Enough angst, red wine and copious re-writes… the labour is over. I’ve sent my “baby” out into the world. I have emailed Shahkara to Harper Collins (they have a divine editor there who read my partial last year, liked Shahkara and asked me to send her the full MS, once it was lengthened by 25,000 words and polished up. Now the long wait begins! As long as the weather holds, I’ll be in Toowoomba for the weekend to share a belated Christmas gathering with my parents, sisters and ankle-biters. I can finally toast to Shahkara’s beginnings.
Shah has been such a long journey for me that I thought I wouldn’t want to touch any part of it for at least a few weeks. The universe is working for me and I’m already tapping out sentences for the second book, The Ghost She Killed. I can’t wait to explore and torture my characters a little bit (or a lot) more! So, bribe me with chocolates and nourish me with wine and coffee through a tube in my arm… it’s back to the saltmines.
Meanwhile, the stork will be pleased to hear there are more babies on the horizon. Both my sis-in-law and boss’s wife have announced they’re baking cookies. I can’t wait to meet them when they’re out of the oven. What is it with the drinking water at Bargara? And aren’t I drinking enough?