Hooray! I got a two-book publishing deal!

This is me at Brunetti's in Melbourne with my beautiful agent, Clare Forster, from Curtis Brown signing the contracts for a two-book fiction deal with Allen & Unwin. #grateful. #thankyou.

Book 1 due out early 2017.

Book 2 due out 2018.

I love the fiction list at Allen & Unwin and I'm thrilled I'll be nestled in there alongside some of the people who have inspired me over the years. A & U is able to traverse high literary and commercial, always with style and finesse. They capture the quirky and beautiful and those covers! (Sigh). No wonder they just got 2016 Australian Publisher of the Year - they are on a roll ...

I'm still looking at the delicate, beautiful, powerful cover for Charlotte Wood's fierce The Natural Way of Things and Katherine Brabon's Vogel Prize is another.

And now back to my structural edit ... I have a long way to go before the book hits the shelf and so I won't be all over social media as I need to concentrate. I just do.

Between writing a new book, editing one, a business, ReadingTree Literary events, 3 amazing kids and beautiful husband ... I just can't seem to fit much else in. In awe of those that do. In fact, I've been so inspired by those who generously share their writing and publication journey. It was they who convinced me I needed an 'author platform' and to get blogging.

Click here for a list of blogs and podcasts I go to for inspiration.

I also have about 10 million soggy copper-coloured chestnut leaves to rake up. Hmmmmmm.