It’s a little shocking to realise it’s nearly two years since I sat down to write a post for my blog. Where did the time go? 2023 was a very mixed bag on the home front, starting with concussion after attempting (and failing) to be SuperGran on a flying fox (!) Indeed, family health issues, including hatching and dispatching, turned out to be the major themes of the year. We welcomed the birth of grandchild number three, a gorgeous big girl, Sunny in name and nature, born only a month before her great grandfather took his final breath at 96 years old. I’ve felt very lucky that my time is flexible enough to be able to offer help and support.
That said, I have still been squirreling away at writing, and I’m pleased to say that I have two new novels coming out this year — one a heart-squeezing YA, and one the first in a psychic thriller series for adults!
I think it’s fair to say I’ve done a lot of soul-searching over the past few years about my writing, questioning whether to continue publishing in the mainstream NZ market and whether anyone will want to read or publish what I write. I’ve written and rewritten, scrapping whole drafts (and one publishing contract) and starting again, self-doubt a crippling constant, that bastard little voice that whispers in my head doing its best to undermine me.
But after a few very rocky years that felt unrelentingly hard, I feel as if I’ve come through this with a much greater sense of peace and contentment. Therefore, I will continue writing where my heart leads me, regardless of financial returns or other expectations, and resolve to be fearless in this, expressing the things that burn inside me, and, perhaps most importantly, having fun, not caring about the destination, simply enjoying the process. It’s freed me up, and reignited my love for the craft — and, ultimately, has opened the door to new opportunities, for which I’m very grateful.
‘Gracehopper’ will be launched sometime in March/April (I’ll let you know!), published by One TreeHouse, a YA novel that’s recommended for older readers. The core of the idea came to me on a long stretch of motorway somewhere in Italy during 2014, but I didn’t start tackling it until 2019, and then took several swerves and backtracks before it finally came together as the book that will make its way into the world. It’s been painful, a teetering balancing act, several times needing extreme resuscitation, but it now lives and I’m proud to introduce you to it. Here’s the back cover blurb:
Born in the middle of Taiwan’s 1999 Jiji earthquake, 18-year-old Grace’s whole life has been impacted by its fallout. Now, as she faces an internal quake that’s potentially even more devastating, her ex-best friend Charlie suddenly reappears. Can all her questions finally be answered? Or is everything she thought she knew about to implode? It is a story about love and loss, friendship, countering differences, the search for a unique identity and the many faces of resilience.
At its heart it’s a love story between two unique souls, as well as an exploration of love in all its forms, and celebrates resilience in the face of enormous pressures, dedicated to every young person who’s had to be the grown-up. That’s all I’m going to tell you – apart from saying it does handle sensitive material, features the teachings of Bruce Lee, and will tug at your heartstrings!
The other book is a very different beast, closer to magic realism, though perhaps no less confronting in places. The first in my Chasing Ghosts series, Strays and Waifs will be published by The Cuba Press, and introduces the two main characters to each other, a reclusive grieving thirty-year-old climate activist turned writer Bella, and 70-year-old Freyja, a Danish immigrant and psychic empath, who is losing her eyesight due to macular degeneration. Thrown together after Bella’s West Coast hideaway is destroyed by a flood-induced landslide, the series is set on the Kāpiti Coast, these two very different women finding themselves embroiled in a shocking crime that puts them both at risk.
I spent 2023 writing the second book in the series, and plan to write a third this year. It’s been great fun, these two characters allowing me scope to explore several topics dear to my heart, including the urgency needed around climate change, the nature of activism, issues of loss and grief, and the healing power of generosity and love. I can’t wait for you to read it!
As the launch date approaches for each of these books, I’ll come back to you with more details. In the meantime, I hope your 2024 is filled with love and laughter — and that you’ll use your voice to support those less fortunate than you. This isn’t a time for standing back. We’re facing an existential threat of unimaginable proportions, alongside a slide backwards into the divisive actions and rhetoric of the past. Be brave. Be an ally to those in the firing line. Kia kaha!
Mandy Hager 