(The two of us at Poppy's launch in Dymocks, Adelaide)

At the beginning of the year, I was lucky enough to catch up with debut author, Poppy Nwosu to chat about her (then) upcoming YA book, Making Friends with Alice Dyson (Wakefield Press).

It’s now a whole month since her book launch at Dymocks, Adelaide: I wanted to find out how Poppy’s doing now that the big event is behind her. Have there been any surprises, (or nasty shocks!) along the way? I also wanted to know - if she was going to go through the publishing process again - and I'm sure she will - is there anything she’d do differently?

Hi Poppy

Well, first of all, congratulations on your fantastic launch. It was a wonderful evening, with YA author Vikki Wakefield mc-ing, a truckload of enthusiastic attendees and all that delicious and gorgeous-looking food. There was even a building evacuation thrown in for good measure.

How was it from your point of view? Were you cool, calm and collected as you sat there facing the audience, or were you quietly freaking out?

Haha, I was definitely feeling a little nervous! Mostly just in the hours (and days and weeks and months) in the lead-up to the launch event, I was definitely freaking out a little.

To be honest, I hadn’t really done a lot of public speaking on that scale before, so I was hoping I could manage it, but in the end I felt like my Q&A went really well. Vikki Wakefield was an amazing host, and I actually managed to relax while we chatted, and even better, and most unexpected for me, was that I actually had heaps and heaps of fun!

It turns out it is really an extraordinary thing to sit in front of a crowd of people who want to hear you talk about your writing, who are interested and excited to hear what you say about your book. That was a pretty cool feeling!

How do book launches work? Did you organise it yourself? Or was it the bookshop or the publisher? What things did you, personally, need to think about and plan in advance?

Well, my publisher handled the eventbrite invitation online, so they handled the numbers for the event, and they put together a poster and an invitation for me.

They suggested a few venues and I did too, my first choice being the Dymocks Store in Rundle Street here in Adelaide, because I go to an awesome YA bookclub there (the YA Circle), and absolutely loved the idea of them, hosting my event. I was so lucky that when I approached them about it, they were keen!

For myself in terms of planning, I organised some fun giveaways (bookmarks, postcards and pins) and I also organised the catering, which was done by a wonderful friend, Nicole from Teacup Kitchen Adelaide. In hindsight it doesn’t seem like I had to do much myself at all, but at the time it all felt like a lot of forward thinking and planning and troubleshooting, and a little overwhelming! Strange now that I think about it!

There are a lot of preparations that go into marketing your book before it hits the shelves, and much of that is up to the author to do. What things do you feel you did well in helping to get the word out there, and what things would you do differently next time?

Great question! I tried my best at marketing my book as much as I could, and it can definitely feel a little strange when you feel like you are talking about yourself to such an extent every day on social media. I focused on blogging and using Instagram daily, as those are platforms that I quite enjoy, and I tried to just act like myself and not be too weird about shoving my new book at everyone on the internet! The best thing I think that I did was that I felt genuinely excited about everything that was happening, so I feel like I didn’t hold back from expressing that excitement, and in the face of that, people were very nice and took an interest in what I was doing.

I think there are so many cool ideas out there for how you can market your book, and I really did try my best to do as much as I could, but at the same time, I think you sort of have to draw a line somewhere because you just can’t do it all either.

Have you had to do any publicity that’s taken you outside your comfort zone?

Haha, all of it? To be honest I’ve never done any publicity stuff before at all, so everything has been new and surreal. Some of it is easier than other parts, but definitely the live speaking (podcast interviews for instance) and public speaking have been the biggest hurdles for me. I am definitely a writer and I really enjoy taking my time to figure out how to best answer questions, so being asked questions on the spot is a very different experience for me, and something that I’m still getting used to. I don’t think I’ve said anything too silly so far though, so that is very nice! Ha!

Honestly though, I do think it is a good thing to be pushed out of your comfort zone and try new challenges, so I have been excited at the opportunities I’ve had to try these new things.

Do you have any other books (YA or otherwise) in the pipeline?

I do! I have a few projects I am working on and that I feel very excited about, and I really hope I will have the opportunity to share them in the near future. At the moment I am concentrating only on YA fiction, as that is what I most love to read myself, so tends to be what I am most drawn to write...but no solid news to share yet!

What are the three nicest or most surprising things you’ve found about being published?

Number one has been that people seem to genuinely like my book! That has been such a lovely and nice thing! To be honest I am a bit of a selfish writer, and I only want to write the books that personally appeal to me, so it has been such a wonderful thing to get feedback that my story also appeals to other people too!

(Also ... what a relief! Ha!)

Another really super nice thing that happened to me recently was a lovely girl who attended my book launch who had already read my book, she was first in line for the signing and told me she loved it, and then told me why she loved it .... and gosh, it was such a very special moment for me. I have been so focused for so long on my story and getting it out into the world, I didn’t really think much about what would happen afterwards, that in a way your book doesn’t really belong to you anymore. It was such an amazing feeling to realise my book had meant something to that lovely young woman I met at my book launch.

And finally, and I am pretty sure every author will choose this as one of the most amazing and nicest moments, but seeing your book in a bookstore is a strange and surreal moment. And potentially also one of the best moments ever!

Any downsides at all?

Haha, well I am sure everything has it’s downsides.

I guess in a way it can be a bit of a shock to go from an incredible book launch and seeing your first novel in a bookstore, which is such a dizzying and exciting experience, only to find yourself the next day back at your actual day job. Ha!

Have there been any practical differences now you’re published? Eg do you have to spend more time marketing than writing? Do you feel you need to keep more up to date with YA lit etc? Do you still have a word count goal in mind each day/each week?

This is an interesting question. In some ways, yes, definitely I spend more time marketing and doing interviews and things like that than I did before, but I am also very selfish about my writing time, which for me is something very precious and very integral to my mood being good each day (no writing achieved on a weekday? Bad mood all day! Sigh). I have worked hard to ensure I still make time to write creatively throughout this crazy busy period of launching a book, but obviously the practicalities of it do change and I feel like I am much busier than I used to be. Which isn’t a bad thing of course, just something I need to be mindful of managing well so I can get everything done that I want to.

In terms of reading and keeping up to date with YA, definitely I have been focused lately on reading books by Australian YA writers (mainly just because I want to anyway cos I love Australian books!) but it is definitely also a concentrated effort that I want to support the Australian YA community in the same way that they have supported me. I have been welcomed into the #LoveOzYA scene so wholly and am so appreciative of all the established Australian authors who have taken the time to help me as a newbie coming into all this.

To answer the last question, I have never been a huge word count goal type of writer, I find it easier to set a time goal each day, as in I must sit on this chair and write for two hours. Sometimes that is hard, sometimes it is easy, but the long as I do my two hours then I feel good all day, whether I made a lot of progress with my work or only a little.

I think it feels healthier for me personally to work that way, because then if I do have a bad day and can’t seem to get any words out, I don’t feel as upset because I still achieved my goal of that day, which was related to hours spent writing instead of words I got down. If that makes sense!

Poppy, thank you for taking part in this and giving me the opportunity to interview you (twice!) for my blog.

Thanks so hugely for having me Sue! I am so glad to be here! :)

If you want to find out more about Poppy, check out her website:

http://www.talltaleswithpoppynwosu.com/

In this final blog, I’ll be talking to Anna Solding, MidnightSun Publishing’s co-founder and director. Anna has a PhD in creative writing and her acclaimed novel, The Hum of Concrete was MidnightSun Publishing’s first release.

My aim in this blog series, was to find out a little more about how some writers have found themselves on the other side of the publishing fence. As Director at MidnightSun Publishing, Anna is a writer who has fully immersed herself in all aspects of the publishing process. She has also been instrumental in using the wider skills of other writers to assist with MidnightSun Publishing's operations.

My sincere thanks go to Anna Solding, Kim Lock and Zena Shapter for their open and interesting responses in this blog series. Hope you've enjoyed reading.

Hi Anna! First of all, thank you for agreeing to be put under the spotlight for my blog.

For those who don’t know how publishing houses operate, can you outline what the various roles are in producing a book? What people do you need to employ or use on a freelance basis?

Thank you for asking me to do this and for your patience with me as it’s taken me a long time to get back to you. That is one of the main issues for small publishers: the time squeeze. Because MidnightSun Publishing is run by a very small team, I take on several roles, including that of publishing director, structural editor, marketing manager and design consultant. In other words, I follow the work from manuscript to printed book. I choose which books to publish, I work with the authors to shape their manuscripts, I plan the marketing strategies for each book and I come up with ideas for book covers. I work closely with two designers, one for picture books and one for chapter books, and I value their contribution enormously. MidnightSun consistently hosts interns from The University of Adelaide and our latest one worked out so well that she is now employed as our publishing assistant. We also normally have at least one editor and three proof readers waiting in the wings.After a manuscript is submitted, our publishing assistant reads it and if she thinks it would work for MidnightSun she passes it on for other people to read. We have several trusty readers. For a manuscript to get through to publication three people (including me) have to love it. Once the decision has been made we set a tentative date for publication, organise a timeline, write a publishing agreement, find an illustrator (if it’s a picture book), organise the cover, create an advance information sheet (AI sheet), structurally edit the book (which means that we look at the bigger picture: are there characters who are superfluous, is the ending right etc), plan the media campaign, copyedit the book (find typos etc) and finally send it to print.

You seem to have found the skillset you need from people within your own network. Do you find that writers themselves often have expertise in other areas? What is the advantage of using a fellow writer instead of, say, someone who works solely as a typesetter/copywriter/designer?

Writers are great because they can write. It’s as simple as that. Publishers need to write copy all the time, in media releases, AI sheets (advance information sheets about books that are coming out), catalogue entries, blog posts and Q&As like this one. Working with someone who isn’t daunted by writing and reading all day long is wonderful. However, depending on the project, we also work with people who only perform one of these functions. What would be very useful for us is someone who is media savvy, who loves coming up with new marketing and publicity strategies and who can still write well.

Since its inception in 2011, MidnightSun Publishing has gone from strength to strength. Given that you began as a writer, do you now consider yourself as a writer who publishes; or a publisher who writes?

Oh, neither, I think. At the moment I’m not writing because publishing awards me little room for my own creative energy but I’m not missing it either. So I’m essentially a publisher. I’m quite sure that there will be a time further down the track when I will get back to writing and then I’ll be happy to call myself a writer again but for now I’m hibernating as a writer and working incredibly hard as a publisher.

Do you feel that, having been through the experience of having your (now-acclaimed) novel rejected by the big traditional publishers, it gives you a greater empathy and understanding with those who submit work to you?

I think it does. I know what it is like to be on the other side of the fence. Having said that though, it’s still a gruelling process and out of all the manuscripts we receive we can only publish a very small number. We receive hundreds of submissions a year and publish 5-10 books. It takes us a long time to make decisions because we all have to love the manuscript and reading takes time, especially when there are piles and piles of it surrounding you in the office. So writers often wait for many months to hear back from us, which I know is very difficult, especially if the reply after all that time is a negative one. But we empathise with writers and we try to give a little bit of constructive criticism to help them improve their work.

When you think back to the days before you became a publisher, did you, as a writer, have an understanding of how the publishing industry worked and what the various roles in it were? What things have most challenged you now that the tables have essentially turned?

No, I was quite clueless as to what goes on in a publishing house and I certainly wouldn’t say that I know everything about paper quality or how to get free publicity even now. Publishing is an industry in constant flux and every book has to be treated differently depending on what genre it is and what age group it is for. The most astonishing thing that I have learnt is that the earlier a book is ready, the better. This is quite difficult to explain to writers but certain important readers need to have the material at least six months in advance and to get writers into festivals it’s great to have the book ready nine months before publication.

What parts of being a publisher bring you the greatest joy?

Seeing the new books when they appear from the printer brings me immense joy. Every time boxes appear in the office, it’s a time for celebration. I love meeting new writers and being able to ring strangers to say that we are going to fulfil their often life-long dreams of publication. An aspect of publishing which I didn’t know much about before I became a publisher is the travelling. Working for MidnightSun I have attended the London and Bologna Book Fairs for the last four years, I have been selected for three publishing delegations travelling to China, Korea and India to develop connections with publishers in those countries. Seeing new places and always learning new things brings me abundant joy.

What have been the things that have surprised you the most, now that you have shifted your focus from writing to publishing?

One of the most unexpected things for me has been to discover how many amazing women (and men, but it’s an industry dominated by women) publishers there are, both in Australia and overseas. I have made friends all over the world through my travels to Book Fairs and with publishing delegations. It has also been wonderful to experience how helpful everyone is. Early on when I needed help with international rights deals for my books I approached a few other publishers and they were all incredibly generous with their time and advice.

Do you feel the experience has helped you to be a better writer, and/or has made you more commercially-minded in terms of your writing and publishing?

I am not sure yet. When I start writing creatively again, I hope that my writing will

have improved, but it’s difficult to tell now when I’m currently only writing for work. I know that I procrastinate less as a publisher than I used to as a writer so hopefully I can remain faster and more focussed when I return to writing. I’ve never been particularly commercially-minded, neither as a writer nor as a publisher. Writing is about love. It’s about crafting sentences, building characters, weaving story. Publishing is also about love. It’s about making sure each book is as good as it can possibly be, in terms of the individual words, the story and the design. There is no point in trying to chase the bestsellers because no one knows what makes a bestseller. Even if there was a formula, I’d probably be more interested in breaking it than following the rules.

What plans and hopes do you have - both for yourself and for MidnightSun Publishing?

In terms of MidnightSun Publishing, I plan to keep on publishing for as long as I enjoy it. I hope that it will become less financially stressful over time. In terms of my own writing, I hope to get back to the novel that I have almost finished, The Song of Glass, which is a companion novel to my first one, The Hum of Concrete. If I took some time off and went on a writer’s retreat I could probably finish a first draft in a few weeks but it’s taking the time off that is hard. There is always another book that needs editing, designing, promoting. But I really love the work and at this point I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Thank you so much, Anna, for taking part!

More about Anna Solding:

Anna Solding is a writer, editor and publisher. Her novel The Hum of Concrete was nominated for six awards, including the Commonwealth Book Prize. She is the founder and managing director of MidnightSun Publishing, an Adelaide based publishing company, and the co-founder and co-director of The Australian Short Story Festival. MidnightSun’s books have received high praise from reviewers for their innovative style and content. Anna has travelled widely to make connections with publishers in China, Korea, India and Europe. She is passionate about unearthing new Australian talent and spreading these stories to the world.

Anna can be contacted via: www.midnightsunpublishing.com

In this mini-series, I’m talking to a few writers at MidnightSun Publishing who have found that their background skills, training and experience have led to other opportunities, allowing them to become more involved in the intricacies of the publishing process.

Last week, I spoke with Kim Lock, writer and graphic designer who has designed most of the covers for MidnightSun Publishing.

This week, I’m speaking with Zena Shapter.

Zena is a writer who works on a freelance basis for MidnightSun Publishing, as a layout designer.

I’ve not had the pleasure yet of meeting Zena in person, but I was in contact with her when my novel, Heaven Sent, was being published last year. Zena was its layout designer, and it wasn’t until the book was out, that I realised Zena's also a writer. She has lots of other feathers to her bow, so there’s plenty for us to discuss!

Hi Zena! First of all, thank you for agreeing to be put under the spotlight for my blog.

Thank you for inviting me!

So, when I initially ‘met’ you, I knew you as the layout designer for my book. But I learnt you’re also a writer with several books of your own published. Can you tell me how you went from being ‘writer’ to ‘designer’? What has been your career path?

This is such an interesting question! Gosh, let me think. I wouldn’t say I’ve gone ‘from’ writer of course, as that’s still my main focus. Everything I do is to support my writing! But where did it all begin? Well, I read English at Birmingham University, then worked in a publishing company. As part of my role, I decided knowledge of printing and publication software would benefit me, so I took a course. However, I soon also discovered a love of travel (it’s my touchstone, see here - https://leifeshallcross.com/2017/03/26/touchstones-zena-shapter/

I know very little about what book design involves; other than that you made my words look very lovely on the page. Can you tell me about the process and what skills you need to be a good designer?

You need to know how books are printed today via a digital press, the software involved in producing print-ready files, how books are formatted into ebooks, and all the pitfalls of doing so. Usually at the start I send a short guide to the writer, and ask them to make sure all their editorial changes have been made. With picture books or books with illustrations there are extra requirements too. Meanwhile I layout some sample pages, and agree with the publisher about fonts, feel, and layout. The layout design has to work with the cover design to reflect the story and offer readers a subconscious visual experience of words matching its genre and style. It’s then a matter of laying out every page according to the agreed samples and finished manuscript. The publisher and writer review a draft, then the files are finalised and sent to the printers.

I presume you have been involved in laying-out your own work – how different is it, working on your own manuscript, to working on someone else’s?

Actually I’ve never laid out my own solo-work, as the publishers who buy my work already have their own preferred designers. It’s quite hard, actually, taking a back seat! The benefit, however, is that I get to see how other designers layout their books, and I love the internal layout of my latest book ‘Towards White’. It’s a speculative fiction thriller about where the electrical energy in our brains goes when we die (find out by reading the book over here!), and the fonts used are perfect! I have, however, laid out collaboratively-written books, which is how I got involved with MidnightSun Publishing, who bought ‘Into Tordon’ (which I co-wrote with eight other authors!). MidnightSun found out I also did book layouts, decided to get me onboard, and I've loved working with them ever since! The only difference with ‘Into Tordon’ was that I didn’t need to review the draft files once produced!

I notice from your website that you’re involved in lots of other aspects of writing. How do you divide your time between your various roles and do you find it’s difficult working to competing deadlines?

Yes, it’s difficult. Client-work always comes first because it pays the bills. As well as being a book creator, I’m also a creative writing mentor, teacher, editor, copywriter, high-school tutor, short story competition judge, and I’m passionate about increasing community participation in the Arts. It means a full-time work schedule, with extra work ‘out-of-hours’, in the evenings and weekends. To make it all happen, I often work long hours, some of it unpaid. Luckily I enjoy every minute!

When people ask what you do, do you describe yourself as a writer or do some of your other skills take priority in a professional sense?

It depends on the situation. If I’m teaching, I pitch my creative support business according to the crowd and their requirements. If I’m giving an author talk or speaking at a community event, I’m usually there as a writer to share my experience. There is overlap when I’m talking to publishers, who might want to know about my stories, but also might want to use my services – since I work from a home office my overheads are low, so I can be extremely competitive when it comes to costs.

You mentioned that you wrote a book collaboratively with a number of other writers. How was that experience, and what did it teach you? Is it something you’d like to do again?

I would definitely do it again! There are so many benefits to collaborative writing and I know all the pitfalls now! The best part was undoubtedly the diversity of experience and imagination multiple authors can bring to a story. With it, co-authors can create fantastic worlds for characters and readers to travel through. The worst part was it ending, he he! The most important thing I learnt? Probably to prioritise ‘story’ above all else. There’s a temptation to want to be visible in a collaborative team, as an individual creative, but when you’re working together to create a single product to be sold commercially – whether that’s a story, a new smartphone, or building a house – the end product needs to matter more than any one person’s visibility. Actually, it’s the same when you’re a single author working with an editor, designers and publisher – you’re a collective unit heading for a common goal.

What have been the highlights, for you, in terms of your involvement with MidnightSun Publishing?

MidnightSun Publishing is really going places. Think of a national or international book fair and they’re there, representing their authors. I enjoy being a part of something so special. Their covers are stunning too, including of course the cover for ‘Into Tordon’! Although you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover (or layout design, he he!), in this case go ahead – the stories they select for publication are well worth a reader’s time.

What are your immediate plans for the future? Are you writing anything new? Is your layout design role something that is ongoing?

At the moment I’m working on a speculative fiction trilogy, which is represented by my agents in New York and London. It’s ambitious and thrilling at the same time! And yes, I love working on books and stories – whether that’s teaching, editing, mentoring… or new layout designs! If anyone’s interested, look me up and get in touch!

Thank you so much for taking part in this mini-blog series, Zena.

Thank you for having me! This was really fun!

Next time, in the third and final part of this series, I'll be talking to writer, Anna Solding, who is Director and Co-Founder of MidnightSun Publishing

About Zena:

Zena Shapter writes from a castle in a flying city hidden by a thundercloud. Author of 'Towards White' (IFWG 2017) and co-author of 'Into Tordon' (MidnightSun 2016), she’s won over a dozen national writing competitions — including the Australasian Horror Writers’ Association Prize, a Ditmar Award, and the Glen Miles Short Story Prize. Her short stories have appeared in 'Midnight Echo', Hugo-nominated 'Sci Phi 
Journal', ‘Antipodean SF’ and Award-Winning Australian Writing (twice). She’s a movie buff, traveller, diversity enthusiast, and story nerd.

Find her online at zenashapter.com.

If you want to find out more about MidnightSun Publishing, go to:

www.midnightsunpublishing.com

The Mysteries of Publishing

Until very recently, I had absolutely no personal experience (or idea) about what might be involved in producing a book. Indeed, the notion of a publishing house had always held an air of mystery for me. Whenever I submitted a manuscript for consideration, I had a mental image of it being received by a cynical, time-frazzled publisher; a mountain of manuscripts teetering on the desk beside them as they thrust printed sheets at their vast team of underlings; an unspoken instruction to make all those pages disappear. It was hard to imagine any of them reading the words with a positive eye because there would always be more, more, more submissions, every one of them clamouring for attention.

And, for those few mystical writers whose manuscripts were accepted, I imagined them being whisked off to launch parties, treated as gods, while things (I had no idea what things) went on in the background to transform those manuscripts into real books.

Now that I'm one of the (ha!) ‘mystical writers’ (who, it turns out, are not mystical at all), I’ve learnt that publishing houses aren’t really as I’d imagined. They’re filled with interesting, generous people who are passionate about reading and who are enthusiastic and hungry to find great new manuscripts.

In the case of MidnightSun Publishing, based here in Adelaide, the team is also made up of people who like writing as well as reading. I don’t know if this is common with small presses, but it’s something that I found myself wanting to know more about. How did these writers end up working for a publisher? And did that mean they were still primarily writers, or did they see themselves now as publishing professionals?

I decided to ask a few people at MidnightSun Publishing how they’d found themselves in their current roles and what it meant for their working/writing lives.

In this first blog, I'm talking to Kim Lock, who is both a freelance graphic designer, and the author of three published novels.

Kim and I haven’t met face to face yet, but I was in touch with her when my novel, Heaven Sent, was being prepared for publication because she was commissioned by MidnightSun Publishing as the cover designer. And I’m thrilled to say she’s now working on the cover for my second novel, Hide.

Hi Kim! Firstly, thank you for agreeing to be put under the spotlight for my blog.

Hi, Sue! Thank you for having me.

So, Kim, as a graphic designer, has book-cover art been an aspect of design you’ve always been interested in or was it something that came along serendipitously?

Having always been a corporate-type print designer (branding, marketing materials, annual reports, etc) book design was a separate sphere that I never paid much attention to as a designer, because reading (a loved pastime) and design (work) were two very separate things for me. So when I finally wrote a manuscript for publication, and it was picked up by MidnightSun Publishing, it was just in chatting with publisher, Anna Solding, that it came out that I was also a graphic designer – and she asked if I’d be interested in designing my own cover. Which is a very unique opportunity!

How did you come to be one of MidnightSun Publishing’s go-to cover designers? Which book covers of theirs have you designed?

After designing the cover for my own debut novel, Peace, Love and Khaki Socks (2013), I was delighted when MidnightSun asked me if I would be interested in working on their next title … and it went on from there. Since 2014 I think I have designed the majority of their novel covers, from middle-grade to adult fiction. I enjoy it immensely.

What are some of your favourite (non-MidnightSun) covers? What sorts of artwork are you attracted to?

One of my all-time favourite covers is Hope Farm by Peggy Frew (Scribe, 2016). It’s just beautiful, and I imagine would have taken a tremendous amount of work on the designer’s part. I tend to gravitate towards anything with imagery or illustration of natural materials.

Which books have you particularly enjoyed working on, and why?

I have really enjoyed working on the cover for your new novel, Sue! The brief was terrific, the novel’s premise exciting and it’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to design the cover for a thriller. I also really liked working on the cover of a book called Crush, a beautiful anthology of short stories about love in all its dark and light forms, edited by Simone Corletto, Amy T. Matthews, Jess M. Miller and Lynette Washington.

Can you take us through the process of cover design? How do you begin? Where does it fit in to the overall publishing process?

The first thing that happens is the publisher sends me a short brief, with the title and author, the genre or target audience, and where the book fits in the market. (This usually happens while the author is still merrily working away on early structural edits.) Any comparable covers or author requests are also taken into consideration. Then I prepare several rough concept designs of a front cover, anything from about 5 to 12 designs, and send those to the publisher. Once we have tweaked it down to a few potential designs the publisher sends those to the author for feedback. After we have a front cover decided upon, it’s then a matter of laying out the ‘flat’ – which includes the front, spine and back cover. Once the book is typeset, and we know how many pages it will be (as page count dictates the final spine width) I can finalise the cover artwork for the printer. This all has to be done several months before publication, in order to give the novel enough time for publicity, inclusion in catalogues, etc.

I notice from your website that, as well as writing and being a designer, you’re also a breast-feeding counsellor. How do you manage these various roles and do you find that you have periods of time where there are competing pressures and deadlines?

In terms of the latter part of your question, the answer would be: only very rarely. These days I am very careful about protecting my space, and if something makes me feel uneasy I don’t do it, or find a way to make it less stressful. So I think like most people who wear a few metaphorical hats I just manage as best as I can! At the present time most of my work with breastfeeding advocacy is in the form of op-ed style writing, rather than 1-on-1 counselling, so I tend to leave advocacy work for when I have something to say. I usually write in the mornings and work on design projects in the afternoon, unless I’m editing a manuscript, and then I swap it around – design in the morning, edit in the afternoon.

Do you consider yourself a graphic designer first and foremost? Or a writer?

It took me a while, but these days I consider myself a writer first.

What training did you undertake to become a graphic designer?

I was lucky enough to be trained ‘on the job’. Late in high school – in 1998 – I spent a week doing work experience at a magazine, and was afterward offered a job. At first it was basic typesetting on a casual basis, but I worked under a really talented, old-school type art director who taught me a lot of the ropes, and I moved up from there. After a few years I moved into the artroom at a large printing house, and from there on to a graphic design and advertising studio. After about 8 years in the industry I had my first baby, and decided to work freelance for myself – and have been ever since.

What things are you working on at the moment? What are your immediate work plans?

At the moment I’m revising the second draft of my new novel, as well as having a few covers in the works for MidnightSun.

Kim – thank you so much for agreeing to be part of my mini-blog series.

In the next blog, I'll be talking to Zena Shapter who is one of MidnightSun's layout designers as well as an author.

About Kim Lock

Kim Lock is the author of three novels: The Three of Us (2018), Like I Can Love (2016) and Peace, Love and Khaki Socks (2013). Like I Can Love was selected to participate in the QWC/Hachette Australia Manuscript Development Program in 2013, and was subsequently published in Australia, the UK and Germany. Her essays and opinion pieces have appeared in Kill Your Darlings, The Guardian, Daily Life and The Sydney Morning Herald online, among others. In between writing, Kim works as a freelance graphic designer and volunteer breastfeeding counsellor. Kim lives in the Barossa Valley, South Australia, with her partner and children, a dog, two cats and a rabbit. She is currently at work on her fourth novel.

If you want to find out more about Kim, head over to her website:

www.kimlock.com.au

If you want to find out more about MidnightSun Publishing, go to:

www.midnightsunpublishing.com

Poppy Nwosu’s YA novel, Making Friends with Alice Dyson was shortlisted for the prestigious (and snappily titled!) Arts South Australia Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award, 2018. Subsequently, Poppy was offered a contract for the book with Wakefield Press and her novel is due for publication in March 2019.

With just a few weeks to go before it emerges into the world, I thought I’d ask Poppy some questions about how she got to this point and what she’s expecting over the coming period of time.

Poppy, this must be a very exciting (and perhaps bewildering!) time for you. Can you tell me how you went from being shortlisted for a prize, to then being offered a publishing contract?

I think I was very lucky!

To be honest I wasn’t expecting much when I entered the unpublished manuscript prize, though of course I had my fingers crossed. It was a looong time between entering and finding out I’d been shortlisted, and I can’t quite describe how excited I was to get that shortlist. I’d been writing for a long while with no real traction, and although I didn’t end up winning the award, I kind of felt like I had.

I went along to the awards ceremony, and was approached by a publisher from Wakefield Press who had been keeping an eye out for me there. She had been one of the judges and really liked my story, and invited me to come in to speak with her about it.

I twisted myself up into knots over the next few weeks wondering what she meant by the invitation (did they want to publish my story? did they want me to make changes to it? what did they want?) But when I finally went in for the meeting it was really straightforward and immediately they just handed me a contract! I was pretty overwhelmed and excited, and not a lot of coherent conversation happened after that!

Can you tell me a little bit about the upcoming book and where the idea came from?

Sure, the book is a Young Adult contemporary novel about friendship, love and growing up, which follows a rather serious girl called Alice Dyson through her final year of high-school. Basically all she wants to do is study, but her newest friend keeps getting in the way!

My publisher is describing it as: ‘A witty, heartfelt romance between two smart, awkward teenagers who find kindred spirits in each other, it dips into themes of bullying and judging differences, and focuses on the way our friendships change as we leave childhood behind.’

It’s a ‘feel-good’ story at heart, and I very purposely wanted to write something positive and fun. I was particularly influenced by a book I’ve loved for a long time, Finding Cassie Crazy by Australian author Jaclyn Moriarty. Although that novel is completely different in format, characters and plot, I always remember how that story made me feel, and I really wanted to create that same feeling with my own book. Basically something ultimately positive, funny and romantic, but with emotional depth too. I really hope readers like this story.

What has been your writing journey so far? How and when did you start? Did you study a related subject?

No, I’ve never studied and I definitely didn’t always want to be a writer! However, when I look back I realise I was always very focused on making up stories in imaginative ways when I was a kid, and I think that love of stories morphed into my current love of writing.

I only started writing seriously in the last 5 or 6 years, basically getting more and more serious about the craft, and what my end goal was in terms of getting my stories out there, as the years went by. I feel like it’s been a long hard slog to get this far, which is why I do feel so lucky to have been shortlisted in that unpublished manuscript competition, which enabled my story to be picked up by Wakefield Press. It’s been a bit of a dream come true really.

Has anything surprised you about the process so far?

That is an interesting question, and I had to stop and think!

Yes, the thing that has surprised me the most about the publication process, is that, after spending so many years doing everything I could to get a book contract, now I have one I didn’t immediately give a great big sigh of relief and feel like I’d accomplished my goal, ready to kick back and relax in the knowledge I achieved my dream.

Instead, I immediately started dreaming of having another book published, and then another, and another! I think now I am dreaming in terms of a career as a writer, and I’ve realised I feel quite greedy about it, really wanting to be able to write and publish books for a very long time.

I think that feeling was a big surprise for me, and not something I expected to feel so strongly about.

What’s your writing routine – do you go over the previous day’s work or do you climb straight onto a new page? Are you a meticulous planner or do you prefer to be as surprised by events as your readers?

I prefer to just get everything on the page and worry about the details later. My first drafts are absolutely atrocious and I will never show them to anybody (ever!), but that works for me, as it gives me permission to write absolute silly rubbish, and not worry about what anyone will think of it, knowing I will always have the opportunity to clean it up later.

I am not a huge planner, but I definitely do write notes to keep myself on track as I go. Mostly though, I have the general concept of a story figured out prior to starting, but all the details work themselves out as I travel along. Sometimes the endings even do too!

Do you write with music on or in silence? Can you write in public spaces, on buses etc?

I wrote a lot in public spaces when I first began writing seriously about 6 years ago. Back then I wrote on my phone any spare second I could. On the train, at the shops if I had a free moment, during my lunchbreak at work. And yes, music to drown out the noise was definitely good!

These days though I have a desk at home and I write in the mornings before work, not so much out in public anymore. If the house is quiet I don’t need music, but sometimes I find it really helps to focus me, or even give me the right vibes for a certain scene I’m working on.

Finally, I’d really like to post ‘before publication’ and ‘after publication’ pieces about you. When you think about your book coming out, what things are you most looking forward to and which aspects are you most worried about?

Another interesting question! Again, I have to have a think about this!

Okay, probably the thing I am most looking forward to is taking the very first step in a direction I’ve been wanting to travel in for such a long time. It is a wonderful feeling to work hard at something for a long time and then begin to see the pieces finally fall into place. Sometimes it has felt impossible that I would ever see one of my novels in print, yet here I am. For that reason, knowing my book is out in the world is something I am really looking forward to. To me, that feels like my first tangible step as an author, and that is very exciting indeed.

On the flipside, there are many things I am worried about, but I suspect that they may be a little irrational! Ha!

Of course, as much as I can’t wait for my book to be out there, it is frightening too. Once a book is published, it is no longer a story of your heart and instead becomes something public that belongs to everybody who is nice enough to read it. I truly hope people like this book, but of course that is something I have no control over. Which is the way it is meant to be, though it can indeed a little overwhelming at times.

I think there will be a lot of new challenges coming my way soon enough, even just talking openly about my writing in an interview is quite new for me, so I just want to concentrate on trying my best while remembering to enjoy myself. After all, you don’t get the opportunity to release a debut novel every day!

:)

Thank you so much, Poppy for your honest and interesting answers. Good luck with everything. I'm really looking forward to meeting Alice Dyson when she ventures out into the world.

Thanks so much for the questions, Sue! It’s been a pleasure to answer them! :)

Making Friends with Alice Dyson is being published on 1st March 2019 (Wakefield Press). Keep an eye on Poppy's website www.talltaleswithpoppynwosu.com for further details. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram:

https://twitter.com/PoppyNwosu

https://www.instagram.com/talltales_poppynwosu/?hl=en

About Poppy:

Poppy Nwosu was shortlisted for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature for an unpublished manuscript and is represented by Jane Novak of the Jane Novak Literary Agency. Growing up in central North Queensland, Poppy enjoyed a thoroughly wild childhood surrounded by rainforest and cane fields. After studying music at university, she moved overseas to Ireland, where she spent two years visiting stunning Europe.

These days Poppy and her husband still love to travel, but they also like to come home again to their house in Adelaide near the sea. Poppy’s quite obsessed with stories, books, movies, writing and music.

Making Friends with Alice Dyson is her first novel.

In my last blog post, I described how one of the biggest challenges in my publishing journey has been the need to throw myself into pitch sessions: those five minute pockets of terror that seem to cost so dearly - not in terms of dollars, but in terms of dignity. I also promised a brief glimpse into the collection of dignity-losses I've suffered. So for those who enjoy a dash of schadenfreude to see in the new year, this is for you.

The first pitch session I attended was at a writers' festival some years ago. The pitch program was as new to the festival as it was to me, but - in my ignorance - I wasn't too worried: I'd read countless books and articles on How to Prepare the Perfect Pitch and I'd spent weeks beforehand going over my five minute speech; whittling down the synopsis to the bare bones and fine-tuning my blurb so I could squeeze it into that magical 300 second-slot.

During the morning session, the agent I was due to pitch to gave a talk. I sat in the audience with pen poised, ready for her to remind everyone about the need for solid preparation, for endless practice. But no. She talked only about timing: she said that pitches should be no more than two minutes long. I looked up, certain I'd misheard. She repeated it - TWO minutes - no more, because there had to be at least three minutes for discussion and questions and feedback. Of course there did: it was obvious when she said it ... but had I factored it in? No, I had not. My painstaking preparation went out the window. By the time I walked into the room that day, my carefully constructed speech had morphed into a tangle of indecipherable scribbles on my page: I could barely understand it myself, let alone convey the plot to the agent. It was, quite simply, an unmitigated disaster and I left with no illusions about how badly it had gone.

But, I figured, at least I'd be ready for the next one ...

The next one came the following year and I turned up to another pitch session with my neatly-typed TWO (not five)-minute blurb. I had a middle-grade children's book that I'd been working on and this time I was pitching to a publisher rather than an agent. I went in and introduced myself; sat down, swallowed. The stop-watch began and instantly, it set my heart racing and my nerves jangling. I read the first few lines from my sheet: 'This is a 75,000-word children's mystery aimed at 8 to ..."

"75,000? That's way too long," the publisher interrupted. "You need to cut it down."

I made a note on the back of my sheet, flipped it over to the front, struggled to re-find my place. Seconds stretched. "It's about a girl called Sophie," I read, at last, "and she lives with ..."

"Can you put your notes away," the publisher said. "Just tell me the story - in your own words."

I blinked back at her. Manage without my comfort-sheet? Just ... talk? I folded up my paper and rifled my brain for a few details about the story, none of which I could remember in any chronological order. I tossed out snippets but as I saw the look of total confusion on the publisher's face, I knew I was doomed. Minutes have never ticked by as slowly as they did right then. When the session was finally over, I shot from the room so fast that I forgot to leave the all-important synopsis and chapters behind: the very things that might have redeemed me.

So pitch number two was very much disaster number two.

Fast forward to another year and I signed up for a 3 day pitch conference where participants would not only learn the art of successful pitching but would be able to try out their new-found skills on major publishers. It seemed the perfect opportunity: I could face my fear in a supportive environment then put any new learning immediately into practice. It sounded the ideal way to get over my pitchophobia.

There were lots of people at the conference - many of them as threatened by the idea of pitching as I was and that, in itself, was a comfort. We were divided into small groups and we stayed in these clusters for every one of the three days. It started to be fun - we got to know each other; to trust one other; learn about the books we were all working on, get help and feedback on our own pitches.

We had two opportunities to pitch to big-name publishers, and although on the first occasion it felt as nerve-racking as any of my previous attempts, by the time I did the last one, I felt satisfied that I'd finally said what I'd wanted to say. Unfortunately, the end of the conference was marked by a whole-group gathering where we were told who'd had manuscript requests from the publishers and who hadn't. It meant that two-thirds of the group left, jubilant and buoyed. And one third - my third - left feeling failures.

With gritted teeth and a sense of dogged obstinacy though, I decided to pitch the same manuscript at the next writers' festival, After all, I'd spent all that money on learning how to do it, plus I'd drafted and redrafted that particular pitch to within an inch of its life. I figured I should give it another shot.

I was terrified again, and I didn't do a great pitch. But this time, the publisher didn't seem to mind that I was nervous or that I had to read from my notes. And afterwards, I actually remembered to leave the synopsis and chapters with her instead of taking them home. That, in some small way, felt like progress.

*****

When I think about my collection of uncomfortable experiences, I'm surprised I kept going; turning up so many times with only my notes and my nervousness to protect me. But, each time I put myself through it, I learnt something.

The first pitch taught me about structuring and managing time; to leave space for discussion and clarification. And yes, the second pitch went very badly, but I sent a note to the publisher afterwards, forwarding the synopsis and chapters I'd forgotten to give her. She liked what she read and asked for more. She even took the manuscript to her acquisitions meeting. Perhaps it would never have got so far had I not pitched to her that day, and followed it up when things had gone awry.

And the pitch conference helped me to clarify and perfect what I wanted to say, even if it didn't rid me of my nerves. The nerves were still very much in evidence at my next session, but I'm thankful I went anyway because that was the pitch that got me published. That was the pitch that made me glad I hadn't given up.

So, for any other writers out there who detest the nightmare that pitching can be, I'd say it's still worth it. Yes, it can be confronting when you're not a confident presenter; it's unnerving, being timed with a stopwatch and you're struggling to speak. But it's worth doing because there are so few opportunities to sit down, one-to-one, with a person who potentially has your dreams in their hands.

Even if you, the author, hate every moment of a pitch session, you owe it to your story to get it out into the wider world.

And after all, in the grand scheme of things, it's only five minutes.

The nightmare:

You’re jumpy, on edge. You can barely breathe yet all around, people are unconcerned, relaxed, unaware. On the opposite wall, the second hand on the clock spins, almost too fast to see, but the time doesn’t alter. When you force your eyes away, you realise someone is in front of you, motioning you to stand.

You’re led to a dim room where an accusatory figure sits behind a desk, pen poised, watching silently as you fumble your chair and scatter papers across the table. Behind you, a beep.

'You have five minutes,’ a voice says. ‘Start now.’

You open your mouth, close it. Swallow. Repeat. You turn to the woman with the watch: she needs to reset – put the timer on pause, just for a second. You take a breath, explanations frothing on your lips.

Only then do you remember: you brought your paperwork, but you left your tongue behind.

The notion of pitching a book, as you can see from my recurring-nightmare above, is right up there on my list of Horror Scenarios to be Avoided. Yet, somehow, over the years, I’ve managed to spend a lot of time, plenty of money and a bucket-load of nervous energy doing that very thing I loathe: pitching.

SO, HOW DOES IT WORK: WHAT IS A PITCH?

The purpose of the pitch is to bring you and your work to the attention of a publisher or agent. Instead of sending off your synopsis, cover letter and chapters via post or email (where it will usually be read and filtered by an intern or assistant), you get to sit directly in front of the agent or publisher and tell them why they need you on their books and why your novel is a bestseller-waiting-to-happen (or at the very least, a fabulously good story).

Pitch sessions tend to be offered at writers’ festivals or conferences and they usually require you to register in advance. You are given a list of agents/publishers that you can book with and a short blurb about each of them and the types of books they represent or publish. You pick whoever seems most appropriate for your work (and who, hopefully, has the kindest face), and you pay a fee (say, around $25) for a pitch session. The session is generally 5 minutes, though I understand they are sometimes 10 or 15 mins.

These sessions are in high demand and are quickly booked up, so you can’t spend too long deliberating if you see one coming. This is a good thing for someone like me: I’m forced to act quickly, and I don’t have the chance to talk myself out of it.

As the day approaches, you’ll be expected to have practiced, practiced, practiced your sales-pitch because you only get five minutes. That means a very short speech, given part of the time will need to be used for discussion and feedback from the person you’re pitching to.

ON THE DAY

When the big day arrives, there will probably be a list of appointment times and agents/publishers posted centrally so every writer knows which room to loiter outside. As the countdown begins and people gather, there’s a lot of nervous energy: figures hunched over papers; others milling about, trying to memorise key points; some offering words of encouragement to their neighbours. People are inevitably friendly – everyone’s in the same boat and (contrary to my nightmare) not many look unconcerned or relaxed. It feels like waiting for the start of a race, except this is a competition with yourself; a battle against your own fraught nerves.

Usually, there are a few helpers who are in charge of the last minute ‘rounding up’ of writers – these people have to make sure they have the correct writers in the correct order, waiting outside the correct rooms. It’s their job to usher in and usher out; their duty to knock on the door if someone hasn’t emerged at their allotted time.

Just before your programmed ‘slot’ one of these people will probably approach you to make sure you’re ready. This is the time to take a deep breath and mentally rev your engines. As soon as the door opens and the last ‘pitcher’ emerges, you’ll be hurried inside and, the minute you say hello and take your seat, the stop watch will begin (sometimes there might be someone in the room as the timekeeper; sometimes they’ll stand outside the door – I’ve had both experiences).

What happens once you’re in the room is, of course, up to you but some publishers/agents are better at ‘guiding’ the conversation and making you feel at ease than others. Generally, there should be time for you to give a very brief outline of the book; perhaps a couple of details about yourself and then there will hopefully be time for thoughts or questions from the agent or publisher.

Nerve-wracking though it is for the writer, it must also be challenging for the person on the other side of the desk. For them, it must feel like a literary marathon. They have to sit and focus as a steady stream of hopefuls condense their books into bite-sized pieces – with varying degrees of skill and success. They then have to assess what they’ve heard and ask the writer pertinent questions. It must be like flicking between TV channels; furiously hunting for the killer program that makes them want to put the remote down.

As soon as the five-minute session is up, you’re expected to say goodbye and leave. If there’s something you’ve forgotten to ask, tough: you’ll have to get in touch via email.

In an ideal world, you leave the room having delivered the speech of a lifetime; the publisher/agent hanging off your every word and begging to read your chapters. But in this, the real world, it often doesn’t pan out that way. Sometimes, you stumble from the room, dazed and discombobulated; sensing that what you delivered was nothing like the speech you'd so carefully prepared. In fact, you’re certain you’ve blown it.

And that’s where my next blog begins: with those blown-it moments. Plus the pain of the post-pitch analysis.

It’s been sad and harrowing to see the bushfires in California. It’s a reminder how fragile our lives are and how trusting we tend to be that life tomorrow will be very much as it is today.

Here in the Adelaide Hills, the council reminds us each year to clear gutters; tidy wood away from back doors and to cut vegetation – and people do, ‘just in case’. But underpinning it all is a blind faith that nothing could really happen because, surely, all the serious bushfires will be elsewhere?

When we lived in New Zealand, the threat was not fires but earthquakes. Instead of listening for sirens, we’d be ready to duck into a doorway or dive under a table at the first sign of a shake. Except we were never truly ready: any shaking had usually stopped before we’d even thought of taking cover because, the big one couldn’t really happen where we were, could it?

But living in any high-risk area does force you to prepare – physically, at least – for the ‘what if’ scenario. Since living here, we’ve dutifully put a box aside with a few basic items. It’s easy to remember the practical things, but I often wonder, what else would I hate to leave behind. What trinkets might I want to add to the Essentials Box? It forces you to consider and emotionally weigh up your personal possessions.

In an emergency, one’s family and one's pets would (hopefully!) be with you; but after that, is there anything you couldn’t leave behind? Probably not, but there are things that it would hurt to lose. For me, those few things would be the ‘irreplaceables’ – the bits and pieces that have been passed down through the generations; old photos; my grandmother’s Bible; my granddad’s tuning fork; my dad’s watch, his golf medal; the few toys I have left from my childhood. It’s memory, and maybe other people’s memory, that I can’t let go of – the tangible evidence of lives and times no longer with us.

The trouble is, when I can reduce the things of true personal value to just a handful of items, it begs the question how I’ve managed to make my life so jam-packed with STUFF and I look around and wonder when it all got so

complicated ...

When I was thirteen, my spine developed a curve. I stood up nice and straight; but somehow, my back didn’t.

I’d learnt about how straight the spine was meant to be several years earlier because someone else in our family had developed scoliosis and needed to have a steel rod fused to their back. The doctors assured me there was no evidence that the condition was genetic, however. It just happened, they said, randomly.

So, I didn’t worry.

My mum did though. She worried enough for both of us. From the time I was ten or eleven, she insisted on someone checking my back regularly. They did, for a couple of years. And at one appointment, the doctor thought she could spot something; a slight unevenness that hadn’t been there before.

I was sent to a consultant and put on the ‘watch’ list, just to be safe. Every six months, I’d get x-rayed at the local hospital; be seen by the orthopaedic consultant then be sent on my way again.

Except one time, I wasn’t sent on my way. The doctors all gathered around my x-rays with their rulers and protractors. They said my slight unevenness had become a significant curve and that other parts of my torso were rotating to compensate.

Things had gone awry – not only for my back, but for my life as I knew it.

As an adult I hadn’t really thought about the whole scoliosis episode, but when I started writing Heaven Sent, I had to mentally take myself back there. I wanted my protagonist, Evie, to have a brace and to feel some of the things I felt when I was told I had to wear a brace.

I was relatively kind to Evie because I gave her version two of my brace, not version one, as I’d initially had. That was called a Milwaukee Brace and it consisted of a hard-plastic corset which had steel struts extending up to a metal ring/choker which circled my neck. It was held together with bolts and wingnuts and it turned me into (as I saw it) some kind of Meccano-like Frankenstein. There was no hiding it. Even a polo neck jumper (had I been able to get one on) couldn’t have masked it. Instead, I had to wear button-up shirts and pretend I didn’t mind the brace being on show. I was barely fourteen: so, of course people my age stared, they smirked, they furrowed their brows. Even teachers would stop me to ask what I’d done. Most people assumed I must’ve broken my neck or damaged my back – and sometimes, I didn’t bother to put them right.

After a while, I was fitted with a Boston Brace. That was considered a far kinder option because it only covered my torso, so there were no visible elements poking out from my clothes. Yet, in some ways, it was more challenging: I knew I looked different, but now it wasn’t obvious why. My posture was stiff, awkward, inflexible. My shape was unshapely. Clothes didn’t sit well on me; they twisted, slipped and pulled. Yet there was nothing visible to account for my oddness. I just wasn’t right.

So, this new ‘improved’ second version was the brace I gave Evie in Heaven Sent. I wanted to capture that inexplicable sense of difference – the one where people didn’t ask; didn’t comment – just subconsciously noted. A difference which was sensed as curiosity and judgement, but which could never be explained or discussed.

Last week, I found my diary from all those years ago. I wondered what I’d said about the brace – how much I’d railed and raged; how miserable I’d admitted to being. In fact, I said very little about it. Almost nothing. I was tight-lipped, even to myself. On the day I went to the hospital for my Milwaukee monstrosity, all I’d said in the entry was: ‘Got my brace. Cried.’

And, even as I flipped through the pages of the diary – day after day; week upon week; year after year – apart from the few brief mentions about physical discomfort, I didn’t write about the experience at all. Instead, I wrote about what I’d had for tea or what I’d watched on TV.

Perhaps it’s why, so many years later, I found myself needing to write about a girl called Evie who had scoliosis. A girl who found someone she trusted enough to explain how she really felt.

It was New Year, over eighteen months ago. Time for a spring clean, even in that baking summer heat. Perhaps it was the heat that had got to us: why else would we decide to tackle the area that never got tackled? That we'd never felt the need to tackle? The area I refer to is the bookcase – that big wooden temple with all its sacred idols lining the shelves. We’d always assumed those great tomes would stay put for as long as we lived here, secure in their sturdy positions, because they were books, and you don’t get rid of books.

But how many of them would we read again, we asked ourselves? How many had personal meaning? After all, amongst the lovely novels, there were also novelty books, stuffed hurriedly into Xmas stockings by fraught parents; freebie paperbacks, attached, gratis, to glossy magazines; thrillers that hadn’t enticed us past chapter four. And there were those folio books we’d sent for from Readers Digest, bought because we thought they’d look impressive on the shelf. But this was a New Year – a time for shedding the old and making way for the new.

We were finally going to do it.

We began by moving our travel books into a separate box – the Lonely Planets and big atlases we’d collected over the years; dusty, well-thumbed ancient editions, worthless to all except us. They took up a big box just by themselves. And once we’d separated those and put them out the way, we were ready to move on to the Serious Clearing Out.

It was hard at first – such lovely-looking books, but if they hadn’t been read in the last twenty years, would they ever be read? Unlikely, we figured. Get shot of them! And once we got into a rhythm, it became easier. ‘Want this?’ we’d ask each other. Barely a glance. A shake of the head. ‘This one to go?’ Easy-peasy!

In no time at all, we had about ten boxes, ready for the second-hand bookshop. And we felt good donating them: they’d make money for community projects and we’d make room for new books and fresh beginnings.

We left the boxes in the designated spot at the bookshop door and drove away. Win-win.

It wasn’t till later in the day that our metaphorical pen began to leak.

Where, we wondered, was that box of travel books? The ones we’d written notes in and had stains from our emergency rusks in Russia, and drip-marks from the Bintangs in Bali. Where had they got to? We’d put them somewhere safe, hadn’t we? Surely, we had. Hadn’t we?

We hunted everywhere; checked every corner of the room, the shelves, hunted on the back seat of the car; the boot, the car port. They weren’t there.

Still, it was New Year – who’d be working at a community second-hand bookshop on a public holiday? The boxes would be there, still sitting between the donated novelty books and the posh folio ones. Bound to be.

We tore down to the bookshop, which was now (surprisingly) open. We went inside where a slick one-woman operation was underway. We explained our predicament and laughed off our silly mistake and asked if we could have another look through the boxes we’d left earlier. ‘Oh,’ the woman said, ‘they’ve all been sorted. But feel free to look on the shelves.’

We figured it might cost us a fair bit to get them all back if they’d already been priced up and shelved, but we didn’t mind that. Just as long as we could reclaim them.

However.

When we went to the travel section, we found none of them there, but … that had to be a good thing, right? It meant they hadn’t been sorted.

‘Oh, travel books?’ the woman said. ‘We don’t keep travel books if they’re out of date. Were yours out of date?’

We looked at each other. ‘Perhaps, a little.’ We glanced around us. ‘So where would you have put them?’

‘Oh, they get shredded,’ she told us, cheerfully. ‘I’m afraid the man’s already been here to collect the rubbish.’

Rubbish? Rubbish?? Some Happy New Year this was turning out to be.

We drove home in silence and, over the next period of time, went into a quiet state of mourning. First there was denial (surely they couldn’t have got rid of our precious books that quickly! They had to be somewhere. Maybe we could track the shredding man down?) After that, there was anger – how dare they shred our precious books? They were books, goddamit: sacred things. There should have been warnings of possible pulping. Had we known, we harrumphed, we wouldn’t have donated any books to those shysters. Next came depression – all those lovely books of ours; all those memories! They could never be replaced: they told our story, detailed our travels together, they represented the two of us between their pages. And we’d been shredded.

At the bargaining stage, we promised ourselves we’d never, never throw out a book again if ONLY we could get our old ones back. We even attempted to start again and bought ourselves a lovely new atlas – hardback, cost an arm and a leg. It didn’t make us feel any better though, even if we pretended it did.

The final part of grief is acceptance; acknowledging that what’s done is done. Moving on, stronger and more determined than before. Well, that stage simply passed us by. It could never be ‘okay’ that those books went, and the wounds opened anew each time we told the story.

Still, at least the experience helped us to manage a more recent spring clean. We kept the previous trauma at the forefront of our minds as we emptied our shed. Things had been getting damp in there – kids’ toys, old videos, children’s books. But we didn’t want to get rid of anything – God forbid! Especially the books! – so we gradually removed everything from the shed and put it in the relative warmth of our spare room.

Imagine our delight then, when we opened the lid of one of the boxes and found – yes! – all our old travel books and atlases. They might have been eighteen months older, dustier and damper, but there they all were, intact, safe, unshredded and unpulped. Every last one of them with their rusk stains, their Bintang marks and curly edges. We must have been so (obsessively) afraid of doing what we feared we’d done, that we’d put them somewhere very safe and out-the-way at the start, and not realised.

It was like being reunited with dear friends – friends we’d feared long-dead who then appear out of the mist. It was truly a night of celebration: we sat by the fire, and opened every single book, one by one. The stories were still inside: not just the tales of how to get from Medan to Probolingo in a bemo; or of which museum to visit in Moscow but rather, OUR stories. Because, really, it’s not only the words between the covers that matter – it’s the memories that give those pages their meaning. The recollection of gripping the book on a slow boat to Sibu, or having that crumpled map rested against your pregnant belly in Queensland, or of using the book as a makeshift plate in Sumatra. It’s the adventures that the books stir up that are the true treasures. And for us, suddenly, even more valuable because they were treasures so very nearly lost.

It’s hard to believe it’s over a year since I had the news about a publishing contract. A whole year and now at last, publication is very, very close.

When I think back over the last twelve months, it felt, at times, as if everything was moving achingly slowly. Even though I knew plenty was going on in the background, I was impatient for 'my part' in the process to begin. And then there have been other times, where I’ve felt so hurried, so hassled and stressed that I was in danger of imploding: tumbleweed versus tsunami, in my head, at least. But even in the quiet periods, I realise now, things were moving along and I was learning. I learned about choosing book covers; about writing teachers' notes; wrestling with social media; setting up a website; I learned about book launches and blogging and bookstagramming. But probably the most important thing I learned was that getting a book out into the world is COMPLICATED. And as a newbie who doesn’t understand how all the bits fit together, it can therefore be intimidating and bewildering. Yes, you know there are going to be deadlines – this has to happen so that this can be done, and then this person has to do this so that these people can do this in time for that to happen … yet all you actually hear when it’s your manuscript is – ‘everything needs to be finished, and it needs to be finished perfectly, NOW.’ I realise, with hindsight, this isn’t what was being said to me at all, but it is sometimes what I heard.

And the problem with novels is they’re clumsy, unwieldy things. You change a date in Chapter Five and you then have to plough through the whole book making sure the timeline remains consistent in every chapter - back and forth, back and forth. But at least those are measurable, checkable things. What’s harder is when you have to write a new scene or perhaps subtly change a character’s response to something. Those sorts of edits take a long time - not only write, but to then fine-tune and polish. Initially, you read the changes back and yes, they sound okay – but when you return to them a day, a week later, they sound clumsy and awkward. It’s that smoothing-off, sanding down, making sure each sentence, each response, curls neatly into the next – that’s the hardest part. And there’s no way to judge that when you’re in a sleeves-rolled-up, high-pressure frame of mind. You have to wait until you aren’t. Wait until the pressure (the one inside your head, at least) eases.

So, my advice to my future-editing self would be to imagine the writing as that ball of tumbleweed. I should accept and expect it to move slowly, to gather very gradually and grow organically. I should not will it onwards or kick it along to try to hurry it up. Only when I stop forcing it forward can it be something other than a bolus of knots and tangles and instead grow into a well-rounded, smooth and natural whole.

Well, that’s the theory anyway …

Oh dear, so much for good intentions. Haven’t been near my blog in weeks. I have several excuses: Excuse number one, we’ve had major wi-fi issues and getting onto the internet (from my laptop, at least) has been like trying to find the exact moment to jump into one of those fast-moving skipping games – mostly resulting in mis-timing, mess and disappointment.

Excuse number two, I have been busy attending lots of book launches. This has been great fun and a good way of meeting other local writers. I thought it might also help me to decide what sort of launch I might want for my book, later in the year. It hasn’t. It’s just left me certain that no two launches are the same and the only thing they have in common is an author, a book and a venue. Of course, the launches themselves don’t take up too much time so that’s not much of an excuse for my blog absence, but I come away with a book from each of the launches and now I have a pile of just released novels clamouring to be read. Well, I guess someone has to do it …

Excuse number three, Twitter. I have never fancied becoming a Twitterette and had no interest in seeing the minutiae of other people’s lives, laid out in a hundred-and-whatever characters. But I made the mistake of Taking A Look. And then, once I took a look, I thought I’d do a ‘draft’ profile – you know, just something quick that I could come back to if ever I decided to become an official member of the Twitterati. Well, that was a couple of weeks ago and now I find my nose pressed up against the Twitter glass far more often than I should. It’s so BUSY on there! No sooner have I got through reading the latest Tweets on book releases, Trump goofs, Ricky Gervais gushes and Batchelor in Paradise nonsense, and there’s a blue dot indicating another lot of must-read Tweets. It’s relentless. At this newbie stage, I’m far more of an observer than a participant, but it is a glimpse into a frantic, minute-by-minute world. These days, I go on Facebook just to give my brain a rest!

The wi-fi problems continue, so now I have to stand here waiting to see if the signal will let me in long enough to post this. Ooh, is that a green light I see flashing? One – two – three … jump!

(Image: Netflix)

Ever worried about how long it takes for your posts to get a ‘like’ on Facebook? Or felt uneasy about how much you care? Have you found yourself mentally squirming at the tit-for-tat nature of liking and following people on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you might want to hunt down Nosedive. Nosedive is part of Netflix’s Black Mirror series and it gives a glimpse of how life could be for a society that has become obsessed with social media. It’s a world where people’s individual ratings (a score out of five) can be viewed and influenced by anyone and everyone, and it’s a world where that score really matters. Did you forget to say thanks for your coffee? The oversight could do more than just sour your soy latte. Considering complaining about a shonky rental car? Think again, because that sniffy receptionist could really hit you where it hurts; right in the ratings. And without maintaining a good ‘score’, you could find you’ve been barred from a whole host of benefits and opportunities. Even the friends you choose to hang out with can influence your score, so heaven forbid you’re ever seen with the wrong (low-rated) sorts of people. It’s not just about having friends; it’s about having the right (highly-rated) types of friends. Unpopularity, it turns out, can be contagious in a ratings-and-reviewing society.

Like a cross between Pleasantville and The Truman Show, Nosedive holds a mirror up to us as if to say, ‘is this really the sort of world you want to live in?’ It makes for mesmerising, uncomfortable viewing - but for anyone willing to look up from their devices long enough to watch it, it’s also very funny, and offers an eye-popping glimpse into a worryingly imaginable abyss. Five stars 😉 …

When I was asked to write some teacher guidance notes for Heaven Sent, I have to admit I was a bit flummoxed. What the heck were guidance notes, and what would I - someone who stumbles blindly from one thing to another - know about guiding anyone else? Well, it turns out these notes form one of the many tools in a writer’s marketing toolbox. If your book gets selected to be studied by classes in several schools, that’s a lot of potential publicity and book sales ... so, yes, I could see the sense in it.

Of course, understanding the relevance didn’t help me know what to write. What, exactly, would a teacher need to know about a book, beyond the blurb on the cover and a brief rundown of the story? Quite a lot, apparently. But, thankfully, along with the request for these notes, I found I’d been supplied with some cracking examples of teacher guidance notes. Quite a relief until I realised they ranged from the moderately scary (four pages) to the gut-twistingly terrifying (fourteen pages).

They did have a basic format in common, however, so I tried to concentrate on the structure rather than have my eyeballs swivel at the length. So, for any other Teacher Guidance Note virgins out there, the requirements are these:

An author bio/background; a couple of paragraphs detailing the main points of the story; some specific open-ended questions about plot/character/themes and then some gruntier questions which require research, discussion, looking things up and writing extended essays.

What a surprisingly fun exercise it turned out to be! As I got further into it, I found myself mentally transported back to my old high school (hello Bay House!), a hoard of terrified A-level English students gazing up at me as I probed them for evidence that they’d studied every word, considered every nuance of my book! “What did the author mean by this?” I demanded. “How can you account for that?” ‘Write this scene in a different style – think Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare’; “What are the current treatments for scoliosis? Go and look it up NOW and don’t just use Wikipedia!!” I was barking imaginary instructions well into the afternoon and by the time I stopped, I realised I’d written pages and pages of notes.

I felt thoroughly exhausted, but the lovely part was, it made me reconsider my own story and look at it in a new light. It forced me to consider why I’d put in certain scenes where I had; question why I’d written about characters in a particular way. It felt like I’d turned my pockets inside out and found something better than the usual fluff and chewing gum inside. What had begun as an unfamiliar and daunting task turned out to be something that was, actually, pretty cool!

Thanks, S, for inadvertently giving me the idea for a blog, after sending me an email with ‘the reluctant extrovert’ in the subject header. The title was in reference to me setting up a Facebook writer page - and my friend knowing how squeamish I felt about the whole thing. It made me wonder how many others feel the same about self-promotion. No one would know, unless the writer chooses to reveal it, because online, we can be whoever we want to be; free to manufacture any persona we choose. I often come across blogs where the writer sounds confident, experienced, an undeniable expert – but, of course, I know nothing of the sort about them because they are, essentially, spinning me a story.

We all cherry-pick from our thoughts, experiences and opinions in the hope it’ll reveal something of the essence of who we are …or the essence of how we want to be seen, at least. Some will want to ‘sell’ a new or skewed image of themselves, others will try to be more honest. I suspect many of us are here on the web, because we need to be rather than because we want to be. Originally, my Facebook page was for me to communicate with my friends. But now I have a new writer's page and a website because I also have to promote what I’m doing … because if I don’t, who will know I have a book coming out? And if no one knows about the book, no one will buy it. And if no one buys books from the small, independent publishers who support writers like me, they will go under. And then all writers will have to swim in the shark-infested oceans of the big commercial publishers whose sheer size means they can only choose established names and celebrities to fill their shelves. So, you see the problem.

I guess it’s all about the bigger picture. Someone is taking a risk on me - an unknown author - so it seems only right for me to do all I can to reduce that risk, by stepping outside my comfort zone. Yes, there might be some wincing and squirming along the way: yes, my instincts yell at me to sit politely and not speak until I'm spoken to, but all that’s really being asked of me is to have the courage to say: ‘I’m here.’

I'm thrilled to announce that MidnightSun Publishing has accepted Heaven Sent for publication in 2018. More on MidnightSun here: