January Newsletter
Happy New Year, everyone!
I think we’re reaching the point where it’s no longer acceptable to say that, but since this is my first newsletter of 2025, I figure it’s okay to sneak it in!
This coming year is going to be amazing — I’m totally manifesting that. I’ve been going through some really, intensely, horrifically challenging stuff over the last… *counts fingers*… 4+ months, and for some reason I had this mentality that taking a break over the Christmas/NY period would fix everything. Not sure why I thought that (it was probably more a hope than anything), but it was a bit like what they say about when you go away on a trip, and you always return to what you left behind. That’s kinda what happened to me. But it’s almost… a good thing? Because it meant I had to have a very stern talk with myself about how I’ll handle (*cough* survive) things going forward, especially given that very little of the difficult stuff has eased, and more just keeps pouring in on top of it all. (Ooof, life, amirite?) So do you want to know what I decided?
I decided to be thankful.
This year, I’m going to be grateful, even in the midst of the very-not-nice stuff. I’m keeping a gratitude journal, and on the days when I feel like everything is crumbling around me, and I struggle to find anything to be thankful for, I widen my perspective and, when needed, simply my blessings. A cloudless blue sky. Access to clean drinking water. Hot showers. Fluffy pillows. Soft socks. The existence of chocolate. Twinkling stars. A safe home. A comfy bed. The colour pink (hey, it’s pretty, all right?)… stuff like that. When there are larger things, I’ll note them too — my mum recovering from a nasty virus, a rare catch up with old friends, enjoying a day without pain, getting exciting publishing news, etc.
Point is, it can be hard to be thankful on the bad days, which means it’s sometimes an act of self-discipline rather than responding to legitimately grateful feelings, but oh boy, what a difference it makes mentally and emotionally if I can pause for a few minutes amid the mess and turn my thoughts outward to the innumerable good things around me rather than dwelling on the toxic inner spiralling!
So that’s my goal for the year — to keep an attitude of gratitude. (I promise I didn’t intend for that to rhyme. It just happened!)
With that in mind, I want to share four exciting things before I launch into the rest of this newsletter:
EXCITING THING NUMBER 1:
Right before I vanished for the Christmas/NY break, I shared over socials that I’ve reached a surreal milestone in my author journey: I’ve sold over a million books!! I’m definitely still at the “pinch me I’m dreaming” stage of denial, though I’m also eternally grateful to all of you for making such amazingness happen!!!
I posted this photo when I shared the news, and believe me when I say I very nearly set fire to my hair in order to take this pic. But thankfully, disaster was averted — and the cake was delicious! (Chocolate mud cake, yum!)
EXCITING THING NUMBER 2:
I’ve been invited to my first ever international event!!!!! I can’t say where (or when) yet, since it’s still a little while away and I’m unsure when announcements will be made public, but omigoshhhhh it’s to an absolute DREAM location and I can’t WAIT! (I’m also ridiculously terrified thanks to my delightful travel PTSD issues (sigh), but this is one of those instances where I’ll just have to “do it afraid” as they say, because I know I’ll regret it forever if I don’t!)
EXCITING THING NUMBER 3:
I just (fiiiiiiiinally) signed the last contract I need to sign before my next fantasy series can be announced (the one that the auctions/offers happened for last May — publishing can be soooo slow when it comes to contract negotiations!) so that HOPEFULLY means all the official news will be shared soon(ish)! Either way, I’m so happy that all the pieces are finally officially in place! Woohoo!
EXCITING THING NUMBER 4:
This last one relates mostly to fans of The Medoran Chronicles: I’m going to be doing an Instagram Live Q&A *SPOILER* event next week to mark the official 10-year-anniversary of Akarnae’s release, and while that’ll be fun, the “exciting thing” is that, for part of the live chat, I’m going to be joined by none other than the producer who holds the screen rights to the series!! She’s going to wake up at painful hour for her (she’s in the US) and jump online to answer some of my questions about how the film/TV stuff is coming along… and maybe answer a few of your questions, too! This is a totally exclusive and very awesome thing, and I can’t wait to talk with her! But more on that below, including allllllll the details!
Okie dokie, on that note, let’s jump into the news part of this newsletter! This month you’ll find:
Quick voting request
Wandering Wild news + a teaser quote
Goodreads giveaway for Wandering Wild = 50 print copies available!
The Medoran Chronicles live event details
International releases this month
Q&A — 5 of your questions answered
What I’ve been watching and reading lately
All right, here we go!
VOTING REQUEST (and a chance to win a $101 bookstore gift card!)
It’s the beginning of a new year, which means it’s voting time in the bookish world! I’ve just learned that all three of my series are on the 2025 Dymocks Top 101 shortlist, and I would be so, SO grateful if you could take a moment to vote! This list is suuuuuuper important for authors since the chosen books are promoted front and centre in stores for the whole year! That’s massive!!
The easiest way to vote for my books is to type them into the search prompt by name (so typing “Prison Healer” will bring up that series, typing “Medora” will bring up the Medoran books, and typing “Whisper” will bring up that book — which is easier than scrolling for ages, but if you’re keen to scroll, you can find all my books under the YA tab!). You can vote for up to 10 of your faves, and you have until February 3rd to do so!
AND! Anyone who votes goes in the draw to WIN 1 of 5 $101 gift cards!! That’s like 5 books!!! Woo!
Lastly, you don’t need to be a Dymocks member to vote (the “submit” prompt asks for a “Booklover ID” but if you’re not a member, you can leave that blank and the form still works, no problem!).
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! You can vote by clicking here! (Or you can use the direct links to my books that I added above (with their names), if that’s easier!)
WANDERING WILD NEWS:
Early reviews have started to trickle in for Wandering Wild and I’ve been a mess of feels over how people are responding to this book! If you’ve been following my newsletters for a while, you know that I am SO NERVOUS about this release, so seeing readers embrace it and love it has me sobbing tears of joy!
I usually keep a pretty firm “don’t look at reviews” policy since reviews are for readers (and I’ve been in this industry long enough to know not to tumble down that rabbit hole — self-preservation for the win!), but when I’m tagged in things or my team flags nice things for me to look at, that’s when I see stuff like this… so here’s a few (non-spoilery!) quotes that have been posted on Goodreads. Thank you to all these early readers!!!
There’s also a GIVEAWAY happening over on Goodreads right now that’s open to US readers only (sorry international folks) where 50 print copies of the book are up for grabs. I, um, actually didn’t know about this (lol, publishing) and only just saw it when I went to grab the link to attach here, so I’m not entirely sure of the details, like whether the “print copy” is a finished copy or an early proof/arc (it might state it if you follow the link, but since I’m not in the US, the giveaway doesn’t work for me)…. but either way, it’s worth entering if you’re in America!
I’ve put a screenshot below, but ignore the countdown clock since I’m attaching this here a few days before I send this newsletter out and the time will be different when you read this!
Lastly on the Wandering Wild front, here’s a fun little teaser quote direct from the book, with the reminder that it’s coming out in AUS/NZ on April 29, and in the USA/CAN on May 20. Pre-orders are available now!! (And they help so, SO much, since they encourage bookstores to stock the book, and pre-ordered copies also contribute to the first week sales numbers that show that readers actually want to read it!)
Eeee, I’m so excited for you to meet Zander and Charlie!!!
MEDORAN CHRONICLES LIVE *SPOILER* Q&A EVENT:
On February 1st, 2015, my first book, Akarnae, was released into the world. There are some VERY EXCITING things in store for this series later this year to celebrate this 10-year milestone, but since I can’t talk about any of that yet, I’m making up for it by doing a Live Q&A on the official anniversary this February 1st (which as luck would have it, falls on a Saturday!).
This will be a !!SPOILER!! chat covering the FULL SERIES (including the epilogue book, Kaldoras) where I’ll answer ANY of your questions to the best of my ability. You’ll be able to type your questions in the comment section on the night, and I may even invite some people into the chat to ask one question live with me, if time permits!
AND THEN!
About halfway into the event, the producer who holds the film/TV rights to the series is going to join me live from the US and answer some questions that I just KNOW you’re all going to want to hear. (It’s going to be SO FUN!!)
You can find all the details including the date/time below. Sorry to folks who aren’t on Instagram — I’ll try to save the video and attach it in my next newsletter, but my tech skills aren’t great, so I can’t make any guarantees!
QUESTIONS FOR FILM/TV PRODUCER:
I’m still getting my head around how the comment system works with this newsletter, but if you have a question for the producer, feel free to click the comment box below and send it through, and I’ll hopefully be able to see it! Otherwise, keep an eye on my social media over the next few days and I’ll put up a Q&A prompt for you to send your Qs through — you never know, she just might answer your question!
INTERNATIONAL RELEASES — RECENT & COMING SOON:
Q&A — YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED:
Q. What are you most excited about this year?
So many things!
From a work perspective, the release of Wandering Wild is going to be amaaaazing, and I truly can’t wait for people to be able to start reading it, and for all the events that I’ll be doing throughout the year for it. I’m also super excited to (finally, lol) announce my upcoming YA fantasy book and all the incredible stuff in the works for that (related side-note: I already have Dominique Wesson working on some character and scene artwork for it, and from the drafts I’ve seen, YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!). And of course I can’t wait for my overseas event/s so that I can meet some of my wonderful global readers as well!
From a personal perspective, I’m looking forward to finding a better work-life balance going forward, and continuing my “have an attitude of gratitude” goal for the year!
Q. What are your reading/writing goals for 2025?
I don’t set myself reading goals, since I’m unlikely to ever meet them, and I don’t need to put that kind of pressure on myself for something that’s meant to be enjoyable. But as for writing goals, I’m currently waiting on the second round of edits for my fantasy book, so after that it’ll be copy edits, proofreading, pass pages, etc., until that book is all polished and off to the printer in, like, August, I think? I honestly can’t remember the timeline for it. But once I’m through this next round of edits and it’s on its way to the copyeditor, I’ll start drafting the next book in that series, with an aim to have it done by… You know, I don’t know! It’s hard to say, since I’m unsure when I’ll be starting it, and I’ll also be navigating the release and touring schedule that comes with Wandering Wild in April/May. But I’d love to have the first draft done by September/October so I can get a big chunk of the editing done by the end of the year.
Aaaaaand with any free time that I manage amidst all that, when I feel up to it, I’m chipping away at a potential Prison Healer spin-off book. It’s not on contract, though, and I have 5 books that are and therefore take priority (that said, Wandering Wild is one of those, so I guess 4 books now that it’s pretty much done!), so this spin-off is just a passion project for now!
Q. How many books are in your next fantasy series?
This is an excellent question.
Q. Favourite food at the moment?
It’s summer here in Australia, and I love a good summer salad. I’ve been having one pretty much every day for lunch, and it just tastes so good and feels so refreshing afterwards! My fave go-to combination is a mix of lettuce (iceberg or romaine + red leaf), spinach leaves, cucumber, carrot, cherry tomatoes, seeds (sesame + sunflower), some protein (usually turkey), and dressing (either Italian balsamic or a creamy garlic). Yum! I used to add feta as well (which makes it next-level yum), but I’ve had to cut back on dairy for the last few months with all the stress and anxiety I’ve been facing, since I’ve long-since learned that stress + dairy = autoimmune disease flare-ups. So no feta for me this summer, alas!
Q. If you had everything you needed, would you choose to live in the ocean or space?
I gave this question way too much thought, haha. Acting under the assumption that I can breathe/survive in both environments… Oh, gosh, I really don’t know! I love being in water — it’s like a safe space for me — but I’d need to know how it would affect my body. Like, would my skin prune after too long? How would I stay hydrated? Where would I live? What would I eat? (Fun fact: I don’t like seafood aside from fish/salmon, but I’m not going to eat them raw! You can’t light a fire and cook things in the ocean!!) Similarly, I love feeling like I’m floating, and if I could have a superhero power, it’d probably be flight (or teleporting or healing), so the idea of just floating around in space is appealing, if not for the logistical questions I’d have that involve gravity and muscle degeneration and and anddddd there are just too many things I’d need answered about both of these options before I could make an informed decision!
WHAT I’VE BEEN WATCHING:
Okay, so I freaking LOVED these three movies. All of them I watched without seeing any trailers first, so I had no idea what I’d be getting with them (with the exception of Wicked, since I’ve seen the musical, but the movie had its differences!) and they all blew me away!
Red One was not what I was expecting AT ALL — I had a moment of pure delight when I realised that it had such magical/supernatural elements in it. It really spoke to my fantasy-loving heart!
The Wild Robot was just a wholesome, fun adventure. The robot (ROZZUM 7134 aka “Roz”) is very Baymax-coded (from Big Hero 6), but I was okay with that since I love Baymax. And Roz has some great character development — and a lot of awkwardness that results in some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments.
As for Wicked… this one was a risk for me. As mentioned above, I’ve seen (and loved) the musical, and there was just so much hype about this movie that I put off watching it for a while since I figured, like with many hyped things, that there was a big chance I would end up disappointed. I’m thrilled that I was wrong! I adored this movie, and absolutely can’t wait for the second part to release!
Also… Can we take a moment to appreciate the way you can instantly get a read on the character of Fiyero just from the way he dismounts his horse the first time he’s on screen? What even is this? Lollll! (Hopefully this gif loads in this newsletter, but if not, you can find it here.)
As for TV shows…
I love a good natural disaster movie, so I really enjoyed the mini-series La Palma (despite being, like, super annoyed at some of the decisions certain characters made. Ugh.).
I find baking shows suuuuuper relaxing, and I love Amaury Guichon (his social media creations are out of this world), so I’ve been eagerly awaiting the second season of Dessert Masters for ages and was thrilled when it returned. Such a great show!
Nobody Wants This was adorable — and I had a gazillion people recommend it to me, though I saw it pretty much as soon as it started streaming. So cute! I can’t wait for season 2!
And One Of Us Is Lying was great, too! *Whispers* I haven’t read the book/s (shame on me!), but while I was able to figure out the main twists and guess the killers relatively early on in both seasons, I got really invested in the characters and enjoyed following them figure things out and grow along the way.
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
I managed to sneak in a few books over the Christmas/NY break, which is something I hadn’t been able to do for months because of deadlines (read a book, I mean). I tackled a mix of YA fantasy, high/academic fantasy, romantasy, and adult contemporary romance.
Of these, some were disappointing and some were enjoyable, with my fave probably being The Friendship Fling purely because it had some fun banter in it and I found myself smiling a lot. It’s not out until later this year (May, I think?) but keep it on your radar if you like adult contemporary romance!
Also, like most of the fantasy reading world, I re-read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame in preparation for Onyx Storm, which I’ve started chipping away at this week around the mountain of work I have to do. I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m looking forward to continuing — and reallllllly hoping I can avoid spoilers!
Okay, I think that’s all for this month! I was going to add an opinion piece, but this newsletter is already long enough, so I’ll save it for next time!
As always, thanks for reading! I hope to “see” some of you at the Insta Live event next week! (And just a friendly reminder to vote in that Dymocks Top 101 list — the link is here again!)
Until next month!
Can you do open/video auditions? Or at least have them in sydney? I would be really interested in auditioning, the medoran chronicles is my favourite series and she's such an inspiration!! <3
Question for the producer,
I'm not sure if you have any control over casting... but how do you plan on casting Meyarins? **wiggles eyebrows** ;)