November is a difficult time for me, a time when my mind draws me back to the past. I’m reminded of all the reasons my life, my perspective and my priorities have changed so much in the last six years but mostly I’m reminded of the little man who went through such awful things and who taught me so much. My son Nathan.
But even as I stand still and reflect, the world doesn’t stop with me. Everything moves on and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I haven’t moved on from the death of my son, I’m not ‘over it,’ but I have accepted that life has continued and that I’ve been swept along with the flow of time. So as I stood still for a little while this month, life has continued at a pace and with a deep breath I’m back in the present catching up with all my author duties.
That oh-so important contract for books three and four has now been signed although there was a little surprise in there for me. As well as two new books, HarperCollins would like me to write two short stories. Gulp! It’s most definitely a new challenge and after the initial shock I’m starting to quite like the idea of working on something that should take shape much more quickly than the year-long process of finishing a full length manuscript.
So what else is new…the dates for publication have so far been confirmed as 14th March 2013 in the UK for Another Way to Fall and 12th February 2013 in the US for Yesterday’s Sun. I’m also thrilled that along with Yesterday’s Sun, Another Way to Fall is also going to be published in Germany.
As I write this I’m on my way home after another trip to London where yesterday I met my new editor Kim Young who’s covering maternity leave for Sarah and to top the day I was invited to the Harper Fiction Christmas Party at the Ivy. I had an absolutely lovely time and it was really good to get to know more of the team at HarperCollins as well as meeting some pretty fab authors too. Writing can be quite a solitary profession so thank you to Harper for arranging this festive group hug!
And now I take another deep breath…I’m looking forward to another exciting year knowing full well how privileged I am to have good friends and family around me who help me look to the future without ever losing sight of the past.
AMANDA BROOKE Author 