slothmore-from-Zootopia style. Depending on how much structural work your manuscript needs and how busy the publishing house is, it can take a year and a half, sometimes more, from the moment you sign a contract to the moment where you get to hold your finished book. That’s a long time in the real world! There’s a lot that goes into getting a book published, though. A good deal of time is set aside for editing, but there’s also cover design (which has to be pitch perfect), marketing schedules (which are affected by what other titles are also in production) and ‘selling in’ to bookshops and distributers (the sales reps at publishing houses are often overlooked but they do an incredibly important job getting books into the right hands).
How do you make time to write?
I love this question because it gives me permission to fantasise. In my perfect world, my well-behaved children wake up after 7.30 and get themselves dressed. My husband works from home, so we enjoy breakfast together before I kiss the kids goodbye, retire to my dedicated study and settle myself before a state-of-the-art computer while he drops them at school. I spend the next eight hours writing furiously, pausing only for a quick lunch break, before the kids return home, help us make dinner and then bathe and put themselves to bed. As a reward for my creative labours, I allow myself the pleasure of a few hours reading in bed before dropping off myself for a blissful uninterrupted nine-hour slumber. That’s the dream. The reality is very different! In reality, I am the main carer for my children, aged three and six. I write when I can - when my son, who has special needs, is at school; when my Mum babysits my daughter, on weekends when I can get away for a few hours and the kids can hang out with their Dad. I write at night, forcing my eyes to stay open until I’ve finished just one more scene. I write on a funny little old desk in the corner of my bedroom or in noisy cafes or at the library. I have written drunk, sober and exhausted beyond belief, wrung out by the demands of children and a day job. It’s not pretty and to be honest, not everything I’ve written has been good on the first go. But that’s the beauty of editing; you get another shot at it. The important thing is to get it down. Everything else can be fixed over time.
Which famous person living/dead would you most like to meet and why?
I would love to meet Jonathan Swift, the 18th Century Irish author and satirist. That sounds odd I know, but I’m currently writing a novel based on Gulliver’s Travels (told from his wife’s perspective) and I’m trying to incorporate some of Swift’s mannerisms and personal tics into the story. I’d love to know if I’ve got them right! I’ve discovered so many interesting things about him since I started researching; such as, that he had piercing blue eyes and a cleft chin and was considered rather handsome. He also displayed some compulsive behaviours, such as obsessional hand cleaning and the desire to bathe twice a day as he didn’t like bad smells. In the 18th Century, bathing twice a day was considered very odd!
What is your favourite fairytale?
My favourite fairytale has always been The Goose Girl, retold by the Brothers Grimm. I’ve loved it ever since I was a child. I love the drama of the lost handkerchief, stained with the blood of the Princess’s mother and the pathos of the horse’s severed head which speaks to her from beyond the grave. And of course, the gory vengeance when the imposter Princess is ordered to ‘dance on the hot pokers’ inserted in her shoes until she dies. I was a strange child.
Why do you write?
I write to understand myself and my own responses to things. I write to draw connections between ideas which might seem dissimilar but in fact, when put together, illuminate something about what it is to be human and to know suffering, joy and regret, emotions that we all experience at some stage in our lives, no matter what our backgrounds. I also write because I love being able to speak to people in a way I couldn’t in real life. When people read, they’re inviting you to tell them a story and that’s really special. They are sacrificing their time in order to give you the space to say something. I find that humbling and amazing and terrifying. Mostly, though, I’m just grateful for the opportunity.
What are you reading now?
Right now, I’m reading a few different things. I’m reading Jean Rhys’ classic Wide Sargasso Sea, as inspiration for my Gulliver novel. I also have From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty on my bedside table, which is the follow-up to her successful memoir Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and other lessons from the Crematory. Caitlin is a mortician, blogger and media personality advocating death acceptance and the reform of Western funeral practices. And lastly, I’m diving in and out of a collection of short stories by Australian author Laura Elizabeth Woollett called The Love of a Bad Man, which explores the lives of various wives, mistresses and girlfriends of some of history’s greatest villains and murderers. I heard her speak last year at the Perth Writers’ Festival; she was amazing!
What made you want to become an author?
I would love to say the guarantee of ridiculous amounts of money. And fame. Thankfully, I already knew not to expect those things! The real reasons are varied and have changed over time as I’ve learnt more about the writing craft. Initially, it was for validation; to prove to myself that all those hours of writing and rewriting my manuscript weren’t wasted and to show my writing tutors and my parents that the time and money they’d invested in me was justified. Now, my motivation is to learn more about this strange path I’ve chosen and to challenge myself to find new and interesting ways to express what I want to say.
Which books have made an impact on you and stayed with you long after you’ve read them?
I’ve read so many amazing books over the years, but the ones which have impacted me most are the ones which have either come to me at the exact moment I needed them or have made me feel less alone in the world. Chocolat by Joanne Harris is one; Toni Morrison’s Beloved is another. March by Geraldine Brooks taught me that historical books could be as much about a person’s internal world as the external. I love Kate Forsyth’s Bitter Greens, a dark Gothic retelling of the Rapunzel tale. I devoured it over two days but I still think about it and return to it when I need a comfort read.
What is your favourite motivational phrase or quote?
You’re going to laugh, but it’s a Disney quote and it applies to everything, not just writing. It’s Dory the Fish: ‘Just keep swimming.’ I think it’s perfect.
BOOKS I”VE READ AND LOVED SINCE MY LAST NEWSLETTER:
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I was disappointed by a couple of books lately, both by overseas authors. One author I’ve been a massive fan of for many years, but her last few books have left me feeling ‘meh’ afterwards and the other book was such a big hit that it got made into a movie but I didn’t finish reading it because I found it too sarcastic and sour. So I’m not inflicting either of those books on you guys! Instead, here are the books I’ve read in the last couple of months that I’m very happy to throw my name behind :)
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng – so far, this is my favourite book of 2018. I devoured this story in three days. I couldn’t put the damn thing down. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but if you’re looking for a touching emotional story about two very different families living in the same community that is also a completely gripping page turner with a mystery you’ll be dying to solve, read this one!
THE RUIN by Dervla McTiernan – I’m not much of a crime fiction reader, I must admit. But when it’s crime written by a Perth girl who also shares my publishing house, how could I not read that? And once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. This is a brilliant page turning story, I didn’t pick the killer until the very last pages when it was revealed. This is a rare book in that both Paul and I loved it.
WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE by Lily Malone – Ahhh, Lily Malone, reading her stories is the best kind of comfort read for me. I know I’ll be emotionally invested, fall in love with her characters and find lots of twists and turns. This story was no exception. I think it’s amazing that both Lily and I, even though we’re friends who chat a lot, without knowing it, at the same time in our lives wrote stories of damaged women who were once Olympic swimmers and are now hiding from their pasts! If you’re looking for a warm and intelligent romance, you can’t beat this one. And if you don’t fall in love with Ella and Jake and beautiful Chalk Hill, then you and I need to have words!
THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS by Ruth Hogan – I bought this book on title and cover alone, knowing nothing about the story or the author. I was just very drawn it. What lay in the pages made my gamble pay off. It’s a heart wrenching story of a lonely old man who keeps all the lost things he finds, his housekeeper who is the only person in the world who cares about him and another woman who has the only thing he desperately wants. A stunning wonderful beautiful story!
DUSTFALL by Michelle Johnston – my lovely friend’s debut has taken Australia by storm, earning her critical acclaim and legions of new fans, for very good reason! Michelle was the perfect person, being a hospital doctor herself, to tell the unforgettable story of the isolated Wittenoom Hospital and the two doctors whose lives were changed by it.
NEW BOOK RELEASES TO KEEP YOUR EYE ON!
THE MEMORIES THAT MAKE US by Vanessa Carnevale - This week I was so excited when my beautiful friend, Vanessa Carnevale, came to visit from Melbourne to promote her wonderful second novel. I not only got her to sign a copy for two very special people but I loved every minute of the day I spent in her company. Vanessa is the real deal and a true friend, everyone needs a Vanessa in their lives! Here's us with my best friend, Sarah, who was so pumped to see Vanessa again that she raced from work to have lunch with us. THE MEMORIES THAT MAKE US is a love story about a couple who are struck by tragedy when all the memories they’ve made together are lost through a horrible accident. It’s a story of soul searching, identity and redemption and I think it’s even better than her first beautiful book, THE FLORENTINE BRIDGE. She keeps getting better and better!
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If you’re looking for your next great read, other recently released new books by friends of mine are:
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A CASE OF SERENDIPITY by K.J. Farnham - Ruth Bateman is at her wit’s end. If Bucky’s Beans doesn’t stop spamming her phone with discount codes for frou-frou java concoctions, she’s going to flip. After multiple failed attempts to unsubscribe, Ruth takes to the company’s Facebook page to vent her frustration over the never-ending texts.
When attorney, Henry Mancuso, stumbles upon Ruth’s complaint, he has no idea that a simple Facebook scroll is going to change his life. Now, he has to get Ruth to agree to a class action lawsuit when she’s just looking for some peace on her mobile device—not a drawn-out case against a coffeehouse giant.
As Ruth and Henry battle the legal waters, a friendship full of fun and spontaneity blooms. But could something more be brewing between these two and this coffeehouse case?
P IS FOR PEARL by Eliza Henry-Jones - Seventeen-year-old Gwendolyn P. Pearson has become very good at not thinking about the awful things that have happened to her family. She has also become used to people talking about her dead mum. Or not talking about her and just looking at Gwen sympathetically. And it's easy not to think about awful things when there are wild beaches to run along, best friends Loretta and Gordon to hang out with - and a stepbrother to take revenge on.
But following a strange disturbance at the cafe where she works, Gwen is forced to confront what happened to her family all those years ago. And she slowly comes to realise that people aren't as they first appear and that like her, everyone has a story to tell.
THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR by Sally Hepworth – This will be my book of the month feature in April on Facebook. Don’t miss the feature for your chance to win a signed copy!
The small suburb of Pleasant Court lives up to its name. It's the kind of place where everyone knows their neighbours, and children play in the street.
Isabelle Heatherington doesn't fit into this picture of family paradise. Husbandless and childless, she soon catches the attention of three Pleasant Court mothers.
But Ange, Fran and Essie have their own secrets to hide. Like the reason behind Ange's compulsion to control every aspect of her life. Or why Fran won't let her sweet, gentle husband near her new baby. Or why, three years ago, Essie took her daughter to the park - and returned home without her.
As their obsession with their new neighbour grows, the secrets of these three women begin to spread - and they'll soon find out that when you look at something too closely, you see things you never wanted to see.
THE COWGIRL by Anthea Hodgson - I loved this book so much, that it was my featured book of the month on my Facebook page for February. You can see the feature and find out all about my dear friend, Anthea, here – http://www.tesswoods.com.au/bookclub/the-cowgirl-anthea-hodgson
Teddy Broderick has lived on her farm almost all her life, committed to the rhythms of the country - seeding, harvest, shearing and the twice daily milking of the cow her grandmother has looked after for years, but she dreams of another life, in the wide world away from the confines of her property.
She thinks she knows her home and its community inside out, until her grandmother Deirdre announces there is a house buried on the property, and Will Hastings, an archaeologist, is coming to dig it up again.
As they work together to expose Deirdre's past to the light, the stories they tell bring them together and pull Teddy further away from her home.
But what is hidden in Deirdre's childhood house that she needs to see again before she dies - and why? What is it that stops Teddy from living the life she truly wants? And will she ever find her freedom?
A PLACE WITH HEART by Jennie Jones - Can three misfits build a family in this remote Australian town?
Jaxine Brown has made a good life for herself with her café and her animal rescue shelter in Western Australian outback town, Mt Maria. But the homecoming of her secret teenage daughter, Frances, changes everything. At only seventeen, Jax was coerced to give up the baby to Frances’s father and his wife. Finally, she has a chance to make it right for her resentful and awkward teenager, and hasn’t got time to think about the recently returned handsome former detective, who inexplicably disappeared in the middle of their only date last year.
Detective Senior Sergeant Jack Maxwell arrives in Mt Maria, seemingly back in uniform as Officer In Charge, while his mate Senior Sergeant Luke Weston is on leave. But Jack’s real purpose is investigating suspicion of drug trafficking and the man they’re watching works in the closest mine to the town. He expects to have this case wrapped up in four weeks, and feels he can take his time, not only with the case but also with Jaxine Brown, the woman he hasn’t been able to get out of his mind.
When graffiti and vandalism escalate in an issue involving stolen animals, Jax and Frances are unwittingly drawn into a mystery that suggests a connection to the same mine Jack has under surveillance. Can Jack get to the bottom of the furtive goings-on, and do whatever it takes to protect the would-be family that’s wound its way into his heart?
THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS by Natasha Lester - 1940. Parisian seamstress Estella Bissette is forced to flee France as the Germans advance. She is bound for Manhattan with a few francs, one suitcase, her sewing machine and a dream: to have her own atelier.
2015. Australian curator Fabienne Bissette journeys to the annual Met Gala for an exhibition of her beloved grandmother's work - one of the world's leading designers of ready-to-wear. But as Fabienne learns more about her grandmother's past, she uncovers a story of tragedy, heartbreak and secrets - and the sacrifices made for love.
Crossing generations, society's boundaries and international turmoil, THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS is the beguiling, transporting story of the special relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter as they attempt to heal the heartache of the past.
THE RULES OF BACKYARD CROQUET by Sunni Overend - Disgraced fashion prodigy Apple March has gone into hiding, concealing herself within the cashmere and silk folds of a formerly grand fashion boutique - the hanging of blouses and handling of difficult patrons now her only concern. But when her sister Poppy needs a wedding dress, old passions are reignited ... along with threats from her past.
As Apple finds herself falling for someone she shouldn't, her quest to re-emerge becomes entangled in a time she wants forgotten, and life unravels as quickly as it began to mend.
From the cool heart of Melbourne to Paris and New York, in an effervescent world of croquet, Campari and cocoon coats, can Apple prevail over demons past to become the woman she was born to be?
WEST COAST FICTION FESTIVAL:
My son, Tommy, has been a busy beaver! Apart from designing author websites, he’s been designing an awesome T-shirt range for the West Coast Fiction Festival coming up in November. Speaking of which – have you nabbed your tickets to this epic event yet?? Here’s the link with all the deets – www.wcfictionfestival.com.au
And here’s where you can buy your own totally brilliant T-shirt:
https://www.spreadshirt.com.au/user/West+Coast+Fiction+Festival
See how happy my T-shirt makes me? You could be this happy too!!!
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All profits from the West Coast Fiction Festival will go to Share the Dignity to bring more dignity to Perth’s homeless women and provide them with sanitary items.
We have more exciting merchandise for the festival coming soon :)
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Newsletter subscriber winner:
Congratulations to Janet Stapleton whose name was drawn from the list of subscribers. Janet, I hope you love the Bella&Reg indigenous fabric pendant coming your way. What I love about Bella&Reg founder, Bianca Plunkett Gooley, is that she not only promotes the work of our talented indigenous artists through her jewellery line, but that $1 from every pendant sold is donated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. You can find Bella&Reg on Facebook and Instagram. I’ll be emailing you today Janet, to ask for your mailing address.
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Well after that mammoth newsletter, I’m finally out of news! I’ll send out another newsletter after I’ve run my next writers' retreat in Busselton, on beautiful Geographe Bay in July.
Take good care my lovely friends, Happy Easter to those celebrating and I’ll catch you again soon!
Much love,
Tess xx
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Love at First Flight and Beautiful Messy Love are in stores now.
You can also order them online as paperbacks , eBooks or audiobooks here:
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