First Review

Posted on September 30, 2005

Suddenly, out of the blue, a review in this morning paper - a great review! But my initial excitement is short-lived. It’s been put in perspective by deep concern over a friend in crisis - thoughts of whom kept me awake much of last night. His marriage has broken down and he with it. I woke over and over in the night worried that he may not be with us on this earth in the morning. Another telephone conversation today gives me hope that he can see a way through this blackness but I worry that it’s at this time, when people think everything is okay, that the person takes that final irrevocable step. How shallow my literary ambitions seem when someone is in such torment. This too will pass.

Feedback

Posted on September 27, 2005

So now the hype of the launch is behind me and the hard yards of getting attention for my book ahead. But the most exciting part of the whole process is the responses I have started to get from readers. I suppose that’s just not something I could have predicted but I love it! I share a few of them here:
Last night at 6 o’clock I started The Olive Sisters. At 7 o’clock the family started to complain about the lack of dinner. It was takeaways, I couldn’t possibly put the book down long enough to have to make dinner. At 9.30 pm I went to my favourite spot the read - the bath. As the hours ticked by and I was gradually turning into a prune, each chapter was going to be the last. I got out of the bath after finishing the book at 2am ! The first thing I thought about on waking up were the Olive Sisters, like they were real. You are very very clever, I look forward to the movie.

My father rang to say how much he enjoyed your book. He said that he couldn’t put it down (only to sleep) and finished it in 24 hours. He said that it was very clever and very well written. It is like a painting with every detail being described.Although he did say although there was a lot of detail, there was not enough sex. I would like to remind you that this comment comes from a 91 year old. Maybe when your that age, reading about sex is the closest you get to having it.

Yes the large pile of washing in our laundry is testimony to me being absorbed by The Olive Sisters over the weekend. I loved it and its funny how it came to me at a time that I really needed something to show how wonderful change can be (not as scary as it has seemed over the last few weeks). It made me smile and cry and now I have not heard from my mum for a few days as I passed it on to her and I know she is doing the same (she recently retired after battling a long illness and at the ripe age of 51!!). What a wonderful story. Growing up in Griffith (and marrying an Australian of Italian descent) I really cannot believe that you’re not Italian yourself to have captured the feelings the way you have.

THE Launch

Posted on September 25, 2005

Became so famous (for a moment of two) I forgot I was supposed to be writing a blog! Launch took off with near on a hundred happy souls just thrilled to be a part of it. Had a great endorsement from (truly) famous author, Bryce Courtenay, launching it and got caught up in the whole whirl of books signing and people saying (in the heat of the moment) how brilliant I am.
Not altogether comfortable with it I have to say. Writers are quite the opposite of sports people who are out under the public glare then quietly home having a cup of tea. We sit there for weeks, months, years quietly writing away, then embark on the long editing and publishing process and then it’s done. All of a sudden people want you to stand in front of a microphone and be entertaining - hmm, takes a bit of getting used to.

Four Days to Go

Posted on September 20, 2005

Four days until my launch and things are starting to come together. I’ve had a two metre high roll up banner made (to compensate for my own lack of stand-outness in the height department) and the RSVP’s are rolling in. The wine delivery is set, so I guess we’ll be okay there. I’ve been riffing through a book I’ve had for ages called ‘Book Blitz - Getting Your Book in the News’ it’s quite old (they refer to ‘word-processers’) but it basically has 60 steps to follow to publicise your book. What is rather clarifiying at this particlar time is that the authors,Barbara Gauhen and Ernest Weckbaugh,(yes it’s American) make it clear that best sellers are ‘made not born’. There’s no point being prissy about it. It’s up to the author - no one else - to get out and market that book like any other product.

I’ve been getting a few nibbles via my publicist from magazines, not exactly feature stories more like little columns that ask you what you’ve got in your pocket right now. As they say at Hogwarts ‘dust and flies’. Which brings me to JK Rowling - what author would wish for success at that level? It makes me shudder to think of the world awaiting, literally breathlessly awaiting, my words. Nervous breakdown territory.

On Being a ‘Writer’

Posted on September 18, 2005

Presentation to 850 school children went fairly well, apart from them chatting, squirming, picking at ears and noses - good practice for getting up in front of a crowd cause you won’t find a harder one to engage than kids, it’s quite unnerving.

Had an interesting experience at a party Saturday to do with the occupation of ‘writer’. For years I was something else apart from a writer and would always put that forward when asked what I did for a living. My experience of that hard won title is that there are three types of response; the first is total disinterest - don’t even ask what you write. The second is a defensive/aggressive response; the conversation goes along the lines of: ‘What do you write?’ Me: ‘Hmm, books?’ What’s your name?’ I give my name and then for some reason I can’t fathom they’ll say: ‘Do you write under a pseudonym?’ When I say I don’t the person will say, with a sort of perverse satisfaction, ‘I’ve never heard of you.’
The third response is the most difficult of all, it’s the person who goes sort of weak at the knees, as if they are in the presence of the divine one - without a clue of whether you can actually write or not. So this recent experience was of this kind. The man sort of ended up stuck talking to me, looking bored witless, then in desperation asked what I did and suddenly went gooey and breathless. Man, did that make me squirm!

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