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Roller-coaster
Just a few days before my Dad died in March, one of my closest friends was diagnosed with cancer. Not long after I returned from Canberra, we learned that her cancer was an aggressive one, with a tumour pressing against her windpipe. She wasn’t well enough to come for the book launch, but the last time I spoke to her was when she phoned, although she had little breath to talk, to tell me how much she’d enjoyed reading Dead Heat. She died on April 13th; her funeral on Friday drew hundreds of people, a testament to her gentle, generous nature and the love and respect so many people in our town held for her. We have been friends for 18 years; she designed our house, we travelled on numerous outback trips with her and her husband; Gordon bushwalked with them hundreds of times, often finishing here for afternoon tea, where she and I discussed textiles, teas, books, gardens, living simply. I will miss her a great deal.
As you can imagine, losing my Dad and my friend within six weeks at the same time as Dead Heat was released has been something of an emotional roller-coaster for me. I’m trying to concentrate on the highs – and there’s definitely been some! Some great views, lovely comments from readers, and appearing for 3 weeks in a row in my publisher’s Top 10 books – for a short while there (probably due to being in the Big W Book Bonanza catalogue!) Dead Heat was outselling Stephen King, John Grisham and JR Ward 
It won’t make it on to the Australian Top 10 charts (that Suzanne Collins is claiming most of the places!!) but it’s a good feeling to be doing well for my publishers, anyway.
Thank you to everyone who has commented recently, emailed me, commented on Facebook or Twitter. If I haven’t replied to everyone, please know that in this difficult time your positive words and feedback about Dead Heat have been uplifting and have mattered to me. I hope to catch up and get back to everyone this coming week.
Good news – reprints!
It’s lovely to finish the week with some good news. I knew last week that my publisher is printing more of As Darkness Falls, as it was out of stock at the distributor. But I was told yesterday that they’re also printing more of Dead Heat, and also more of the re-issue of Dark Country that came out last month.
Thank you to all my readers for your support for my books!
Good News Round-up
Lots happening so I’ll combine it all in a quick round-up post
Dead Heat is out! The official release date isn’t until next week, but it’s in the Big W and Target catalogues (and on their shelves) this week, it’s been spotted in Kmart, and some bookstores already have copies. Oh, it is so good to have a new book out at last!
As well as the Armidale book launch next Thursday 29th, I’ll be at Collins Booksellers in Tamworth on Sat 31st to meet readers and sign books. If you’re in the region, do come along to one of the events!
I’m a guest over on the wonderful Mandy Magro’s blog this week, in her Awesome Aussie Authors series. Do come over and visit Mandy’s blog and find out what my favourite Australian saying is, and other fun things about me – and also about Mandy and her great books.
I’ve also been over at Booktopia last week, answering their 10 Terrifying Questions, and also in the Romance Buzz newsletter, answering Nine Naughty Questions for Romance Writers. (Sorry I didn’t post about these earlier – my unexpected trip to Canberra distracted me.)
I’ve drawn the winner of my newsletter-subscriber giveaway: random-org picked the number 40, and the subscriber on row 40 of the spreadsheet is Rosemary G. Congratulations, Rosemary – your signed book will be on it’s way to you tomorrow!
I’m interviewed in this month’s Bookseller and Publisher magazine about the appeal of rural romance. Do let me know what you think about it!
Kate Cuthbert reviewed Dead Heat on her blog - and highly recommended it Kate also reviewed it for Bookseller & Publisher; unfortunately I can’t link to that review (subscriber only) – but it does have 4 stars and includes the words… ‘genuinely chilling…a well-crafted novel that makes excellent use of its wild setting’.
There’s just a couple of days left to enter the GoodReads giveaway for Dead Heat - so be quick!
I’ve started an author Q&A on Goodreads – if you’re on Goodreads, do come and have a chat about Dead Heat, my other books, and writing and reading in general.
I think that’s the important things for now! I’ve got an urgent couple of jobs to finish this week, so now I’m going to get off the internets and go and do them. I’ll be back when they’re done
Dead Heat cover
The cover for Dead Heat is now final – and it’s stunning!
I am so thrilled with it. The draft was great, and everyone who’s seen it liked it – but the designer has tweaked a few things and made it even better. I am so looking forward to seeing it on the book itself, in just a few weeks!
Here’s proof…
… proof pages for Dead Heat, that is! This is the final stage in the book preparation – the proof pages of the book, and the very last chance to make any changes:
There wasn’t a lot of time between copy edits going in on the 9th January, and the proof pages arriving, but I did have time to have lunch with my friend Gemma, a local police sergeant who’s given very helpful procedural advice for each of my books:
Today I had lunch with Emily, my National Park ranger friend, who’s also been a fantastic help for Dead Heat – but I didn’t get a photo of her, this time.
Now it’s head down time, concentrating on getting the proof pages done so they can be mailed on Monday morning! The rest of the ‘family’, however, are having a much more relaxing time…
…. except for when they’re watching out for wildlife…
… but they didn’t see these two visitors:
I’ll be back to more regular blogging next week, after those proof pages are on their way back to Sydney!
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