Penelope's Pen: Winter Newsletter 2019
/Here is a link to my latest newsletter, with lots of news - including a RuBY win for On the Right Track!
Ruby win for On the Right Track!
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On the Right Track won the Romantic Book of the Year (the RuBY) in the contemporary romance category of the Romance Writers of Australia awards on 10 August, 2019. To say I was delighted is an understatement - but that will do for starters!
I was honoured to have been a finalist with fabulous writers Kelly Hunter, Madeleine Ash, Jacquie Underdown and Elisabeth Rose, so the fact that On the Right Track was the winner was very much the icing on the cake! What was also wonderful were the kind words and hearty congratulations from so many other writers on the night, and at the RWA conference. I’m celebrating with fellow authors Pamela Cook and Rae Cairns in one of these photos (I’ll spare you the ones of me on the dance floor later in the evening!)
On the Right Track was a lot of fun to write, and gave me the opportunity to reflect on so many happy childhood memories when I spent all my spare time with my horses. I even used one of my pony’s names in this On the Right Track - Fudge (Mr Fudge was my pony’s show name, and he was a palomino like the horse in the popular television program, Mr Ed).
I arrived home to a big task - the proofread for Up on Horseshoe Hill which will took quite a few days. And now? I can’t wait to get stuck into my next book (which has only been on the back burner for a couple of weeks, but it feels like much longer so I’m missing my characters terribly!).
My lovely RuBY trophy is on my bookcase, I have some lovely memories of celebrations with friends, and I’m so happy that winning this award will let other readers find out about Golden and Tor, my much loved characters from On the Right Track.
Writing friends ...
/On Thursday morning at 8.30am, I will be flying to Melbourne. Why?
Because that’s where the annual Romance Writers of Australia Conference is on this year. My first conference was in Sydney’s Darling Harbour a number of years ago. I was very much a wallflower. I didn’t know anyone, I wasn’t on Facebook (or anywhere else on-line) and hadn’t ‘connected’ to any other members beforehand. I barely spoke to a soul through Friday. And Saturday. But on Sunday afternoon (at the final workshop) I met another ‘newbie’ (a first time conference attendee). And she introduced me to another newbie. So in the next session, the closing address, there were three of us. Brigitte Underwood-Legeron. Sandra Edgar. And me.
The 2018 Cocktail party theme was Glitz and Glamour. Brigitte wore her bridal gown. And we thought I made a pretty good bridesmaid!
Sandra lives in Queensland and writes contemporary and historical romance. Brigitte lives in Perth and writes literary fiction and contemporary romance. We’ve been friends for five years now. And our friendship is attributable to RWA.
Since meeting my very first friends, I’ve been so fortunate to have found many other wonderful writing friends too. Many friends are writers I’ve admired as authors for years. Because as anyone will tell you, romance writers as a group—what is the collective noun? A heart? An embrace?—are smart, funny, generous and an all round lovely group of people.
The craft we learn and the books we write are important, but it is the friendships we make that are what we tend to treasure in life. Writing can be a very lonely business, so personal connections are particularly important. And in RWA I’ve been so fortunate to have shared my writing journey (all the highs and lows) with a wonderful group of people.
But … I really was a wallflower. Would I have continued going to the RWA conference if not for my dear friends Brigitte and Sandra? I really can’t say. But knowing they would be there at my second conference might well have got me over the line.
I pitched In At The Deep End to my publisher at that second conference—the start of my published writing career. And I’ll always be thankful to my newbie friends for their encouragement and support.
Ruby finalist: On The Right Track
/So this happened … I was delighted to have been announced as a finalist in the Romance Writers of Australia RuBY (Romantic Book of the Year) award in 2019 (in the Contemporary Romance category) for my Harlequin Mira/ HarperCollins novel, On The Right Track. This award is the premier award for a romance published in 2018, and is judged by reader judges. It is SUCH an honour to have made the finals, and I look forward to attending a dinner on 10 August 2019 with the other four wonderful finalists, when the winner will be announced.
Can’t wait!
November release: Up On Horseshoe Hill
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Up On Horseshoe Hill, which will be on the shelves - and available as an ebook and audiobook (more on this in another post!) - will be out on 18 November. It’s so exciting when a book has a cover! If you would like to pre-order the book to ensure it jumps into your kindle on 18 November, or arrives on your doorstep around this date, please CLICK HERE for links. You can also order at your local bookstore, or ask your library to order the book. As many readers know by now, I get just as much pleasure from seeing my book on a library shelf, as I do on seeing it on the shelves in a bookstore.
I find the thought of launching a new book a strange combination of relief, joy and trepidation.
Relief in that I don’t have to read the manuscript yet again (100,000 words takes a few days out of my week …), and I can look forward to working on my next book.
Joy because a book release coming up means readers have the chance to get up close and personal with my characters (like I have been for a year or two …).
Trepidation because … it’s judgment time! Much as Up on Horseshoe Hill has been praised by the readers that have taken a peek between the covers so far, and my editor and my publisher are really excited about it, I find book reviews a little confronting. Much as I love writing, I don’t particularly like telling people what a fabulous book I have written (it’s just not me!) so I hope that others will do that for me.
And finally on the release … I love this cover! Firstly because Victoria Purman, whose novels I have read and enjoyed for years, was kind enough to give the book a wonderful endorsement. I first knew Victoria as a writer of novels set in a coastal town in South Australia. These contemporary novels feature a wonderful bunch of characters (look up the Boys of Summer series!). More recently, Victoria has written page turning stories of Australian historical fiction, including the novels, The Last of the Bonegilla Girls, and The Land Girls, both published by HQ (HarperCollins). And the other reason I love the cover? Because there is a horse on the cover, and (even though it is up to readers to imagine what the characters actually look like) I think the model has a really nice natural look, which reflects the main character, Jemima (Jet) Kincaid really well.
Author Talk: Thursday 15 August
/I can’t wait to join the delightful duo Cassie Hamer and Joanna Nell for an author event on Thursday 15 August from 6.00 - 8pm at Manly Art Gallery and Museum. It’s a brilliant venue right opposite the beach, and we’d love to see you there.
Cassie’s debut novel, After The Party, was published by HQ (HarperCollins) earlier this year to critical acclaim. Joanna’s first novel, the bestselling The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village, was published by Hachette last year, and her newest release, The Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker, will be released in September. Cassie is a journalist, Joanna a medical doctor, and my background is in law, and we’re planning a lighthearted chat about change - the chaos, camaraderie and challenges of embarking on a career in creativity. Click on the link below if you’d like to come along. We hope to see you in Manly!
Here is the link: Manly Author event.
Up on Horseshoe Hill cover reveal coming soon!
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Photo credit Paolo Nicolello
A new cover is always an exciting time. And much as I love the pony hiding behind the forelock, I can’t wait to launch Up On Horseshoe Hill into the world. Especially because early links for the book are coming out on bookseller sites and in other places in cyberspace, and the blank page with ‘cover coming soon’ is starting to annoy me!
Creating a cover is a complex business in publishing, and I pretty much rely on my lovely publisher to come up with their concept. Yes I always have a few ideas - my novel’s covers have all portrayed a woman facing the camera, so I like the age and colouring to be right, much as readers will put their own spins on those things - but the rest I am very happy to leave to the creative minds at HarperCollins! I know this cover will be ‘rural’ in terms of the backdrop, and I am very happy with that. Will Jet be wearing a hat or not? I’ll have to wait and see.
All will be revealed very soon, in anticipation of the late November release of Up On Horseshoe Hill!
ARRA Awards 23 February
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I was delighted to be nominated in the 2018 Australian Romance Readers Awards. In three categories! Firstly, for Favourite Australian Romance Author (with other writers I’ve worshiped from afar for too many years to mention!), Favourite Australian Romance, for On the Right Track, and Favourite Laugh Out Loud moment in a romance, for On the Right Track. The awards will be held on 23 February, and I’m really looking forward to catching up with many reader and writer friends.
ARRA is a wonderful organisation for readers, with chapters in most capital cities. It’s very inexpensive to join, and provides a host of wonderful opportunities for readers to discuss books, on-line and in person, and meet many favourite authors at functions all over the country - from Australia and also overseas guests.
I’ll keep you posted on what happens at the awards!
Book launch: On the Same Page
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So… I love having parties for other people, but for myself? Not so much. But as On the Same Page was my third full length novel, and I’d recently also had a novella published as part of the Our Country Christmas anthology, I thought I’d give it a go!
Not playing football, but making a speech!
The venue was Better Read Than Dead, a fabulous bookshop in the busy heart of Newtown. I love this shop, but being given the opportunity to have the launch here was particularly special because On the Same Page is set in Newtown, Redfern and Sydney city, a very busy bustling hub, just like the busy bustling pace of On the Same Page!
All of my children attended the event which was wonderful. One daughter drove up from her workplace in Canberra, and another daughter juggled two toddlers and endured an hour of peak hour traffic to be there. There were lots of friends who came along too (and made comments like ‘I knew her before she was famous’ (ha!), and there were a number of writer friends as well. Some writers I had met while studying creative writing at UTS Sydney (also close by!), and some I have met as a published author. It was heartwarming to have their wonderful support. And, of course, there were readers I’d never met before, but they had enjoyed my books so came along to celebrate the publication of another. Wow! I often chat with readers by email and on social media, and at conferences and so on, but it was really nice to meet some new people, and even have the chance to introduce them to other writers they admired - and my family of course!
The venue space was wonderful - to be surrounded by books while launching my book upstairs, while shoppers were downstairs browsing the shelves, and buying books for Christmas, was great. The champagne flowed, the Lebanese dips were amazing, and I signed a lot of books.
Will I have another launch? I will seriously think about it!
The story behind On the Same Page
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On the Same Page has been a long time coming, but is a story I've always had faith in - and I'm absolutely delighted that it's not long now until it will be out in the world. I started writing On the Same Page (working title Lars from Iconic) when I was a student at UTS studying creative writing. This was my 'break away' from academic and legal work and (together with a weekend course I did with Lisa Heidke at the Australian Writers Centre, where the concept was created) has led to years of new challenges. I've been taken out of my comfort zone many times - but have been rewarded with countless opportunities along the way. And one of the most exciting of these? To see characters and situations I've thought up in my head, transferred to the page, and ultimately to readers (and hopefully into a special place in their hearts and minds as well).
On the Same Page won the 2017 XO Romance Prize. But that wasn't its earliest prize .... I wrote the first draft of the manuscript in 2014 and I think my poor kids suffered with me every time I had to workshop snippets of it in class. There were many groans of Mummmmm. But so much encouragement as well. 'Yay Lars!' was a common refrain. Lars Kristensen is the hero of On the Same Page (yes another Norwegian - though he was brought up in England) but the book is set in Australia, and Miles Franklin, a twenty-eight year old lawyer, is the heroine. But back to the prize ... for my birthday in 2014, one of my daughters, Gabriella, gave me this card. I am so glad I photographed it - but regret not hanging onto the original! You will note that I am already dubbed a 'best selling author' with a golden sticker to prove it - and this happened before I wrote In at the Deep End or On the Right Track (as I mentioned, On the Same Page took a while to finish off!) Thanks for your faith in me, Gabi - and also in the book.
On the Right Track release
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The launch of a new book is always an exciting time, and it's been wonderful to see On the Right Track on the bookshelves in the past few days! I think my children might be relieved to see the book out on the shelves - because it signifies that the story is now out of my hands, and into the hands of readers! Thank you to those who have purchased the book already, and do let me know if you have enjoyed it. Thanks to those who have left reviews on Goodreads or Amazon already - these mean so much to a writer personally, and are useful to other readers as well. I hope you have a wonderful reading month!
The winner is...
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Thank you to all my newsletter subscribers who were eligible to win the penguin bookmark and soap gift. I've drawn a name out of the hat and will email the lucky reader very soon. Then I'll send out the gift! And as soon as On the Right Track arrives on my doorstep (I'll get a few early copies before it is out on the shelves), I'll be announcing another give-away to win a signed copy! So if you have any reading friends who might like to be on my newsletter list so they will be in that draw, please send them a link and let them know they are welcome.
Here is the link http://www.penelopejanu.com/newsletter/
And just to confirm, I'm not selling anything and I won't be inundating readers with emails. I also don't share your email addresses or any other details with anyone. And of course you can unsubscribe at any time!
Happy reading as we move into winter. A nice warm fire and putting my feet up is my idea of a perfect evening's entertainment!
Our Country Christmas Anthology
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I'm delighted to be part of Our Country Christmas (Harlequin Mira/ HarperCollins) a combination of five stories by favourite Australian authors (all set in rural Australia). I loved writing The Six Rules of Christmas. It is set in the fictional town of Warrandale - which is a based on a few real life towns in the beautiful Upper Hunter region of New South Wales.
This is the blurb:
The Six Rules of Christmas
Picking up the reins of her father's law practice, Ariella Blake has made a place for herself in small–town Warrandale. But when stand–in farrier Jack Adamson blows in for the holidays, with his good looks and infuriating evasiveness, he challenges her to embrace the rules of Christmas. Step by step, will Christmas – and Jack – get under her skin?
Jack in the story is a farrier, and I was so privileged to spend time recently with Michael Fruin of Fruin Forge and his team. Michael has worked all around the world as a farrier, his expertise and the stories he had to tell were wonderful, and I hope to catch up with him again for another farrier story that's in the pipeline.
I do hope you love the stories in Our Country Christmas. The book will be available in September - in paperback in bookstores and Discount Department stores in Australia and New Zealand, and on-line all around the world!
Cover Reveal: On the Right Track
/On the Right Track
A traumatic past, a charismatic stranger and a family legacy … Golden’s quiet country life is about to get messy …
When the diminutive but fiery Golden Saunders falls from her horse and smashes her leg irreparably, and her racing family is disgraced by a corruption scandal, she thinks she’s hit rock bottom.
Then the enigmatic Tor Amundsen, United Nations diplomat (read: spy), arrives on the scene and proves her wrong. His investigation into her family pulls her back into a world she had escaped, and the branch of the family she has tried to avoid at all costs. Tor is infuriated and frustrated by the impossible mixture of fragility and fierceness that is Golden, true, but he is also strangely protective of her.
Golden wants no part of it. Men have pushed her around her whole life. The last thing she needs is an arrogant, irritatingly handsome man telling her what to do. But it turns out Tor has a way with animals, children and, well, Golden…
Before too long, she finds their overwhelming attraction is overriding her good sense, and as they are both pulled deeper into the murky world of dirty money, things are about to get messy, and Golden’s small, quietly ordered life will change beyond recognition…
Can Golden overcome her fears and the shadows of the past and reach for a new kind of future? Will she ever be able to get her life back on the right track?
On the Right Track will be available on 18 June. See pre-order links on the home page. I LOVED writing this book, and hope you will enjoy reading it!
XO Romance Prize
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I'm delighted to have won the XO Romance 2017 prize, particularly as I was selected from an amazing bunch of authors (details in the shortlist below).
The prize means that I will have another novel in the bookshops this year! XO is an imprint of Brio, a wonderful publisher of Australian voices, and I am very happy that I will be added to their list of authors. On the Same Page is a novel very close to my heart, because it was my first lengthy creative project, and I worked on it with a number of fabulous fellow students, and amazing teachers, when I was studying for a MA a few years ago. I've never been able to let this novel go ... and it is wonderful that it will now be published. For the details, please see http://www.xoromance.com.au/
I couldn't be happier that On the Right Track will be published mid year (the cover will be coming soon!), and I'll have a follow up novel later in the year!
New Year 2018
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I'm notoriously late with my Christmas cards, New Years wishes, and other festive things this year. I blame finishing a manuscript in November, editing a new release for 2018, and plotting next years books! But this is more or less what Christmas looked like in the Janu household. Daphne misbehaving, Bella tolerant, and too many decorations! I hope you and your friends and family enjoyed a wonderful break.
New Years Resolutions so far. Ride more often. Attempt to plot more regularly (I love to write organically but I think it slows down the process of producing a book). Write Christmas cards in time for them to arrive before Christmas.
RWAustralia Conference 2017
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I had a wonderful time at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in August. This is a fabulous conference for craft, business tips in the writing trade, meeting up with old friends, and finding new. Highlights this year for me were Kate Forsyth's one day workshop, and Marion Lennox's keynote address. Marion, the author of over a hundred novels, gave everyone in the audience a gumnut from a Western Australian tree, and asked us to reflect on what gave us joy as writers. I brought my gumnut home (as did many other writers) and put it in a seashell bowl. It looks at home there too - and I've looked at it many times while writing over the past week. Writing can be lonely and difficult, but ultimately gives so much joy - the process of writing itself, and also hearing about what it is about your words that touches readers.
On the Keeper's Shelf
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In at the Deep End was recently featured on author Jennie Jones's blog as a book she would hang onto. You can read Jennie's On the Keeper's Shelf post here - and while you're over at her website, you might like to check out some of her stories. I've admired Jennie's books for years (which is why I'm particularly chuffed that In at the Deep End made it onto her shelf!
The link is
http://www.jenniejonesromance.com/jennie-jones-blog/on-the-keepers-shelf-in-at-the-deep-end
World Oceans Day 8 June
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On 8 June the UN celebrates World Oceans Day, which raises global awareness of the environmental challenges faced by our oceans. Because oceans aren’t only important sources of food and medicines, they provide much of the oxygen we breathe and are a crucial part of the biosphere.
For a great resource about World Oceans Day, and the type of activities organised all around the world, go to the World Oceans Day website HERE.
And for a short UN video, Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet, click HERE.
For my fellow ARRA members. Do you prefer to swim in wild oceans or sea pools? Or would you rather view the ocean from a sun lounge on the deck of a cruise liner (while reading a book)? Comment below to go in the draw to win a copy of In at the Deep End!
Bookshops and Libraries
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One of the joys of being on book shelves in book shops and libraries is receiving photos (by email, text and Facebook) of In at the Deep End. My feelings have nothing to do with fame and fortune, and everything to do with the excitement of sharing shelf space with authors I admire and love to read. And shelf companions differ depending on placement! Sometimes In at the Deep End is shelved in the romance section, sometimes in the Australian Fiction section, and sometimes just thrown 'in at the deep end' with the rest of the alphabet. But where ever it ends up, I always search for its shelf buddies!
