No crime news, just good news 😁
It’s true! I absolutely refuse to discuss weird crime stories today, although I am almost physically incapable of not finding weird crime stories on the internet (like this one about a lady who is suing a cruise liner because when her husband died of a heart attack during a cruise, they put his body in a drinks cooler – which was, naturally, not the correct temperature for storing a dead body, and he turned green and began to, ahem, decompose).
ANYWAY – I refuse to discuss weird crime stories any further, because tomorrow is the day that SOME SHALL BREAK goes out into the world, and I am pretty deliriously happy about it 😊
Congratulations to us all! 🎉
Congrats to me for getting through the release period! (I’m being a bit pre-emptive here, as the release period extends for another month or so, but whatever)
And congrats to you, because tomorrow you get to read the book! If you’ve preordered, and haven’t added your receipt to the preorder campaign, now’s an excellent chance to do so!
Some Shall Break launch!
If you’re in Melbourne, please come to the book launch!
It’s free, and there will be signing, and me chatting to CS Pacat (who is pretty amazing all on her own), and book swag to give away, and probably wine, plus I will be very happy to see you 😊
Another Some Shall Break launch!
If you can’t make it in-person (because you live in another state or country etc), then perhaps you’d like to come to the online launch!
I’ll be chatting with Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who is incredible! Have you read her Inheritance Games series? Or maybe her Naturals series? – The Naturals is the one I like best) and she and I will be talking about all things YA thrillers, and probably catching up a bit, as I think she’s had a baby since the last time I saw her. And we would both very much love to have a few friendly faces in the crowd 😊
But if you’re an Aussie, please keep in mind that the date/time are a little different – it’ll be Thursday 8 June, 10AM for me, and different again if you live in other states or countries, so please check your time calculator!
Melbourne OzComicCon: June 10-11
I’m also at Melbourne OzComicCon! Which is incredibly thrilling, as I’ve never been to ComicCon before, and I’ll be going to my first one as a guest.
That’s not to say that I’m not fannish – I am actually incredibly fannish. Did you know that I first started in writing by writing fanfiction? It’s true. I wrote 60-70 fic stories before I mustered up the courage to start writing originals for entry to competitions. I just tend to keep my fanwank a bit quieter these days – not because I’m ashamed, but because most of the fandoms I was associated with (Buffy, Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica reboot, Merlin, and other wonderful things) all seem very old now. All the kiddos are writing…oh, I don’t know, Succession or K-pop fanfic or something now, I’m sure.
But in any case – yes! I’m a fan! So I’m absolutely stoked that I get to go to ComicCon for the very first time 😊 (Clive Standen will be there! Yes, Rollo from Vikings! I tell you, if I hadn’t already been writing books by the time Vikings came on the scene, I would’ve been writing Vikings fanfic in a hot second. Probably lots of fic about Lagertha…anyway, I digress.)
So, I will be on a panel (on Saturday at 4.15PM), and I will also have a table (GA3, right between CS Pacat and George Ivanoff, I believe) with books – many, many books – as well as book swag. I am super excited to see all the cosplayers and people wandering past, so please do come by my table if you’re around! I will be most delighted to sign your books and have a chat!
Signed Books
I’ll also be bumping around Melbourne and Bendigo signing books at various bookstores in the next few weeks – there will certainly be signed copies available at Readings Books Carlton and Readings Books Kids anytime after the launch on June 6.
I’ll be visiting other bookstores on June 16 to sign whatever stock people have on hand. If you’d like a signed copy, please visit your local bookstore and see if they would like to have me visit! I can still fit a few places on my list (I’ve currently got Dymocks, the Avenue, the Younger Sun, Little Bookroom, Bookish Bendigo, and a few other places) so let me know, and I’ll work out if I can fit it in. If you live in another state/country, get in touch with me via email (check my Contact page on my website) and after the launch period is over I can send out bookplates, if you like.
And also – ask your library if they’d like to get a copy of SOME SHALL BREAK! I know many people are shy about this, but actually, Australian authors are subsidised for every copy bought by libraries, so we love getting our books into libraries. It’s an excellent way to support authors and get books into the hands of people who maybe can’t afford to buy them, or just don’t want to have a metric ton of books in their house. Praise be to Educational and Public Lending Rights! Long may they continue!
Random subscriber giveaway – signed SOME SHALL BREAK copy
To celebrate tomorrow’s release, I’m giving away a signed copy of SOME SHALL BREAK (of course). Check your email for a special note from me, and fingers crossed!
LoveOzYAbookclub
For June, we are reading the absolutely delightful The Isles of the Gods by Amie Kaufman, and I couldn’t be happier about it. You can connect with us on LoveOzYAbookclub anytime by dropping by the Instagram page, and saying hi. We have lots of cool content on there now – Q&As from authors, as well as short videos, and the chance to chat OzYA books with fellow travellers. Enjoy! 😊
My 10yr anniversary as an author
I was reading this article by Erin Bowman, about her ten-year anniversary as an author, and while I was caught up in the flurry of activity around SOME SHALL BREAK’s release, I suddenly realised –it’s actually my ten-year anniversary as well! How lovely! Here is a pic of me as a newbie author of my brand new debut novel, EVERY BREATH, from 2013:
It really does make me think a lot about a) how old I am, good heavens, and b) how the industry has changed in the last decade. I agree with Erin Bowman’s list of ’11 things I’ve learned in the last decade’ – she really does hit the mark very well on changes to the structure of publishing, and the influence of social media, and about protecting your mental health and building a community of writing friends.
But there were a couple of other things I learned along the way that I wanted to include in her list (well, I guess this is my list now), so here they are:
1) Readers are the actual best
None of this would happen without people reading your books, and you will be bolstered and supported by readers and fans in ways you absolutely didn’t expect. I can tell you many occasions when I’ve been feeling low, and interacting with readers – especially teen readers – has lifted me beyond measure. If you’re a writer, treat your readers with love and respect and friendship, and you absolutely cannot go wrong.
2) Always be writing the thing you’re passionate about
I’ve written books I struggled with, and they were usually books that I didn’t feel a connection to. If you can, please avoid that experience. Only write the things you really care about. Write your own ideas, not ideas decided by committee, or things you feel just ‘meh’ about: Write from your heart. Writing an entire novel is such a lot of work – make it work that you enjoy, by writing about something that excites or moves you.
3) Don’t be afraid of the day job
I had this discussion with my son (who is a visual artist) just recently. He was worried about his day job taking time away from his artistic work – and yes, that certainly does happen. But honestly, creative work of any kind is a struggle. It’s hard to make a living solely from your creative work alone. And if you try to do so – especially early in your creative career – you should know that having no money actually puts incredible pressure on you as a creative to make the thing that will sell, rather than the thing you feel passionate about. So yes, while a day job makes you time poor, it can also free you in many ways – it frees you from worrying about the market, or whether or not you’re going to make the next deal, or whether you should maybe make the thing you’re working on more commercial. Work a day job as long as you can, I say. It gives you an artistic freedom that you otherwise may not have, and allows you to take artistic risks without worrying about whether you’ll be able to pay the electricity bill next month.
4) Take risks
As per my last point - so many writers (and creatives generally) are constrained by financial pressure, but also by what they feel is the ‘right’ way to do things. The ‘right’ way to find an agent, the ‘right’ way to pitch to publishers, the ‘right’ way to do…whatever that will help their career. I would like to encourage you to take risks. In 2016, when I had no contract, I decided to take a calculated risk and self-publish a book. I learned a ton of information about the behind-the-scenes work of publishing, and I still – to this day – get a lot of paid work using that knowledge. Years later, I took a calculated risk and split from my agent, and wrote an insane book, a book I’d always wanted to write, about teenage FBI consultants working with a juvenile serial killer… I guess you know how that worked out. I got a new agent. Twenty-four publishers turned the book down – and then it was accepted by the twenty-fifth, and hit the New York Times list. All I’m saying is that you don’t know the formula for success in this biz, because there is no formula. Make your own formula. Take risks – calculate and budget and be smart about it, but don’t be afraid to branch out.
5) Life is not a support system for Art
This is not my tip: I got it from Stephen King! But he’s not wrong. The whole quote goes, “Remember that Life is not a support system for Art – it’s the other way around”. I think this is a very good reminder that your creative work isn’t the most important thing: Your life – real life, your family and friends and connection to the world – is way more important. Your creative work is an extension of that life, and supports it in so many crucial ways (I would not, for instance, be a very good parent or healthy human being without my creative work). But your creative work isn’t the sum total of your life. Don’t sacrifice family and friendship and health and mental wellbeing for it; that is doing your art a disservice and is an unsustainable way to work. All it leads to is burnout.
Make your art a support system for your life, not the other way around.
And that’s it from me for June – given all the excitement, I think that’s enough to be going on with. Please send all your good wishes for my little book as it flies out into the world! Thank you for your support as we’ve brought SOME SHALL BREAK to publication, and I hope – with all my heart – that you enjoy it very much 😊
Happy reading and happy Pride! See you next month!
xxEllie
Congrats Ellie!!! So exciting and I think I spent a lot of time biting my nails whilst reading. Terrifyingly good - if I had to describe it in two words, that's what I would say.
Ellie, I love your learnings. Gathering them all up and storing them!