Hi everyone and my apologies for the LONG silence! I’m just back from a wonderful trip to Russia, followed by several weeks in the UK walking in Janna’s footsteps in Winchester, Wilton and Grovely forest amongst other wonderful places. We also went to York. I visited the Richard III museum to an exhibition depicting that ‘wicked child killer’ on trial for the murder of the princes in the tower. But did he do it? Read Josephine Tey’s wonderful The Daughter of Time and then see what you think!
I’ve hit the ground running, still battling jet lag, but I’ve just spent a really great day with some very talented students from St Philip’s Christian College up at Port Stephens (NSW). One of the teachers has organised a short story writing competition for all their campuses, and I had the delightful task of reading and critiquing their stories, after which I spent a day workshopping their stories with them and also talking about writing short stories and creative writing in general. It was a fun day and the students were terrific. Full marks to their teacher for organising it all. The students will now rewrite their stories (or write new ones) and I’ll do the final judging. I’m really looking forward to seeing their work.
Diary dates: if you’re in the area and would like to come to anything below, it’ll be great to meet you. I’ll be at a Childrens Book Council Southern branch lunch down in Wollongong on Wednesday, 1st July. On Friday 3rd we’ll be celebrating the reissue of the fabulous Road to Camelot anthology at the Hughenden Hotel in Sydney. A number of authors were invited to contribute stories featuring Arthurian characters (Lancelot, Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin etc) at some moment that changes their lives. I chose to write about Elaine of Astolat who was the inspiration behind Tennyson’s mysterious poem, The Lady of Shalott, and also my own trilogy titled Shalott. On Saturday, 18th July the Plantagenet Society is having an open day at St John’s Hall in Gordon, with lots of interesting historical stuff including talks on medieval clothing and heraldry, medieval music, and a debate on ‘is there any truth in history’ which I’ll be taking part in along with Isolde Martyn, another historical fiction writer – we haven’t decided which side we’ll be arguing on yet! And on Sunday, 19th July I’m running a one-day workshop on crime-writing at the Writers Centre in Sydney. This will be followed by a fantasy-writing workshop at the Writers Centre on Sunday, 2nd August. Contact the Writers Centre info@nswwriterscentre.org.au if you want to find out more. I’ll also be busy during book week – more about that in my next post.
I finished writing the last Janna, #6 Thyme for Trust, just before leaving on holiday and I’m now waiting for feedback from Gillian Polack, an expert in all things medieval, who checks my manuscripts for me. Once that’s done, I shall be sending out signals into the universe: PUBLISHER WANTED!! I’ll keep you posted.
Meantime the school holidays are almost upon us. Enjoy!

9 Comments

  1. Good luck with the publishing! I really hope it doesn't take too long. I started reading the Janna mysteries during my TEE exams last year, and now I am so ready to finish the series. I want Janna and Hugh to end up together!!!! I really hope you get number 5 and 6 published soon! Don't make us wait too long or we might give up! And I don't want to! 🙁

  2. Hi Felicity,
    I cannot wait to see what ahppens in these next 2 books. I'll be praying hard that you find that publisher really soon.
    Kathy

  3. Hello, Felicity
    I have bought and read the Janna Mysteries. They are so totally awsome. I cant wait till the fifth and sixth book are published. if it helps try some of these PUBLISHERS:
    Harper Collins,Penguin,and Tyndale Fiction. Plz dont keep us waiting too much longer, but i wont give up on you.

  4. I am praying hard for you, too find the perfect Publisher for fantastic books. I Hope you become sucesful in your searching.
    Ella (:

  5. Thanks for your comments everyone, and thank you Ella for your publishing suggestions. I'm about to do the final edit on #6 and then I'll be doing a big publishing push. Fingers crossed! I promise I'll give it my best shot. Meantime it's lovely to know that you're enjoying the series – just I absolutely love writing the books!

  6. I hope you find a publisher soon! Tell them you have many rabid, crazy fans who very much need to know what happens to Janna! 😉
    It's great to see that you love your job, you make alot of people happy by what your doing! Thanks so much and goodluck…
    p.s. Hope you might write more medevil novels after JM, they're my favourite, thanks, jess 🙂

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