I had a book launch and nice people came! Wheee!

Oh, man: I've never been so tired in my life. Check it out, though - this is the scene as it went down at Shearer's Books in Leichhardt Sydney when we launched Burnt Snow.

Book launch: I'm at the far left, the Nice Bearded Man is playing Where's Wally. Photo courtesy of Alison Lyons. Rock.

It was exhausting. Amazing. Exhilarating. For those of you who haven't thrown a big party with a lot of people at it in a bookstore, I recommend it wholeheartedly. Shearer's is truly an awesome cafe and the catering was excellent, so I'm told - I was way too freaked out to actually eat anything.
For protection, I wore my big, fat turquoise amulet. According to the gemstone dictionary, "a string of turquoise gemstone crystal beads worn around the neck (also) absorbs all negativity from the body and mind and helps you develop your own natural powers". I think that's how I survived a room that contained four exboyfriends, most of my extended family and everyone from my best mate from high school's mum, my lawyer, publishers and the Mayor of Leichhardt, Jamie Parker, who launched the book. The emcee was James Beach, who did a marvellous job of extending a long welcome to the guests while I desperately tried to find the section of the book I'd planned to read.
More lovely shots from Alison Lyons:

That's me in the blue frock, greeting the fantastic Ms Hellen, friends from high school, stars of Sydney's musical theatre community, flatmates from uni, my former university students and EVERYONE I KNOW.

A huge thanks from me to Mum and Dad, who wrangled the launch organisation while I was between continents, the Nice Bearded Man (so nice, so bearded), James Beach and Jamie Parker who did the official business, Barbara and Jessica at Shearer's and all their staff, my publicist Louise and all at Pan Macmillan and, you know, my amazingly hot friends who made me look sexy and popular just by being there. Look how happy I am:

Thanks for these, Alison.

If you missed it, don't worry - two more books in the series means TWO MORE LAUNCHES. Am gonna maintain the mailing list in the right-hand sidebar if you wanna get an invitation.
Right, now I'm gonna sleep. xxx

Published: The point at which it gets a bit exciting...

Well, howdy! And a big round of applause for our model, Ms Impossibly Nice, seen here with a copy of Burnt Snow in her sweet little hands.

Ms Impossibly Nice holding Burnt Snow

Yes, my book is now not only available online (if you missed the list of online sellers, please feel free to revisit my last blog post, which has a dandy list) but it's also on bookshelves throughout Australia.
I'm learning a lot about this having-a-book-out malarkey - primarily because I've been on my very first book tour, attending the Melbourne Writers' Festival and the Brisbane Writers' Festival as part of the PanMacmillan Australia entourage. This means I've stumbled into a world of festival appearances, talks, signings, panels, author dinners, literary conversations and lots of bonding with the shockingly friendly and supportive world of Children's/YA novelists. Before I do a whole post on this subject, let me just say that if you strike books by Kate Forsyth, John Danalis, Fiona Wood, Steph Bowe, Kirsty Murray, Melina Marchetta, Leanne Hall or Belinda Jeffrey BUY them. Not only are these people great writers, but they're NICE and have GREAT TASTE IN FOOD. Belinda and John in particular - for who could ever forget the bonding had over the unbelievable feast provided by this restaurant? Absolutely noone who ever had the good sense to consult the waiter at European about their tasting menu, oh my.
So I'm learning a lot about what it takes to sell a book to the world. The first rule seems to be CONSTANT TALKING which, though I have a natural talent for talking incessantly about anything to hand is actually really tiring when you do it for three hours at a time without a break. The other great occupational hazard here is Signature Wrist, which is the painful tradeoff for the miracle of avid and enthusiastic readers wanting you to sign their copy of your (my!) book. If anyone out there has suggestions for how I can stop feeling like my writing career is about to be destroyed by tendonitis much in the same way Luke Skywalker's swordfighting career suffered a setback at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, please let me know.
The other thing I'm learning is how enormously hard a publicity team at a publisher's works to sell a book. Whoever said "You don't judge a book by its cover" clearly was not employed professionally in the publishing industry. Burnt Snow's publicity campaign includes an ad in this month's fabulous Frankie magazine, as well as - OMG - a book trailer on the YouTubes, which, of course, you can look at RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
Have you read Burnt Snow yet? The video promo process was interesting because, as we were using actual human models for the animations, there was a rather heavy discussion around the issue of representing the "hero", Brody Meine. It was an interesting discussion to be a part of, just because it became apparent how everyone who reads a book imagines the characters in their own way - for me, as the author, it was interesting to hear people go "that's not Brody" or "that's so totally Brody" about a character who was, once upon a time, a figment of my imagination. Does the way you see a character get influenced by video promos or film casting? Do you cast actors in your head to play the parts? Are you ever cranky with who gets cast in film adaptations of books because they don't match the character in your head?
Obviously, I am way interested in this phenomenon right now and would love to hear your thoughts. Also looking forward to seeing you at Shearer's Books in Sydney on Wednesday and OMG book launch! Eeeee!

xxx Van

Rosemary, that's for remembrance. No, for a book tour. A BOOK TOUR?!

Well, hello. Remember me? I feel like I've been away so long I've returned like an unexpected exgirlfriend at an engagement party.

This is me re-enacting The Prisoner at Portmeirion, Wales

Where've I been since last we spoke? I've been to some truly magical places in the UK...

- Stonehenge
- Glastonbury
- York
- Peterborough (ok, so Peterborough isn't PARTICULARLY magical, but it *does* have a good costume shop)
- London (duh, I live there)
- Portmeirion
- Betys-y-Coed
- Carnarvon

... and a few magical places in Japan...

- Yokohama
- Tokyo
- Kamakura
- Enoshima

... and now I'm in, um, magical Sans Souci, Sydney, Australia. Magical because I am staying with my parents while I'm back in Australia for six weeks and we haven't killed each other yet. It could be the mitigating presence of the Boy Next Door who, in addition to travelling with me to the furthest most geographical point from everything he knows, made himself into the Boy Indoors about the same time I disappeared offline. The two facts are not related, although this new and Very Grownup state of affairs means that I'll be referring to him as The Nice Bearded Man more or less consistently from this point.

For those of you who've been following this blog, you'd maybe guess that I've been away from my postings because not only have I been running around stone circles in the UK and Shinto shrines in Japan, but my book, Burnt Snow, is finally coming out. Like, this week. So it's been manic. Tomorrow, I'm in Melbourne for the Melbourne Writers' Festival, and then on the 31st I'm in Brisbane for the Brisbane Writers' Festival. Simultaneously, on September 1, I do my book show on Nabokov's Lolita for ABC 666 (still funny) in Canberra. On September 8 in Sydney, I launch my book at Shearer's Books in Leichhardt. Then I think I collapse. I get back up again, because then I'm in Newcastle for the Crack Theatre Festival as well as the National Young Writers Festival. Links to these last two when they work properly. Oh, and then I'm back in Canberra...

(By the way, check out the amazing Steph Bowe's blog here. I'm doing a panel with her on blogging - yes, okay, Dad, yes, heard it - at the Brisbane Writers Festival. She's written a beautiful book called Girl Saves Boy that would be a wonderful achievement even if she wasn't ONLY 17. Am I intimidated? Like, totally.)

It's all too crazy. I mean, it's MASSIVELY exciting but, sheesh, I'm tired. The book is, fortunately, finding some love in the jungle, and we got its first review 2 days ago. Australian Bookseller+Publisher VERY KINDLY wrote:

 FOUR STARS: This intriguing and well-crafted story slowly peels away the layers of normality to reveal a strange yet familiar darkness beneath... Addictive reading... Set aside a few hours and devour this book in one go. But be warned, the ending will leave you wanting more.

The publishers have also thrown their weight into the publicity behemoth, by providing information about the book via this handy page, while an extremely nice blogger called Rachel has a copy of Burnt Snow and is promoting it here. And for those of you who JUST CAN'T WAIT to read it you can either settle for the extract, OR you can pre-order/buy it RIGHT NOW from these fabulous bookstores (in alphabetical order because they are all awesome):

• Abbey's Books
• Booktopia
• Dymocks Books
• The Galaxy Bookshop
• Infinitas Bookshop
• Lamont
• QBD Books
• Readings Books
• ALSO: You can get an autographed copy pre-ordered by emailing Shearer's Bookshop here.

How's that? PLEASE don't freak out if they say the book isn't there yet - the book is being shipped AS WE SPEAK and and and I think all of these guys ship international. Whoo!

As of my exploration into the witch's world... it's actually been more important than ever that I rely on the mysteries of herbalism and meditation, what with the ongoing stress of travel, jetlag and a book tour.

Happy Sleeps

To get to sleep, I've learned the benefits of an easy sleeping balm. In addition to a glass of water (to stop dehydration) and a 15-minute walk (gentle muscle exertion), four (4) drops of lavender oil and four (4) drops of rosemary oil on a pillow knocks me flat. 

Lavender was known to the Greeks as "nard", and named in after the Syrian city of Naarda. It was an extremely precious herb to the ancients, due to the relaxing perfume it releases when crushed or burned, and its value as a holy herb meant not only that it was required to anoint the altars in the great Temple of the Old Testament, but both Mark and John reveal that a jar of it was cracked open and rubbed on Jesus' head (talk about bigness of brand association). The Romans named it "lavender" after the verb "lavare", meaning "to wash" and added it to baths. Today, you'll find a lavender bath as a traditional inclusion in a Korean bathhouse. Essential oil of lavender has anti-septic and anti-inflammatory properties - and Wikipedia informs me that in WW1 it was used in hospitals to disinfect floors and walls. Often credited with relieving headaches, it's recommended that you avoid it during pregnancy and lactation.

Rosemary I've written about briefly before, when I made a corndoll out of this herb to celebrate Lammas. From the Latin "ros marinus", it means "dew of the sea" - and is associated with smokin' hot love goddess Aphrodite, as it was apparently thrown over her naked body to cover her when she sprang full-formed out of the ocean. Rosemary is, unsurprisingly, used in lots of love charms - stuff a poppet with rosemary to make it representative of who you wish to attract, or plant several pots of it with potential lovers' names written on the pots - whichever grows highest is supposed to be your fated lover. It is also popular in wedding bouquets. It is long associated with the notion of remembrance, and credited with improving the memory. It is often placed on graves, is pinned to collars on Remembrance Day and students used to stick it in their hair as preparation for exams. Modern science credits rosemary with improving memory when pumped into cubicles in experiments - although it slows recall.

The benefit of sleeping in haze of lavender is well known, but the benefit of rosemary is that it (reputedly) stimulates good and memorable dreams. Like of finishing a book tour without a nervous breakdown...

Zzzzzzz..... Good night!

Book Launches: Not Tors, Not Stone Circles...

Why, hello there! CHECK - IT - OUT:

Yep, it's my book. MY BOOK. Coming soon - in September, in fact - to a bookstore near you. I can't believe it... Especially because we are still doing something complicated to the proofs, which is the reason that I have all but disappeared from view of late. If you're super-special eager to buy the book, you can ALREADY do that, via this link. The order page tells you nothing about the book, so the executive summary is: A Western-suburbs nerd is recruited to ranks of the popular girls at her new South Coast high school. While she tries to navigate the complex protocols of "popularity", a series of charged encounters with the untouchable school bad-boy propel her into a dark world of witchcraft, curses, ancient magic and dangerous loyalties. 

That's not the official blurb, but that's the premise. I can also promise that it offers explosions, fires, storms, animal phenomena, strange symbols and some old-school, high-school bitch behaviour. 

Exciting, exciting is that there will definitely be a  LAUNCH for the book - in Sydney, that's most likely on Wednesday, September 8. If you want to get a fancy-schmancy invitation to launches of the book, I've added a nifty "google groups subscribe" button just under the picture of me to the right on this blog; donate your email address to this single issue list, and "burnt-snow-events" will get you invited as soon as venues are confirmed. Technology, I love it. 

In other news, I've been confirmed as a guest for the Brisbane Writers' Festival now, too - in addition to the Melbourne Writers' Festival, and there are rumours of me doing something fun in Canberra in August/September as well. Ooh! 

Those of you who are interested in hearing me pontificate on Jean Rhys' spooky, sad Jane Eyre prequel, Wide Sargasso Sea need only tune to ABC 666 Canberra (yep, still funny) on July 1. 

... And, once more, ladies and gentlemen: OMG, I've written a book. Can't believe it... Can't believe it...