Readers! Long time, no talk. How the heck are ya?
Depending on your geography, you no doubt spent the past couple months either surfing the world’s most epic heat wave, or watching your extremities verge towards popsiclization.
Me? I’ve just gone through the seventh circle of hell with my family, which is to say we’ve moved house. Again. That makes twice in two years, only this time we threw in a state line for extra kicks. With 5 kids. During the holiday season. Which is also the end of the school year in Australia…
It was all super fun and totally awesome and something I wholeheartedly recommend to my absolute worst enemies. Seriously, guys. It’s the actual BEST.
We now live in Brisbane, which in peak summer, seems to have the climate of a swamp, but I’m told you get used to it. The coffee is pretty good, anyway.
I’ve spent most of the past couple weeks buying socks. Of course, there was also about a billion dollars’ worth of new uniforms and shoes and stationery, but really, you can just call me Queen of Socks now.
The kids finally started school last week, and in the midst of trying to figure out how to interior design my way around some really—ahem—“interesting” quirks in our new house, I am also deliciously excited by the prospect of putting my writer-poet-editor hat back on.
I know a lot of you made it your New Year’s resolution to invest more time and energy in your writing careers. How do I know this? Because I got queried 600% more in January than in any previous month. If you were one of the folks who contacted me and you haven’t heard back yet, please rest assured I was happy to receive your email and will be in touch really soon!
I also need to knuckle-down and file all the rejections I received on my own queries as it seems half of North America decided to kickstart 2019 by knocking back my work. I am at the point with both my fiction manuscript and my poetry collection where I keep getting feedback like: “This is beautifully written as is and will definitely find a home soon—just not here.” Ho hum.
I am also beyond thrilled to start reading again as I have a bunch of new beauties sitting on my desk that unfortunately were not compatible with trying to keep small children from drowning at the local pool in recent weeks.
So, with that said, Happy February, and here’s to a very literary 2019 from here on out for all of us!
x Nicole
WordMothers - for women writers & women’s writing 
Welcome to Brisbane, Nicole. I’ve been here 11 years. Not used to the swampiness yet… Maybe we will bump into each other at Avid Reader one day?
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Thank you, Kali! And yes, I would love that. I stopped attending as many events as I’d have liked in Sydney as it was just too much travel time to squeeze in some evenings, but it seems much easier here to zip around. 🙂
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Hi Nicole
All the best with QLD. Sending empathy to you we the demands of family! Hope you get to the water and breeze and time to write soon. Keep up your wonderful efforts with Word mothers xx
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Thank you, Adrienne! I hope 2019 is off to a good start for you guys and B in particular is enjoying HS. x
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Hi Nicole, welcome to Queensland. I’m from Toowoomba, on top of the range, so not so swampy here, but one of my favourite places in Brisbane is Southbank. All the best as you settle in.
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Thank you so much, Karen! My husband has distant family in Toowoomba, but I’ve never been. I like Southbank, too. We actually considered living in West End but the housing didn’t suit us. I’m still having fun exploring over there, though!
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What a wonderful positive attitude you have. Bring on 2019 for you with every success!
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Thank you! I’m trying to have a good attitude. It’s a bit overwhelming! I hope 2019 has started off well for you. 🙂
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Nicole, congratulations on surviving the house move. No fun at all but glad to see you can still laugh at it all. I hope you enjoy Brisbane, and that one of those publishers recognises that it really is the one to give your manuscript a home. x
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That’s lovely of you, Robyn, thank you! I hope your writing year is off to a good start. FYI one of my friends just finished The Anchoress and said it was “life-changing”, making her reflect on her role as a feminist and where she sees things going in the years to come. x
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Thanks Nicole! My research/ writing is moving a little more slowly than I’d like, but your news has given me such a lovely push along the way. ‘Life-changing’! That makes me teary. It doesn’t get any better than that. Thanks for letting me know, and please pass on my very best wishes and thanks to your friend xx
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I think it was that perfect situation of the book making her think about something when she was most open to thinking about it. Good luck with your research!
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