Meet the Author: Elizabeth Foster

It’s my pleasure today to introduce Elizabeth Foster as part of the blog tour for her debut novel Esme’s Wish.

Elizabeth’s top tip for authors: Be bloody-minded about setting aside time to write. Shut off social media during your writing time – I have an app on my computer that blocks Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all the usual culprits! Also read, read, read.

Elizabeth Foster hails from Queensland originally, but now lives in Sydney. She loves swimming in the ocean, walking, and playing the piano (badly). As a child, she was called Dizzy Lizzy-which she regarded as an insult all her life, until she started writing. Now, daydreaming is a central part of what she does. Reading to her own kids reminded her of how much she missed getting lost in other worlds, and once she started writing stories, she couldn’t stop. She’s at her happiest when immersed in stories, plotting new conflicts and adventures for her characters. Esme’s Wish is her first novel.

Website: http://www.elizabethfoster.com.au

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethFosterAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/e_foster3

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethfoster_/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/efoster346/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36498756-esme-s-wish

AUTHOR INSIGHT

Why do you write? I write to explore new worlds and to experience new things. I am also intrigued with the alchemy of writing – the way a story can take on its own identity and sometimes feel like it is writing itself. It is a mysterious but fascinating process.

What would you be doing if you weren’t a writer? Anything which would enable me to express myself creatively. I dabbled in painting before I began writing so I would probably go back to that.

What was your toughest obstacle to becoming published? My book fell between the cracks when it came to finding a publisher. It crossed between the age categories of middle grade and young adult, a no-no for children’s literature. Esme’s Wish eventually found a home at Odyssey Books, a small press who like stories a little out of the ordinary, like mine!

How involved have you been in the development of your books? Do you have input into the cover/illustrations? I worked closely with Odyssey Books to bring the book to publication and also with Furea, a talented fantasy illustrator from Melbourne, who designed the cover.

What’s the best aspect of your writing life? I can set my own hours. I can write anywhere, although I prefer to write either at home or in familiar cafés. One of the other great aspects is the reading side of it. I always considered reading a luxury and put other things first, but now I make it a priority. I love that reading informs my writing – finally I’ve got permission to have my nose in a book!

—the worst? It can be hard to make time for the practicalities in life. Now that my book is published I have even more on my plate. But I wouldn’t trade my job for any other.

What would you do differently if you were starting out now as a writer? Be kinder to myself during those first baby steps of learning how to write, when self doubt can be crippling. Be more patient when obstacles come my way.

What do you wish you’d been told before you set out to become an author? That learning to trust the writing process would be the antidote to a lot of my fear. That establishing a routine and sticking to it, no matter what, would get my book written. That reading is crucial to writing.

What’s the best advice you were ever given? I like any words that inspire a can-do attitude or help build grit. Writers need plenty of that! One of my favourites is by Lao Tzu.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

BOOK BYTE

Esme’s Wish

Elizabeth Foster

 

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This was her last chance.

Her hand twisted high in the air.

When fifteen-year-old Esme Silver objects at her father’s wedding, her protest is dismissed as the actions of a stubborn, selfish teenager. Everyone else has accepted the loss of Esme’s mother, Ariane – so why can’t she?

But Esme is suspicious. She is sure that others are covering up the real reason for her mother’s disappearance – that ‘lost at sea’ is code for something more terrible, something she has a right to know.

After Esme is accidentally swept into the enchanted world of Aeolia, the truth begins to unfold. With her newfound friends, Daniel and Lillian, Esme retraces her mother’s steps in the glittering canal city of Esperance, untangling the threads of Ariane’s double life. But the more Esme discovers about Ariane, the more she questions whether she really knew her at all.

https://www.amazon.com/Esmes-Wish-Elizabeth-Foster-ebook/dp/B076N9WNTS

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/esmes-wish/id1299418557?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/esme-s-wish

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Elizabeth_Foster_Esme_s_Wish?id=Yso6DwAAQBAJ

Book depository (free postage)

https://www.bookdepository.com/Esmes-Wish-Elizabeth-Foster/9781925652246

Printed copies are also available from:

JWFK website- www.justkidslit.com/shop/young-adult-books/esmes-wish

Odyssey Books   – http://odysseybooks.com.au/titles/9781925652246/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘GIFT’ YOURSELF WITH ESME’S WISH! #BOOKGIVEAWAY!

Simply like or comment on any website or social media post on the Books On Tour Blog Blitz for Esme’s Wish for your chance to WIN a signed copy of this remarkable book.

For more details please click here.

For more information on blog tours at Books On Tour please visit www.justkidslit.com/books-on-tour.

 

 

 

Meet the Author: Lois Murphy

Lois’s top tip for aspiring authors: One thing I always do is read my work aloud. It is essential for balancing sentences, getting them to flow and identifying redundant words and clunky phrasing. When you’re close to a work, your eye tends to skim it, but you can always pick up clumsy writing by hearing it.

Lois Murphy has travelled widely, most recently spending six years exploring Australia in a homemade 4WD truck, working mainly in small or remote towns. After four years in Darwin, she made a break for a cooler climate, moving to Tasmania in 2014.  She has had work published in a range of literary journals and anthologies, and has won a handful of prizes for her writing, including the Northern Territory Literary Award and the Sisters in Crime Best New Talent Prize.

Her first novel, Soon, won the 2015 Tasmanian Premier’s Prize for Best Unpublished Manuscript, and has just been published by Transit Lounge.

To find out more about Lois, visit her website www.loismurphy.wordpress.com

AUTHOR INSIGHT

Why do you write? The answer to this is quick and easy – because I enjoy it immensely and it’s fun. I can create worlds and people and explore them and then share them, which is pretty great.

What would you be doing if you weren’t a writer? I’ve always daydreamed a lot, so I’d probably spend a lot of time staring out of windows. I do quite a lot of visual art practice too; my favourite mediums to work in are glass and ceramics.

What was your toughest obstacle to becoming published? Probably me. I’m not someone who pushes themselves forward, and lack of confidence is always an issue, so I found approaching publishers difficult to begin with. And I find the current processes of sending them work off-putting as well, the focus on a ‘pitch’ – reducing a creative work that’s taken you years to a marketing slogan. I find the whole concept a bit soul destroying, it has so little to do with creativity.

What’s the best aspect of your writing life? When a story works, when it hooks you and it’s like coming up for air when you stop because you’ve been so immersed in it all. The ultimate escapism.

—the worst? Justifying the time you spend on it. There’s always so much to do and sometimes it can be hard to relax and enjoy something that seems such an indulgent pastime.

What would you do differently if you were starting out now as a writer? I would be more confident in sending work out, not be so hesitant. Getting work accepted and published is hugely helpful, in many ways.

What do you wish you’d been told before you set out to become an author? I didn’t really set out to become an author, I just write because I enjoy it. For many years I mainly wrote letters to people. I always wanted to write a book though, it seemed such a huge thing to do, such an achievement. I think, probably, write for yourself, write what you enjoy, don’t try to emulate.

What’s the best advice you were ever given? For me, one of the best things I ever did was voluntary editorial work at a couple of literary journals. Reading the sort of work writers send in helps tremendously, you get to see where people tend to go wrong. The most common problem is lack of an actual story, just an idea left hanging. No matter how great the writing is, there has to be a point. And get rid of adverbs and adjectives, keep the writing clear and fresh, not bogged down with descriptives.

Soon

Lois Murphy

• Winner of Tasmanian Premier’s Prize for an Unpublished
  Manuscript
  • The story of an ex-cop and a haunted and dying
  Australian town and the handful of residents who can’t,
  or won’t, leave
  • Literary thriller with a page-turning plot. Heralds a
  compelling new talent

An almost deserted town in the middle of nowhere,
Nebulah’s days of mining and farming prosperity – if they
ever truly existed – are long gone. These days even the
name on the road sign into town has been removed. Yet
for Pete, an ex-policeman, Milly, Li and a small band of
others, it’s the only place they have ever felt at home.
One winter solstice the birds disappear. A strange,
residual and mysterious mist arrives. It is a real and potent
force, yet also strangely emblematic of the complacency
and unease that afflicts so many of our small towns, and
the country that Murphy knows so well.
Partly inspired by the true story of Wittenoom, the ill-fated
West Australian asbestos town, Soon is the story of the
death of a haunted town, and the plight of the people
who either won’t, or simply can’t, abandon all they have
ever had. With finely wrought characters and brilliant
storytelling, it is a taut and original novel, where the
people we come to know, and those who are drawn to
the town’s intrigue, must ultimately fight for survival.

Sales site: http://transitlounge.com.au/shop/soon/