It’s been a while since I posted on this blog! I thought it might be interesting for some people to get an update on what’s been going on with me and my writing.

Since I typed the end at the very-very end of 2023, I’ve been working pretty constantly on The Fool. I don’t think I’ve ever maintained so much energy on a single project for so long, but writing a novel has been a lifelong dream. And I knew I had something special.

There are some parts that haven’t changed so much since the first complete draft—due to my habit of writing a bit and then coming back to it much later and editing as I reread, a few of the chapters had already been edited a lot in the two and a half years I’d been working on it before I finished. There are also some parts that did change a lot.

The core themes were always there. I knew that my favourite books are personal, or at least feel that way. I put a lot of myself into this book.

Something I discussed on Indie Author Maxx’s podcast is the fact that because I was born in England and came to Australia to a step-family very young, I have at times felt alienated in my home, even when there’s been a lot of love. I felt that I had a lot to live up to and that I was falling short of my potential. And I can’t hear heavy bootsteps without feeling like I’d like to chew my arm off.

I’m also unashamedly queer and fell in love very hard and fast with my husband. I’m close with my family, who are so weird, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t invent songs when I’m alone, but I do talk out loud to myself and dance while I wait for the kettle to boil. And there’s probably a million other tiny slivers of me and my loved ones in there.

So I had this pretty good story at the end of 2023, one that was personal and had action and romance and that I personally liked to read. In January 2024, I put the call out for some beta readers and acquired myself a cover designer, which was way too soon, but I had no idea what I was doing. I don’t regret it, because over the next year and a half whenever people asked what I’d been up to I could show them the cover, which added some legitimacy to things.

I got my beta readers’ feedback and changed some stuff, then repeated the process—getting more feedback, changing things based on things my readers said and that I’d come up with. The word count went up and down like a yoyo, beginning at maybe 80,000 words, going up to 90k, back down, back up, until it finally finished at almost exactly 110,000 words. I killed a lot of darlings, but I also had a lot to add.

Finally, I sought out some ARC readers and started getting properly ready for publication. And just as everything was coming together, the back injury that had been preventing me from walking more than a kilometre for the last year decided to get very dramatic and I ended up in the hospital with the pain of it.

I was lucky that I had organised very close to everything with months to spare, because even when I was discharged a few days later, I wasn’t capable of much of anything for quite some time. I’m still in recovery now, and I’m grateful that I was able to do even relatively simple things like sort out my metadata and look over my proof copies of the book.

But I did it! And a month ago I published my debut novel, which at the time of posting has sold about 70 copies. I’m beyond ecstatic with that number, because that’s more than just my family and friends! The reviews that are coming back are incredibly positive, and every new one reassures me that I’m not completely deluded. I can be proud of my work.

There’s a bunch of links on where to buy The Fool if you haven’t already here. If you’ve read it but haven’t yet reviewed it on Goodreads or Storygraph, I’d love it if you would! Even just a star rating puts it in front of more eyes.