Fae. Romance. Shenanigans.
This is a special year for New Zealand's speculative fiction awards, the Sir Julius Vogel (SJV) awards. Never heard of the SJVs or Sir Julius Vogel? Fear not, I'm here to meet all your long-winded explanation needs! I only became aware of the SJVs when I started getting into New Zealand's publishing / writing scene,… Continue reading The 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards – the whats, whys, and my own eligibility
It feels longer than a year. Self-publishing effectively involves starting your own small business - on top of the actual writing and, in many people’s cases, including my own - on top of the full-time day job and general detritus of life administration. Piecing together stolen moments - from lunch hours and evenings and weekends,… Continue reading One year of self-publishing: Highlights
Alritey folks - after much shilly-shallying, I can finally reveal the cover and blurb for Stariel #3 The Court of Mortals. Once again, the fabulous Jenny Zemanek at Seedlings Design Studio has outdone herself. I love it so, so much! Tiny crowns! Tiny envelopes! Majestic palace! Marrying your fae prince shouldn’t be this hard. Hetta’s… Continue reading Cover Reveal: The Court of Mortals
How do you hook a reader at the start of a book? Slow beginnings are something I feel I'm a bit prone to if I'm not careful (true story: The Lord of Stariel first draft originally had a whole 'nother chapter before Chapter 1 that got cut during rewrites), so I was particularly interested in Sophie Jordan's… Continue reading Writing hooky beginnings: workshop notes
I headed off to Christchurch last weekend for my first-ever Romance Writers of New Zealand (RWNZ) conference.
A bit of preface: I wrote most of this blog post aaaaages ago but never got around to finishing it. However, this week I discovered a new FB reader group called Romantic Fantasy Shelf, which has been set up by a bunch of indie authors and is focused on secondary-world Romantic Fantasy / Fantasy Romance… Continue reading Fantasy Romance vs Romantic Fantasy: Is there a difference between these subgenres?
This month I have been typesetting up a storm to get paperback copies of The Lord of Stariel ready for release in November. Typesetting is the process of formatting a book, so called because back in the day it involved physically setting type. I’ve done this the old-fashioned way exactly once in my life, as… Continue reading Typesetting Madness
Soooo… THE LORD OF STARIEL ebook is available to pre-order on Amazon! It will release 1 November and I am COUNTING DAYS GUYS OMG. I am both incredibly excited to show it to the world and nervous for precisely the same reason! I think of books as a long, time-delayed conversation between authors and readers.… Continue reading Less than one month to go…
It's currently the heart of winter, which in Wellington means cold rain and wind. Lots of wind. The cats have become increasingly snuggly i.e. interested in sharing body warmth. I feel the cold easily. The ambient temperature of cafes has thus become even more important to me than usual. For this reason, I've shifted my… Continue reading Writing in Cafes Review: Verve Cafe
