Summer’s finally here! And I will be spending a LOT of time on the beach. Plotting.

December Update

What a wild year it’s been. I did four Oz Comic-Cons (I plan to go to Perth next year, don’t panic) and the Sydney Book Fair, as well as a whole bunch of workshops and mentoring around South-East Queensland. Now that all my appearances are done (and thank you Book Fair) I can start on my summer projects – which aren’t 100% beach. Promise.

Serpent Princess

Finished! This one is 80% Simone Spinoff and 20% Emma Doing Stuff, and I hope everyone enjoys it. Right now I have it with readers who can tell me whether it’s easy to understand even if you haven’t read the rest of the Dark Heavens. It’s a little more of a ‘new adult’ early-twenties-type story, and I have hopes for this one. Once I have feedback about any tweaks that are required, I’ll pass it to Harper-Collins and see if they’re interested.

I’ll also give draft copies to all the high-level patrons to thank them for helping me to do all these comic-cons!

Summer Project: Essential Self-Publishing

I’ve become something of an expert on self-publishing, as I self-published ‘Dragon Empire’ and ‘Minds’ myself outside Australia. I was planning to take my one-day ‘publish your novel’ workshop on the road, but decided it would be easier (cause I’m lazy) to just do the process for people. I’ve set up a website at www.essentialselfpub.com.au (there is also a .com version that I haven’t set up yet) and done real live flyers! I’ll be promoting it next year, offering my services to people who have written their novel, memoir or picture book, can’t get a publishing contract, and are looking for an alternative.

Wish me luck for this ‘side hustle’.

All the best for 2024

That’s 2023 done for me, and I don’t have anything on until (checks diary) Genrecon in Brisbane in February, where I’ll be on a panel. I’ll provide more details of that in January, and I’m looking forward to hanging out with my fellow genre writers. We’re a really fun bunch of people!

All the very best to everyone for a fantastic holiday break, and here’s hoping that 2024 is a bright strong vibrant Year of the Dragon for everyone.