Here it is! I could not be happier with this beautiful cover by the terrific design team at Harlequin. I think it perfectly sums up the mood and tone of the book. The other exciting bit of news is that After the Party is now available for pre-order ahead of the Feb 2019 publication. Amazon: https://amzn.to/2QC0jAL iBooks: https://apple.co/2D2cIuX Booktopia: https://bit.ly/2NPgV9s Kobo: https://bit.ly/2xg9Hlk Google Play: http://bit.ly/2MDIoGD
I wish everyone had the chance to meet Laurie Steed, or at least to get an email from him. I’ve been lucky enough to know him for several years and been the beneficiary of his gentle, insightful and uplifting guidance in my own writing practice. Laurie is a true writing soul – a person who believes, utterly, in the importance…
I drove out of Sydney on Monday noon. The day overcast, a light drizzle settling in as I passed the airport. Further down the highway, where the speed hits 110km/hr, the drizzle became heavy fog. I slowed to 40km/hr. Couldn’t see more than 50ft in front of me. Switched on the hazard lights and willed the mist to lift. Should…
Five days before Christmas, I closed the manuscript I’d been working on after a furious final day where I cranked out 3,000 words while the kids were at their last day of vacation care for the year. For the next seven weeks, I did no writing. I thought deeply about the manuscript, but I didn’t touch the computer. I walked…
Firstly, apologies for spreading this story over two parts, but it’s a fairly long, and hopefully not too boring, tale. I generally love reading other author’s publication tales, because they are little glimmers of hope in what can sometimes feel like a fairly futile activity. Though, it must be said, publication is not the sole objective of writing. I could…
I am a terrible diary-keeper, a fact which troubles me, mostly because every writing book I’ve ever read suggests the keeping of a diary as being fairly essential to one’s writing process. And I can see the point. If the aim of fiction writing is to capture a sense of emotional truth around made-up events, then surely it makes sense…
When I think about my life BC (before children) I feel slightly ill. All those idle hours! BC, my weekends consisted of little more than reading the newspaper, doing a little exercise, maybe going for dinner. Yes, it was lovely. But my life outside of work was also extremely unproductive. BC, I could have busted-out a novel in 5 seconds…
One of the best things about getting involved in the online writing community is the lovely people you meet – and Vanessa Carnevale is one of the loveliest. What first put Vanessa on my radar was her excellent podcast – Your Creative Life – which is a must-listen for any aspiring writer. Then, earlier this year came the truly wonderful…
Well, this is a Book Birdy first! Sunni Overend is the first writer to be featured twice on the blog, which I think is testament to the fascinating nature of her personal writing story and also her fabulous books, which are a really fresh take on contemporary women’s fiction. Sunni first came on my radar last year when I was…
If you want to get to the really interesting part of Small Great Things, you need to turn to page 459. That’s not to say the preceding 458 aren’t great. They are. You don’t get to be a globally best selling author without the writing chops and Picoult has them in spades. Small Great Things is a cracking moral dilemma…