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Author, Sara Foster, writes a letter to her 30 y.o. self

A LETTER TO MYSELF BANNERDear Sara,

Happy 30th birthday from your 40-year-old self. Everything is so new at the moment: you are newly married, still fairly new to living in Perth, in a new house, with new freelance editing contracts for Australian publishers rather than UK publishers. I’m happy to tell you that all those decisions will be great ones, lucky you! Therefore, I wish I could spare you the anxiety of worrying about everything, but then that’s just part of who you are! It can never be said that you make a decision without thinking it through (sometimes tying your mind into knots)!

Life is looking good, but the next ten years will be beyond anything you can dream of right now. You haven’t even finished your first book yet, and you’re not convinced you can do it, but soon you’ll have finished not one but two books, and in the next decade you’ll finish – and publish – FOUR! Not only that but two little girls will come along and turn your life upside down and create merry chaos but will bring unimaginable riches and purpose into your life. In fact, it’s very hard to think back beyond their existence, because your mind is still slightly blurred by six years of uneven sleep and the many demands of a young family.

You are capable of so much more than you think you are right now. But I’m glad I can’t go back and tell you, because I can see that it’s been really important for you to discover this a little bit at a time. In the process you have taught yourself a lot about who you are, and what you can and can’t deal with. Which is much more valuable than someone else telling you – even an older version of yourself.

Finally, when you get on a boat with Germaine Greer, don’t try to talk to her about sea eagles – it’s just not worth it. 🙂

Love,

40-Year-Old You!

all_that_is_lost_COVER-2-page-001Sara Foster Image 1 (2016) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sara Foster is the bestselling author of four novels, All That is Lost Between Us, Shallow Breath, Beneath the Shadows and Come Back to Me. She lives in Perth, WA, with her husband and two young daughters. To find out more visit

www.sarafoster.com.au or

www.facebook.com/sarafosterauthor

BUY All That Is Between Us now by clicking on the links: Amazon eBook  OR  a PRINT copy from Booktopia

HAPPY FOURTH BOOK, Sara.

Now, did you know…?

My fourth novel opens with a character writing a letter, which is what prompted this blog series. And not just any letter. It’s a story –perhaps the most important he’ll ever tell.

The Other Side of the SeasonReady for a sea change

Everything has a reflection…

And there’s another side to every story.

Life is simple on top of the mountain for David, Matthew and Tilly until the winter of 1979 when tragedy strikes, starting a chain reaction that will ruin lives for years to come. Those who can, escape the Greenhill banana plantation on the outskirts of Coffs Harbour. One stays—trapped for the next thirty years on the mountain and haunted by memories and lost dreams. That is until the arrival of a curious young woman, named Sidney, whose love of family shows everyone the truth can heal, what’s wrong can be righted, the lost can be found, and…

. . . there’s another side to every story.

PRE-ORDER your copy now from Amazon, KoboiTunes, or

Booktopia

 

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I’m The Next Big Thing apparently!

TNBTBanana
Okay, I know this Next Big Thing thing is BIG, and even though I’m fond of my town emblem, the banana is probably NQR. (Oh, anyone familiar with edits will know those letters stand for ‘Not Quite Right’. And I should know as I am mid-edits for the very first time. NQR is now tattooed on my brain!)
So what is Next Big Thing?
It’s a kind of online chain letter (and who am I to break the chain, given we are two days out from the next Apocalypse).
Sara Foster (who took part in my Author Harvest blog – delightful woman) tagged me as part of The Next Big Thing. I get to tell you about my current book (see Q&A below) and then I drag tag four unsuspecting, gullible, naive, lovely, supportive, generous writer friends: Allison Tait, Cate Ellink, Kerrie Paterson and Lily Malone to do the same. Then we promote each other to billy-o. (That’s okay as I am particularly keen for you to get to know these ladies. All three have debut novels due out next year, like me. 🙂
So, without further excuses (or desperate measures to avoid this “Amway of the author network”) here goes…
1) What is the working title of your current/next book?
House for all Seasons – my debut novel – will be available March 1, 2013. The Simmering Season will follow 12 months later. (Both perfectly timed for Mother’s Day).
2) Where did the idea come from?
See inspiration answer – Q9
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Contemporary Australian fiction (and I love the tag line on my gorgeous cover “Small towns can keep big secrets”)
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Oooh, what an exciting thought! Four strong females. Too easy…
Cute as a button Abbey Cornish (Sara), Tall, lanky kick-arse Cate Blanchett (Poppy), fiery, feminine and fabulous Nicole Kidman (Amber), all-around good egg, Toni Collette (Caitlin).
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Four women, four unravelled lives. The truth will bind them forever. (Okay, so that’s two sentences. (Yes, I am author. I recognise that! But it’s my blog.)
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
The delightful Clare Foster (Curtis brown Literary Agency) sold my two books to the amazing Larissa Edwards, who heads up publishing at Simon & Schuster, Australia.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft?
The first draft (50,000) words was courtesy of NaNoWriMo 2010.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I am influenced and encouraged by different books for the authors specific styles/strengths: Lisa Heidke’s witty dialogue; Posie Graeme-Evans’ stunning scene-setting, Sara Foster’s wicked weaving of plots and characters; Monica McInerney’s eclectic cast and clever characterisation; the mischievous Marian Keyes for the giggle factor, and Jodi Picoult’s tackling of real-life issues.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I remember it was early spring. I was sitting outside relishing the warmth on my face after a cold, cold winter and appreciating the different seasons we get to experience here in Australia.

The changing seasons inspire me. I love the contrast – and contrast makes for great characters and conflict. So I wanted to create four female characters as different as the seasons.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Why, the blurb – of course!

Bequeathed a century-old house, four estranged friends return to their New South Wales hometown, Calingarry Crossing, where each must stay a season at the Dandelion House to fulfil the wishes of their benefactor, Gypsy.

But coming home to the country stirs shameful memories of the past, including the tragic end-of-school muck up day accident twenty years earlier.

Poppy, a tough, ambitions journo still craving her father’s approval;

Sara, a breast cancer survivor afraid to fall in love;

Amber, a spoilt socialite addicted to painkillers and cosmetic procedures;

Caitlin, a third generation doctor frustrated by a controlling family and her flat-lining life.

At the Dandelion House, the women will discover something about themselves and a secret that ties all four to each other and to the house – forever.

So here we are. The Next Big Thing is done and dusted. Quite painless (although maybe I haven’t got it quite right as I think I’ve been double tagged with Pamela Cook in the new year. But that’s okay. Looking forward to it.)
Over to you fellow DIGRITS: Lily, Kerrie and Cate.
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Author Harvest ‘bales up’ Sara Foster

Jenn J McLeod Sara Foster

I’m pretty excited to have ‘baled up’ Sara Foster for Author Harvest. It’s a bit of a fan moment *blush* having this author of three novels: Come Back to Me (Finished it last week. Intriguing!); Beneath The Shadows; and her latest released Shallow Breath.

Enough of that though. Let’s get to the important stuff. Tell everyone what you’ve whipped up for me today, Sara.

I love scones but haven’t tried making them. Would you like some chocolate cake or lemon drizzle cake instead?

(Yes, a little bit of both would be lovely. Thanks for offering! Umm, a little bit more… Yes, cream AND ice cream would be lovely. No, no, I’m fine, keep going… I’ll tell you when to stop.)

At home…

My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes at home, a closet gnomer or with a strict ‘no gnomes’ policy at your place?

We haven’t been blessed with any gnome dwellers at our place as yet, but if we struck lucky and one decided to set up camp here, I should imagine we’d be pretty loud and proud about it. (We do have a lot of smurfs, so I don’t think gnomes are too far away.)

(Sara, you may be aware of the recent court case in which Smurfs claimed they were, in fact, gnomes. Apparently they argued their case until they were blue in the face… hehehehehe!)

What vegetable (or fruit) have you always wanted to grow at home?

I always have ambitious plans for veggie patches – we have had some success with rampant zucchini, self-seeding tomatoes (which escaped the compost bin) and a zealous lemon tree – but I’d love to be able to grow more – potatoes, watermelon, onions, carrots, tomatoes, I’ll eat them all!

If I came to your home and looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?

If it’s a Monday you’ll find lots of fresh veggies. If it’s a Friday you’ll find few veggies, and a bottle of wine.

If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)

I don’t sort it by colour (but I do sort it by garment type!). I think you would find a lot of neutrals with some splashes of colour now and then. (Hmm, sounds a bit boring!)

What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)

Luckily (because I will be honest) I’m wearing a blue Dangerfield dress and leggings.

(I’ll be honest. I have not idea what A Dnagerfield dress is. Should I? All I can picture is Rodney Dangerfield  in drag. Not pretty! 

It gets worse. After searching for a suitable image and finding this one, now all I can hear is Fozzie Bear going: “Wocka Wocka Wocka!” )

Whose home would you like to housesit and why?

This is a very useful question! If any readers out there have a property in the Lake District suitable for an enthusiastic couple and a house-trained three-year-old, let me know as I’m planning to do some research there next year and as yet have nowhere to stay!

Country curiosities…

We love a sunburnt country (slip, slop, slap and all that). What’s your ideal hat? Or are you a boots person?

I find hats hard – they look nice but I don’t enjoy wearing many of them. I do like bandanas – they don’t fly off so easily in windy Perth. I sometimes worry that bandanas have an ‘age-by’ date (which I may have already passed), but I don’t want to stop wearing them!

(I like scarves – not that I can wear one without looking like ‘Con the Fruiterer’. Instead I put one of my characters in scarves.)

If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?

Again, too much choice! Today I’d be a cat so I could curl up and have a nice long nap.

Now for the big question… Why did the chicken cross the road?

Because the grass is always greener on the other side?

About you…

Your turning point: when was that point in your life that you realized that being anJenn J McLeod Sara Foster author was no longer going to be just a dream but a reality and a career?

Sometimes I still feel like I’m in the dream! I’d say a big turning point was going to Sydney to meet publishers, and signing my first contract with Random House. Or perhaps even just getting an agent – that was a big score.

(I think you have a cover angel looking after your designs too.)

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

The business side of writing is sometimes tough, but at other times exciting. Deadlines can also be daunting, but I’m getting used to it!

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

Planet Foz – because some of my friends call me Foz, and I’m often in my own little world.

(Oh no! Now I am totally fixated on Fozzie Bear. Now all I can picture is YOU plucking away at your keyboard saying: “Wocka, Wocka, Wocka!!”)

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

Q: How does it feel to have sold a million books in the first week of publication?

A: Amazing.

(Oh! Yeah! Love it!)

Fun stuff…

What does your protagonist think about you? Would he or she want to hang out with you, the author, his/her creator.

I’m pretty sure I would get on well with all my protagonists – but we have already hung out intensely, and there comes a point where we both need a break!

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

I always find it hard naming just one. Perhaps the Dalai Lama would be fun – to experience that much inner peace would be lovely.

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?)

I’d read you the first two chapters of my book!

(I have to say… that single question at the beginning of chapter one is powerful stuff. And that, reader/writers, is some hook!)

What food would you be?

Chocolate – then I’d eat myself.

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Enormous sandwiches.

(Oh, good thinking. I’ll be in that? What’s your favourite filling?? Mine is peanut butter and vegemite together. Yum! )

Name 5 uses for a stapler that has no staple pins.

  1. Giving it to a three year old. Stated purpose: ‘safely practicing stapling’. Real purpose: ‘five minutes of peace.’
  2. Covering with green paint and pretending it’s a crocodile to entertain said child.
  3. Litter picking tiny pairs of worn pants found in random places.
  4. Removing old pieces of toast that have been hidden down sofas, under car seats, etc.
  5. Pretend microphone (for child, not me of course!)

 (Inspired!)

How weird are you? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very).

Sometimes 1, sometimes 10, depends on the day (and who you ask).

(And if you have a stapler in your hand at the time!)

Sara’s books are fantastic reads (have just finished Come Back To Me). Her latest – Shallow Breath – is out NOW. For information about Sara and all her books – http://www.sarafoster.com.au/

Blurb: Shallow Breath

Two years ago, Desi Priest made a horrific mistake and destroyed her family.

Now, she is coming home to make amends: to her daughter Maya, who’s nurturing her own dangerous plan; to her brother Jackson, who blames himself; and to her close friend Pete, who has spent years shielding her from a devastating truth.

But as Desi returns to her beloved house by the ocean, there is a stranger waiting for her. Someone who needs her help. Someone whose arrival will reveal a chain of secrets hidden for over twenty years.

And one by one the family will be forced to confront the possibility that they have somehow got things terribly, tragically wrong …

Set across five continents, Shallow Breath is a compelling novel of dashed dreams and second chances. But most of all it is a story about love, and what it really means to be free.

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Author Harvest is just getting started. There’s plenty more in store with, summer, autumn and winter harvest.