For the majority of us, I suspect the last 6 months has been spent in upheaval, with worry and strife afflicting our daily lives. For me personally its been up and down but its nothing in comparison to the upturned lives of so many others.
On the writerly front its been an amazing six months – the last few months has been planning and plotting and mulling over strategies for the next six months. However, creativity has been like retrieving the dregs of a slowly drying well. And one of the biggest disappointments for me has been that I’ve been unable to celebrate the launch of our historical anthology ‘Easter Promises’ in the manner befitting our glorious cover girl. Luckily though, its reception has still been very positive! And I love the stories and heroines my anthology co-authors have created– from beautiful and evocative ‘Easter Dawn’ and the sweetest Minnie, to the mystery of a snow bound hotel in ‘Le Malin Renard’ and the hilarious and vivaciously sexy Ariadne, and then onto the little told history of the WASPS, the female pilots of WW2 in ‘EOS’ with the beautiful and glamourous Rosamund. I had such a ball creating this with my fellow authors I was saddened only that I couldn’t celebrate our achievement with everyone else too!
I’ve been eagerly editing my second manuscript and am now being mentored by the wonderful Libby Iriks who has been giving me some great feedback, helping me to set goals and answering my silly questions. My first manuscript has also had a bit of workout after a manuscript assessment has me thinking a complete re-write despite the fact its finaled in several writing competitions (and won one too!) I had shelved it since a rejection I received earlier this year and I’ve not wanted to send it out on submission to anyone else until I can pummel it into better shape—which I believe I can do, but as with everything, it takes time and I don’t have a lot of that!
I won the aspiring category for Adult fiction at the recent CYA conference for my novel ‘The Bridge’ – which resulted in an amazing conversation with Clive Hebard – Managing Editor of Penguin Random House in Melbourne, he gave me some great feedback and I was so happy to hear that my writing and the story is very reminiscent of Joy Rhoades work (The Woolgrowers Companion, The Burnt Country) and I was so thrilled (and overwhelmed) to hear that! I also had a consult with Queensland Writer’s Centre and I think I can go into this next draft feeling more confident about the choices I am making with the story.
So what else have I been doing? Like most people – baking bread, making preserves from a mountain of quinces and reading, playing video games and binge watching Netflix!
I have another story coming out in the Romance Writers of Australia Sweet Treats Anthology – so keep an eye out for ‘Miss Minnie’s Courage and Cupcakes’!! I’ll talk about it and my inspiration for the story on the release date which is only a few weeks away!
Let’s hope the last half of the year isn’t fraught with fear and that we can resume our normal lives as best we can!
Oh yeah, next week it’s my birthday – I’ll be… a lady of a certain age…
If you want to help me celebrate – I’m doing Dry July in support of Cancer research and in memory of my wonderful mum, Jessie and my mother-in-law Peggy.
Currently reading: The Golden Hour: A Novel by Beatriz Williams
N M Cunningham 