Hooking a writer’s imagination
There is an assumption that some first novels are semi-autobiographical. I’ve definitely seen this in unpublished manuscripts, over the years, in my own work and in the various writers groups or manuscript reading swaps that I’ve done. I’ve written about five bad manuscripts, and I can see autobiographical patterns in the early drafts. As a writer, I think what…
First book reviews
The hardworking people at Reagan Arthur Books in New York have just sent me several new book reviews of Bay of Fires. Two were good, one not-so-good! Ages ago a friend asked me if I was worried about being negatively reviewed and I said, “Not at all!” I explained to my friend that I…
Special delivery: hot off the press
Yesterday was Saturday and I came home from the university library, where I write most weekends, to find three big parcels. Inside were fifteen early print run copies of my novel, Bay of Fires. They’ve travelled all the way from London to Brisbane. Holding my own novel for the first time is a very satisfying,…
Photography, publicity… and now back to work
I met my publicist, Anna, for an iced-coffee yesterday at Lure Cafe in Brisbane. She was visiting from Sydney as part of a book tour with author William McInnes. We talked about magazines that might review the Bay of Fires, which writer’s festivals I might get to go to next year, and a radio interview that she…