Want to give somebody an escape to the country this Christmas? Put a copy of Magpie's Bend, Bottlebrush Creek and Wildflower Ridge under the Christmas tree for your loved ones, I'm sure they'll be thrilled with a bookish treat these summer holidays. 

Recommendations from far and wide

Are you making a list and checking it twice? If you’re still searching for inspiration, don’t miss this Christmassy blog, where a dozen fabulous bloggers, librarians, booksellers and bookstagrammers are sharing their advice this December. See what books they’ve loved this year, and what they’re hoping to find under the Christmas tree!

I’ve shared one of my favourite reads with Casey Cardinia Libraries HERE and I’ll join an array of fantastic authors on the Writers4Women podcast soon to share the books I’m gifting this Christmas, and what I’d like to receive. Keep an eye out for the video version of the episode on YouTube and the audio-only version HERE, going live soon. I also had fun collaborating with several author friends on this video, I can't tell you how many laughs we had making our little clip. Big thanks to Sandie Docker for putting the fun Christmas promo together.

Festive reading frenzy

My family and I have been in quite the festive reading bubble this month, with a range of great Christmas-themed books coming our way. I absolutely loved Midnight in the Snow by Karen Swan (see below for the giveaway), sobbed my way through Nicholas Sparks’ The Wish, and have Sarah Morgan’s The Christmas Escape to look forward to later this month. My youngest and oldest bookworms both adored JK Rowling’s new novel The Christmas Pig (perfect for ages 9 and up), and my tween bookworm stole my copy of the YA novel Stay Another Day by Juno Dawson.

Although it’s aimed at teenagers, she was captivated the whole way and refused to give it back until she’d turned the last page. Matthew Haig’s illustrated novel A Mouse Called Miika is a great read for budding bookworms (Miss 9 is currently halfway through), and we were so pleased to see my new nephew Henry (below) enjoying the two beautiful picture books Fire Truck Santa and Little Bilby’s Aussie Bush Christmas. If you’re looking for Christmas themed books to put under the tree, these eight received our family’s tick of approval.

Many thanks to Hachette, Pan Macmillan, Harper Collins and Allen & Unwin for sending them our way.

Christmas giveaway - Midnight in the Snow

As a prolific reader, it's a delight to discover another fabulous 'new to me' author with an extensive backlist. Karen Swan's new release Midnight in the Snow was everything I was looking for in a holiday-themed romance. There was sharp conflict between main characters Clover and Kit, plenty of chemistry, an alpine setting and a series of nerve-wracking twists that had me questioning whether they'd find their happily ever after.

For your chance to win a copy of Midnight in the Snow, simply head to my website and tell me something you’re grateful for in 2021. Thanks to Pan Macmillan for the review and giveaway copies. Aussie addresses only please and get in quick, this contest is only open for the weekend.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

It’s so great to see newsletter subscribers receiving their prize packs from the pre-Christmas book buzz contest! Patricia in Queensland (left) will be on a historical reading binge thanks to her pack from Penguin Random House, Rosa from Victoria has a white-knuckle ride ahead with her thrillers from Allen & Unwin in the October newsletter contest, and little Evie (9) and Layla (6) from Victoria have oodles of summer holiday joy ahead with their junior book pack from Allen & Unwin too.

Thanks to everyone who entered and apologies again for the dramas with the copy-cat scammers. Unfortunately, these saboteurs are notorious for hijacking giveaways, and I appreciate your help reporting the problem to Facebook and alerting me to the issue. If you enter my contests, I will NEVER ask for bank details or personal information via social media, or ask you to click any links.

Christmas baking

This month is all about the Christmas baking in our kitchen. We’ll be cracking out our beloved gingerbread recipe (in the photo below). I've been making this recipe for many years, and found the gingerbread house templates here. I'll also be making make nuts and bolts (this year I’ll try this recipe from Sophie Hansen plus her Christmas pudding here) and I’ve already got Fiona Lowe's fruit cake tightly wrapped in the fridge, waiting for lashings of brandy icing.

Around the property...

Summer means dahlias, and you betcha I’m excited for the coming season! I’m expecting the first blooms mid-December, then it will be an explosion of colour next month. We’ve got plenty of poppies looking gorgeous, including the gigantic peony poppy. If you’d like poppy seeds for your garden, I’m happy to share if you send me a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Just reply to this email and I’ll forward you my mailing address (and if you send a DL-sized envelope, I’ll pop a bookmark in too).

The strawberries are going great guns, the sweet peas could rival a perfumery and the first flush of roses has been glorious. The last two years I've ordered through Wagner’s Roses, with the bare root roses arriving mid-winter via mail. I see they have a 24-hour sale on Sunday with 20% off, which could be perfect if you're looking for new roses. Apologies in advance for the hours you might spend browsing, feel free to message me if you want recommendations. Soul Sister (below) is a gorgeous new addition this year, a real winner!

From my writing desk

November saw the intense tail end of structural edits, with days disappearing in a blur as I raced to meet my biggest deadline of the year. Each stage of writing a book has its unique challenges, and I find the structural edit the most difficult. After nine months of dreaming up the story (first draft), then a good hard attempt to whip it into shape myself (second and third draft), the structural edit is the bit where a writer must reimagine the story and refine the plotlines and characters with guidance from their publisher.

Each publishing house handles the process differently, but this stage identifies things that aren’t working, or sluggish chapters, and it’s my job to fix it with lots of rewriting, cutting, brainstorming and occasionally the odd ‘I can’t do this’ moment when a scene or character refuses to behave. The whole family celebrated when I came out the other end! My daughter surprised me with a lovely puff pastry ‘congratulations’ dessert the night I hit ‘send’ and I had a lovely week off to recover.

I’ll get back to working on the first draft of book five until my copy edits for Rosella Hill come through on December 20. Like most authors with winter releases, I’ll be tackling line-edit changes through the holiday break. This is the smaller picture edit, things like ensuring the characters have the same eye colour throughout, and the story flows throughout.

Events near and far

November was busy on the event front! As well as a live talk at the Portland Probus Club, I hosted an in-person event with Rachael Johns for Glenelg Libraries (with Rach zooming in from WA to talk about her new release Outback Secrets), I was a virtual guest on a genre fiction panel at the Moreton Bay Readers and Writers Festival, and a guest on the Courageous Creatives podcast. I also snuck across to Port Fairy to attend a launch for debut rural crime author, Margaret Hickey, at Blarney Books & Art and had the pleasure of speaking to a room full of keen readers at a Warrnambool book club yesterday.

After so many months doing strictly Zoom events, it’s lovely to be back attending events in the flesh and meeting readers and writers face to face.

On the top of my TBR pile

I've just started Garry Disher's latest crime novel The Way it is Now, which was released last month by Text Publishing. My first Disher novel, the story is off to a solid start and from all accounts, it should keep me gripped the whole way through. If you like police thrillers, this one is likely to be a great addition to your summer TBR (to be read) pile.

That’s it for me this month. Stay well, folks! Wishing you and your family a safe and sunshiny summer break, and festive well wishes from our home to yours. Love, Maya

Until next month...