Welcome to my Winter 2025 Newsletter!

Thank you for reading! Though this is my winter newsletter, it’s looking like we’re in the last days of the cold season, and spring is poking its little glowing head above the horizon. 

Winter is a productive writing time for me, working with my editor (Olive the cat, pictured here, is not my editor) on the final stages of How to Rescue a Unicorn - out August 2025. I am also making my way through the first draft of How to Wrestle an Octopus, Book 3 of The Quests of Tiny Wilde series. Despite my effort to plot out a story, the characters don’t always do what you want them to do. Often, in the first draft of a story, they do nothing but stare back at you blankly when you’ve asked them nicely to go on an adventure and do adventurous things. Luckily, in the second draft, the characters often get the message that something exciting needs to happen to them. I hope my readers won’t want to put the book down until they get to the end!

• OLA Conference •

I had an amazing time at the Ontario Library Association’s Super Conference in Toronto in January. How cool is it to hang out with 4000 librarians? I chatted to many about How to Kidnap a Mermaid and signed a ton of copies for school libraries. Librarians inspire me because they’re often the first port of call for readers looking for their next great book. After the conference, I hit the streets and visited a multitude of bookstores with Tiny Wilde on their shelves, signed copies, and talked book biz with booksellers.

• School visits •

Because writing is a solitary pursuit, getting away from the computer to hang out with people who are not characters in a book is essential. As well as book signings and readings, I’ve started visiting classrooms to chat about fantasy fiction to young readers, and especially my favourite subject: Heroes and Villains….more on that in a future newsletter. 

• Books in short •

My own impossible creature (Hello, Ottoline) is mightily impressed with Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell. I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Rundell and this newest adventure is sure to be a classic of children’s literature. Unusual for me, I switched from the print version to the audio book, which seemed to suit the cinematic landscape of the story and its propulsive plot. Narrated by Samuel West (love him in the BBC TV show All Creatures Great and Small) who is great at setting the tone, his versatile voice brings the vibrant characters to life. Highly recommended!

• Adventures with cats•

Hard to gauge Ottoline's exact mood, but I think she's happy that winter is almost over. The birds have returned to the feeder, which is always a source of entertainment for our Impossible Creatures.

• Book Trailer•

Click here to watch the How to Kidnap a Mermaid book trailer!