Firstly, a happy new year to you and yours! Wishing you all a marvellous 2013 - chockablock with love and laughter. I am already sure this is going to be a humdinger of a year for me. For starters it is sandwiched by my favourite number - 23 - so I can’t go wrong!

2012 was an interesting year, to put it mildly. Finding myself between publishers and agents at the same time has been a frustrating experience, but one which I am confident this year will put to rights, and quickly. There have never been more opportunites for authors but, paradoxically, there has never been as much confusion either. There are new rules being written daily, together with new technologies, and (unfortunately!) it is no longer enough to sit at home and just write. This will be the challenge for me going forward, and one which I shall have to force myself to face.

 So - what next? Well, the new book is all ready to go, and I should have news regarding the publisher in the very near future. Nefarious Doings introduces Nell Forrest, a somewhat reluctant heroine, who lives in the fictional town of Majic. It was great fun to write and I’m confident it will be great fun to read also. In fact, I found Nell and her world so enjoyable that the sequel is already well on the way!

There is also another book in the offing, a more serious one titled Gemini, plus The Invisible Woman, and other remarkable phenonomena of middle-age - a non-fiction exploration of middle-age for women that was put on hold last year but is about to make a re-appearance. I hope that both will be ready to be flung out into the world in the latter half of the year.

Now, apologies for all those who entered the bookshelf competition - I enjoyed the entries thoroughly (they were all featured on my facebook page), but the actual drawing of winners got lost in the pre-Christmas build-up. So - drumroll please - the winners are Helen Verheij and Colleen Stewart. I’ll contact you both directly to arrange delivery of the books.

I’d also like to thank the Eastern Regional Library Service for asking me to be their ambassador for the National Year of Reading last year. It was a terrific year and a great honour to be involved. For the youtube video (featuring yours truly!), click here.

And great news that the Australian Women Writers challenge is continuing into 2013. This wonderful initiative promotes  all our women writers, while providing an interactive platform for reviews and information to support writers and readers alike.

Finally, a big thank-you to everybody who sent me emails regarding the e-book released in January. Ones a poner time was a bit more personal than most of the stuff I write so it was lovely to get such positive feedback.  For those interested, the book is available on Smashwords and Amazon.

So here’s to a wonderful 2013 to you all. Hope you’re all looking forward to it as much as me! 



Cheers, Ilsa Evans