residence
I thought I'd take a break from book talk and proceed straight to gossip (well, kind of). I went to the opening party of the Sydney Writers’ Festival on Tuesday night. Now that is definitely not the sort of sentence that rolls off my tongue very often. I mean, I like being social, but only in moderation. And after surfing and writing and visiting schools and bringing up two small maniacs, there’s not much time left to be social anyway. I used to be very social, but then I discovered that I quite like being alone. Which is a useful trait to have if you want to write. For me, anyways.
Let’s talk about covers. One thing I'll never be immune to is the moment when you first see the cover for your new book. It’s so weird, wild and wonderful to see someone else’s snapshot of the story, and what they think needs to be communicated to the reader.
Raw Blue just got a new cover because it’s coming out in the UK in August (so in summer over there). This is what it looks like:
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I had a magical moment in a bookstore this week. It happened in Taree - I was up there to do an Author Talk at the Taree Library. For anyone who hasn’t been there, Taree is on the Mid North NSW coast. It’s right on the Manning River (see snap#1), and it’s only a short drive away from Saltwater Point (snap#2) – which was a bonus for me, because I hadn’t surfed Saltwater before.
I’ve just finished a long short story. How’s that for an oxymoron? It’s about 14,000 words, and I was going to use it as an example of how I write. But I would have felt like a fraud. The problem with going on about how you did something is that you’re only focusing on the part where you were productive. What that doesn’t cover is how much time you spent actively avoiding doing anything; how much time you spent doubting what you were doing; and how much time you spent going over what you’d already done, rather than pushing forward and finishing it.
How’s your weekend been? I’ve been up at my dad’s place, which is near Woodford in Queensland – home to the Woodford Folk Festival and, for the last two years, Splendour in the Grass - before Byron snatched it back. The view from up there is spectacular, featuring the Glass House mountains and stretching all the way to the sea. At night you can add in the glittering strip of lights from Caloundra to Brisbane. Last night, the full moon was in the mix, too. Look, I captured it for you - not very well, admittedly, but hey, I did my best :)
An aside before I get down to business. Jimmy Lewis sent me this photo. It's the first time I've seen Night Beach in the wild. (Hardcore Saltwater Vampires fans might recognise Jimmy Lewis as being Audiocommand's drummer. It's nice that he took time out from his busy touring schedule to go into a bookstore and snap the book.)
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Okay, enough asiding (I was born to zigzag).
Why do I write? There are three reasons, and I'm only going into the first one today, not least because it neatly ties into what you'll have to do if you want to join in the GIVEAWAY.
It’s hard beginning something. No matter how much writing I do, I always struggle when faced with that first blank page (and all the blank pages after that, come to think of it). But in any story there are a couple of questions that need to be answered. The who, when, where, what and why of it all. And the way I usually get going is by attempting to answer at least one of those.
So let’s start with the who. I’m Kirsty Eagar, and I’ve just been handed the Writer-in-Residence torch by Michelle Cooper. It’s kind of like being handed the Olympic torch, except I didn’t actually get to meet Michelle (although I did heed her warnings about the quirky commenting system), and I’m not wearing any Lycra.
I've had a great time in the Doghouse throughout April, but now it's time to hand over to a new Writer in Residence. First, though, I need to thank everyone who's read my posts this month, and especially those who left such thoughtful comments and questions (with special thanks to Steph, Araminta18, Andrea Zu and Platypus). I wish I could send you all a signed book, but alas, I cannot afford that much postage. However, one lucky commenter has been chosen at random to receive a book, and that person is:
Araminta18.
We've nearly reached the end of my month at Inside a Dog, so it's almost time for me to say goodbye. It's been a time of farewells for me, because just last week, I sent off my final corrections for the North American edition of The FitzOsbornes at War, which comes out in October. I've spent more than seven years writing the Montmaray Journals books, and now my work on them is finally over. But the end of something often means the beginning of something new, and now I'm working on a new book.
The declaration of war in 1939 was heartbreaking for British pet owners, with hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats being put down. Pets were not allowed in public air raid shelters, and there were fears that there wouldn't be enough food during the war for humans, let alone animals. However, many animals did their bit for the war effort.
