I so love my job!

I've always felt extremely fortunate to not only to see my novels in print but also write fulltime. And still sometimes little things happen that make this life even better - like this weekend, when I'm flying to Melbourne to interview, before a live audience of wonderful Sisters in Crime members, the one and only Tess Gerritsen.

I have long been a huge fan of Tess's work. We've emailed a few times, she gave me an awesome blurb for Cold Justice, and we've met once, at the famous Harrogate Crime Festival in the UK in 2008, but getting this opportunity to sit down and talk with her at length is really something special. If you live in Melbourne please come along - it's on Saturday 27th August, starting at 6 pm if you want to join us for dinner, 8 pm for the interview, at The Rising Sun Hotel, corner Raglan Street & Eastern Road, South Melbourne. $10 to get in, no bookings required. For more info click here. Thanks Tess and thanks Sisters In Crime!


Another marvellous thing I get to do is attend and speak at writers' festivals. Recently I went to the Byron Bay Festival, always a ripper, not least of all because the gorgeous settings of the North Beach site, where you can sit on the grass and listen to the talk in the marquees while soaking up the sun. I thoroughly enjoyed being on a panel here with friends and fellow crime authors Michael Robotham, LA Larkin, and Liz Porter,  and there were lots of laughs as you can tell from this pic:

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I'm also taking part in the Brisbane Writers Festival in September, and one of my co-panellists is UK author Neil Cross. I'd heard of his TV show Luther but never seen it, and I'd heard of his books Captured and Burial but never read them. Festivals send authors copies of each others' books, so he gets mine, I get his etc. His latest is The Calling and I started reading idly as soon as I opened the parcel, then couldn't stop! I cannot recommend this book more highly. It's chilling, thrilling, and graphic at times, but I promise you will not be able to put it down.
Our other panellist is Nicole Watson, author of The Boundary, and my second session is with Jennifer Rowe, whose latest is Love, Honour and O'Brien, and I can't wait to get stuck into both these books.

Meanwhile, back here in the office, all is going well. The structural edit of Silent Fear got the big tick of approval and the manuscript is now with the copy editor, and book 6 is gathering momentum, characters are coming to life, the story is taking off in unexpected ways ... I do so love my job!

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