A Thousand Perfect Notes

For the first time in my small slightly rabid life, I am about to do a Frequently Asked Questions post.

FREQUENTLY. Do you see that?! Usually I am either (a) making up questions to ask myself because apparently I’m just that needy, or (b) just answering some random questions I’ve called out to the universe for! But this time it’s: FREQUENTLY. Because being an author means a lot of you have the same questions. Good questions! I will give good answers! Lmao complete lie I will most undoubtedly leave some troll answers. I’m just definitely feeling like I’ve made it as an author ok.

Anyway just in case you didn’t see me mention it 29894 times: my debut A Thousand Perfect Notes is now OUT. You can add it on Goodreads and buy it on BookDepository (which does free world wide shipping) or Amazon US. And my neeeext book, The Boy Who Steals Houses, is out April 2019.

I’M FINALLY A REAL LIVE AUTHOR HOW DID THAT HAPPEN.

 

LOOK AT MY SONS

PS. That is not the final cover for TBWSH haha no. But I’ve been told it will be yellow!

Also my author copies arrived and I am 100% using this post as an excuse to show you my ultimate stacks.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE A THOUSAND PERFECT NOTES

I get asked this a lot. And I also go ahead and flap around nervously because THE ANSWER IS SO HUGE. I get inspiration from everywhere. I pull a book together from hearing a piece of music, reading a line out of a book, listening to someone say three words, writing something that means a lot to me, etc. etc.

Some of the influences for ATPN specifically are:

• It’s a very very loose retelling of a classical composer’s life (can’t say who because it’s a spoiler, but you’ll know when you read it!)
• Also “apparently” this specific composer was forced by a parent to play all night…
• Also a small smoosh of a genderbent Cinderella in there (AUGUST IS PRINCE CHARMING)
• I’m also a pianist, so I wanted to write about a musician!
• I wanted to talk about low self-worth. I think it’s a devastatingly universal topic.
• And, um…ok about 13% of the reason I wrote it is also because I wrote “COMPOSER RETELLING HIS NAME IS BECK” on a sticky note on my wall and picked it randomly amongst dozens.
• I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU. PRETEND I HAVE A BETTER ORIGIN STORY.

CAN YOU SEND ME A REVIEW COPY?

You have to request via my publicist at Hachette Children’s UK! I’m not in charge of this and I’m not super rich so I can’t just send copies to anyone.

Also, when a book is out, usually now is the time to buy it! I know that’s not possible for everyone so: ask your library to order it in too!

WHAT IS YOUR DAILY ROUTINE AS A WRITER?

I actually don’t have one. I write in intense hits, instead of daily. But my average-sort-of-process-to-writing-a-book is:

• Spend anywhere from 1 week to 2 years thinking up a novel idea.
• Plot the WHOLE THING in my head like an epic movie.
• Hate myself for all the explosions I put in due to dramatic soundtracks while plotting????
• Cait??? This is a freaking contemporary??? You caNNOT.
• Write an outline (usually 20,000-words). This totally eliminates writers’ block for me while drafting!
• Write the 1st draft (anywhere between 3 days to 10 days).
• Give it a break (anywhere from 3 weeks to 10 YEARS)
• Pitch to my agent and see if she likes it!
• Rewrite or edit extremely intensely (often I rewrite every. single. word)
• Get feedback from one or two betas or my sister if I cry enough on her and she takes pity on my pathetic soul
• REWRITE / EDIT SOME MORE
• Send to agent.
• If she says yes we should submit it to publishers: moooore edits and rewrites!
• Submission to publishers!
• If I’m lucky enough to land a deal — GUESS WHAT MORE EDITS AND EDITS AND EDITS.
• A little book, in your hand. And me, sobbing vaguely in joy and also slight deranged madness in the background.

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT QUERYING FOR ATPN AND HOW DID YOU KNOW WHO TO QUERY?

So firstly: I didn’t query ATPN! I signed with my agent for a fantasy book that we submitted to publishers and it didn’t sell. ATPN was the second book I wrote and gave to my agent. (See?! You have more than one shot at these things!)

And secondly: if you’re asking things like “who do I query”, I’m not trying to be mean, but you NEED to do more research. You need to google and read up on the immense volume of advice that’s out there. I know it’s intense, but you need to do it. Don’t rely on other people to walk you through it, ok? It’s not particularly fair on them to do the work for you. If you want to be an author, you need to do the work yourself.

ARE WE EVER GOING TO GET [INSERT BOOK I’VE BLOGGED ABOUT IN THE PAST]?

Ok so the awkward part about being a blogger and now a traditionally published author is that I have talked about a heck of a lot about projects that you will never never get to read. I’m SORRY. There are so many factors, from (a) if I even like that book anymore, (b) if I’ve kind of reused parts of it in other books thus killing it bloodily, (c) if my agent thinks it’s a good idea?! (d) if publishers are looking for that kind of story, (e) etc. etc. etc.

So I currently have a 2-book deal. I have NO IDEA what will come next! I’m working on things™ and I can’t talk about them! So I won’t say “no” to anything OR “yes” to anything. Don’t you love me.

WAS A THOUSAND PERFECT NOTES OR THE BOY WHO STEALS HOUSES MORE FUN TO WRITE?

Definitely TBWSH was more fun! As you know, ATPN is pretty dark and tense and the cute smoosh parts are brief. TBWSH has a lot of banter and shenanigans (BEFORE I TOTALLY RUIN YOU WITH THE DARKNESS) and there’s a big family in there…so the antics are madness and so so much fun.

I’M SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO READ THIS AHHHHHHHHH.

WILL YOUR BOOK BE OUT IN AMERICA SOON?

For now the answer is no! This isn’t up to me. An American publisher has to want to buy ATPN from my UK publisher and so far no one has.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Book Depository has free shipping though and it is currently up on Amazon US (although they run out of stock quite fast sometimes?!)

HOW MANY AUTHOR COPIES DO YOU GET?

This depends on every individual author and what’s in their contract! I’ve just gotten mine and I got 20! Now 19 because my family seems to think they are fREE FOR ALL.

JUST KIDDING. I LOVE YOU MUM. THANKS FOR KEEPING ME ALIVE IN MY CHILDHOOD.

DO YOU STILL HAVE TIME FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WITH YOUR CAREER?

HAHAH JUST KIDDING.

I mean, I need to spend time with family so I can steal their habits and mannerisms, their speech and weird Sunday lunch stories because like how the heck else do you write.

WHY ARE YOUR BOOKS YOUR “SONS” AND NOT “DAUGHTERS”?

Because I’ve only written by boy narrators at this point so thEY ARE MY SONS.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO ACTUALLY GET PUBLISHED?

Duuuude. There is no ANSWER FOR THIS! Some people take years. Others take (I’m not even kidding) 3 weeks to land an agent and a book deal. It’s your journey and it’s going to be different.

But for me:

• It took 3 years to go from 1st draft to published novel.
• It generally takes about two years from signing your contract to getting your book on the shelf.
• If you sacrifice honey cakes and your least favourite sister to the fairies, maybe things will go faster.
• Not that I…have….done that….

I also wrote a post on how I got an agent and a book deal.

HOW DOES BEING A PUBLISHED AUTHOR COMPARE TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE LIKE?

I actually had no idea what to expect. I mean, it ain’t all glamourous. Things aren’t smooth….there have been a lot of disappointments and hiccups in the behind-the-scenes of what I wanted my “perfect” publishing journey to look like. But hey me?!? Unrealistic expectations much?!

Also I never never realised just how freaking GOOD it would feel to hold your own book. To see it on shelves!! To have people saying they over it and it means something to them. And to make your editors cry. To have professionals in the industry ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR WORK.

UGH IT’S SO SURREAL AND INCREDIBLE.

WHAT’S YOUR NEW BOOK ABOUT AND WHEN IS IT PUBLISHED?

It is called The Boy Who Steals Houses and it’s out April 4th, 2019! You can read the proper synopsis on Goodreads but basically it’s about two homeless brothers who break into houses when the occupants are on holidays. Until one day it goes badly wrong…and they end up in a house with a huge noisy family. Genderbend Goldilocks retelling?! WHY YES.

It also features horrible decision making, #ownvoices autism rep, immense amount of sibling bonds, and the kind of ending you’re going to scream at me about. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

DID YOU HAVE MUCH SAY IN YOUR BOOK COVER DESIGN?

Nope! Total surprise for me and I freaking loved it.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE A THOUSAND PERFECT NOTES?

10 days for the first draft.

DO YOU EVER SLEEP?

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT A THOUSAND PERFECT NOTES?

• It is shiny
• It is smol
• It is mine

ADVICE FOR WRITERS WHO WANT TO PURSUE THIS AS A CAREER?

But if you want a book deal? DON’T. QUIT. It seems like the most cliche advice. But seriously! If your book fails? Write another! If you get rejected? Rework it. If you’re not good enough? Write and write and read good books and then write and write some more.

HOW DO YOU GET MOTIVATION TO FINISH WRITING BOOKS?

Holding a finished copy of your book is actually the most motivational thing ever. And I just WANT THIS?! I don’t know how else to explain it! I want it so so so much so there was no way I was ever going to quit or slow down.

WHY DID YOU USE GERMAN IN YOUR BOOK?

Again, because it’s based on a German classical composer’s life! I also had the amazing help of Maraia and Sebastian to make sure my German was, ya know…actually intelligible. My last name is German and my great-grandparents were German immigrants to Australia, but let me tell you: I GOT NOTHING STILL.

WHAT PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR UPCOMING NOVELS?

I caaaan’t say! Did you know I kept ATPN’s book deal a secret from you for like 16 months? Ya. So I can’t keep you 100% up-to-date on what I’m doing with my publishing journey, but so right now just know I’m working on various drafts, my agent and I have PLANS™ and my publishers * probably want to buy me a pocket dragon because they love me so much.

* This is a full lie.

WHY DID YOU BREAK MY HEART WITH A THOUSAND PERFECT NOTES?

WHERE ARE YOUR BOOKS AVAILABLE?

In Australia, Europe and New Zealand = in bookstores! If it’s not, ask them to get it in.

Rest of the world? Try ordering online at Amazon, Book Depository, Wordery, Booktopia, Waterstones.

OR ASK YOUR LIBRARY.

so if you’ve had a burning question and I missed it?! go ahead and askkkkk. i don’t bite! except when i’m very hungry. and let me know where you get inspiration for your writing from!!

It’s getting to the point where I realise my debut novel comes out in less than a week, and I’m just sit here thinking, “I DID IT???”

I’ve been working towards this for so so long. I often say “IT’S BEEN 5 YEARS IN AZKABAN” because it absolutely has and that’s no small length of time if you think about it. These last 5 years have been absolutely exhausting and full of heartbreak and encouragements and successes and nerves and triumphs — and now I get to actually hold my book???? I sometimes don’t know how to believe this is real.

I’ve been busting to share the details of my publishing journey with you! Every author tumbles into publishing a different way, but it’s interesting to read all the versions…so finally, here we go!

And please FEEL FREE when this post ends, to ask me questions! About publishing or A Thousand Perfect Notes! I may use some of the questions in a little Q&A on release day too.

Do you want to know how I started writing? I have one of those fantastic and heart-warming origin stories.

I was about 6 or 7 years old. I “wrote” the Three Little Bears out with eloquent illustrations and then told my family I’d invented it. HEARTWARMING, SEE? Later, at 12, my little sister started writing stories and was getting way too much attention, so I joined in. But it wasn’t till I was actually 15 that I finished a real book (it was probably barely 40K in retrospect ha) and thought, “Yep, this is going to be my life.”

Author. Bestseller. Adored all over the world. Etc. etc.

I grew up as a rather adorable book monster, the kind who’d hide with Tintin and Narnia on Christmas and ignore everyone, and my house was filled with books…so NONE OF THIS IS MY FAULT. I was doomed. I’ve always been obsessed with storytelling and had an incredible imagination — so figuring out I could tell my own stories plus control the ending plus (obviously) get famous for it someday was life changing.

What more could a little sharp-toothed, curious-eyed book monster want?

At 19, I was ready to start querying.

When I say “I researched”, I mean I was freaking obsessed with it. I still am, honestly. I still research and read and watch and listen to so much about the publishing world.

Before I queried, though: I had critique partners. I’d written dozens of (awful) books. I was really into a few teen writer communities and had feedback from authors. I religiously read advice and tips. I didn’t just work hard, I overworked hard, just in case you wonder if younger-me had some chill?

HAHA HAH AH. NEVER, NO.

 

• Writing out several versions of my query and ANGUISHING over them.
• I entered a few contests to get critiques.
• One (professional) author said, not only did my book not work, my query was awful too.
• I cried.
• Seriously querying is super hard on your self-esteem.
• I queried in the UK and USA. I’m in Australia, but this was 2013 and as much as I researched, I couldn’t find many Aussie agents?! I remember the biggest one took ONLY snail mail! Which they posted back to me…ya, thanks.
• I pretty much angsted and freaked out over making sure I followed every individual agent’s guidelines.
• I GOT REJECTIONS.
• I didn’t actually track it very well, because the rejections were devastating for me and I’m sooo not the whole “Put your rejections on the wall!” type of writer. My opinion on that: the heck no. I put encouragement on my walls, thanks.
• I did about 20-30 queries? Maybe less.
• They were all form rejections except…maybe…2?????
• Mostly there was nothing.
• Technically I’m still waiting to hear back from about 10 agents.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• I started to think Professional Author Who Said I Wasn’t A Good Writer was right…
• Then I got one yes.
• I only needed one yes.
• I signed with Polly Nolan @ Greenhouse Literary UK (who is, by the way, a super agent and our visions for my writing click so so well and I couldn’t be happier)!!! Seriously best moment.
• This took about 10 months all up.

Things did go slowly at first.

I was signed for a dark YA fantasy that I’d been rewriting and rEWRITING since I was 15, so it was like The Story™ but it needed help. We did a lot of editorial work first. (I still have no idea why I got signed loooool. I’m relieved I did! Don’t get me wrong! BUT HOW DID I GET SIGNED.) Then we went out on submissions to UK publishers.

Then we got rejected.

So my agent said, “What about another book? What about a contemporary?”

And I being (a) desperate, (b) incredibly motivated to work my eyeballs out, (c) wanting this dream to be a reality mORE THAN ANYTHING, (d) being excruciatingly good at saying “yes” and thinking later, and (e) really open to advice…

I said “I’D LOVE TO!”

(Note: I had written 15 books before this. None of which were contemporary.)

Apparently, it seems, I am tolerably good at contemporary. I insert a smug little cute smile here.

Because in 2015 I wrote a little book called “Tremolo.” After revisions and edits, my agent suggested the title, A Thousand Perfect Notes.

In 2016, when I was twenty-one, I signed a 2-book contemporary deal with Orchard / Hachette Children’s UK.

I actually got the email at 4am, because WHO SLEEPS (#insomniac #life) and waited until about 8am for my family to rise from the dead so I could just lurk awkwardly and stare at them which is absolutely how you convey you have a book deal. I swear, I’m super good at communication.

I stood atop a mountain for about 6 months, just screaming in relief. I am a good writer. I am worth a book deal. I worked so freaking hard and long for this and I made it.

(Also I apologies to everyone I ABSOLUTELY LIED TO for the 16 months between signing my deal and announcing it. Ha ha hahaha. Oh wow. I am great.)

Has it been a super easy road?! OH YOU SWEET SUMMER CHILD.

Haha hahha no.

As you can see, I didn’t have any magical shortcuts. I didn’t do query contests or pitchwars (I didn’t even have a twitter for ages?!) and I didn’t have 4989 agents asking for me or 9389 publishers vying for my book. I am the poster child of: “IT JUST TAKES ONE YES” for publishing. And it is so true. This is success and I am proud and happy! And freaKING NERVOUS.

I have social anxiety and autism, which makes communicating hard for me, but my agent and publisher has been 100% onboard with meeting my needs. I have a big online audience, but it actually did 0% in getting my book deal. (It’s the writing that’s important, peoples!) And little things went wrong along the way…like my ARCs didn’t have my copy-edits in them, and I didn’t get to do a cover reveal, and there’s been lots of niggling things behind-the-scenes that haven’t been perfect. I have stressed. I have eaten through a few brick walls.

I’m not telling you that to complain. I’m saying publishing isn’t perfectly smooth for anyone! It has its highs and lows. I’m pretty sure 0% of debut authors have got it all together.

And between all the waiting and hoping — I was writing. If I can ever give one piece of advice to writers pursuing publication: WRITE AND WRITE SOME MORE. Write literally millions of words. Nothing makes you better and more confident than sheer amounts of practise.

 

And the things I still can’t stop happily freaking out about??

Getting translation deals! Seeing people wanting for my book without me having to spend 398 years begging them to read it like I did pre-getting-a-deal (HAHAH LIFE IS SWEET). My editors saying the most AMAZING things about my owrk. Also my editor crying…oh oh my halo just slipped can someone grab that for me.

Having people understand my work. Having professionals improve my work and now my writing is 100 x better and I still can’t get over that. Having my book go to book festivals in Europe! Getting a gorgeous cover (!!!) Knowing I have a SECOND book coming out in 2019. My publishers bought a book off me that didn’t even EXIST yet. I still can’t get over how amazing that is.

And holding my hard work in my trembling paws and knowing that I finally finally did it after I thought I might never get here.

I am all sparkly and my heart is so full right now!

 

Also, I will just say: getting a book deal is wonderful for the self-confidence. 10/10 would recommend.

Thanks for coming along on this publishing journey! Even if you’ve just started reading my blog or been here for the last 7 years…it’s been amazing to share this with you! Look I’m getting emotional, ugh, someone bury me.

A Thousand Perfect Notes is out in just 5 days!

if you’re a writer, feel free to tell me what your journey has looked like so far! plus ASK ME QUESTIONS! about my book(s) or publishing! i am answering!