Here come the nerves!

I always get nervous at this point in time – nervous and excited – because my new book Pictures of Lily is now on the bookshelves in bookshops. All my friends and family are going to read it and let me know what they make of it. But even more frightening and wonderful than that, is hearing what the readers think. I’m usually too terrified to look at the online reviews at first – it takes my husband to force me – but so far I’ve been lucky. I only hope that that luck holds out for my fourth book.

I still can’t believe I’ve written four books – or that I’m working on my fifth and currently daydreaming about the storyline for my sixth. In my head I’ve developed this whole parallel universe where my novels and my characters tie in to each other. Pictures of Lily links in to my first book, Lucy in the Sky, although it’s not strictly a sequel. It’s about a girl called Lily who’s still in love with a man she met when she was just sixteen. Her current boyfriend is Richard – who readers may remember was Nathan’s builder buddy from Lucy in the Sky (they travelled to the UK together). Richard is still mates with Nathan, Lucy, Sam and Molly so we get a chance to revisit their world in Sydney as a result. I always write my books in the first person, so talking about former heroine Lucy in the third person felt a bit strange, but it was still nice to write about everyone again and update their story. I hope my readers agree.

Luis from Chasing Daisy also gets a small mention, and Johnny from Johnny Be Good gets a nod, too, but my fifth book will do more than merely ‘nod’ to him. I’m currently writing the sequel to Johnny Be Good, so my readers will finally discover what happened to Meg, Christian and that infamous blond-haired, green-eyed rock star. I’m only 8,000 words in, but Meg and Christian are now living in the South of France with their one-year-old son who bears no resemblance to his so-called dad. Meg is living in fear that the truth will come out about her son’s real father – and in fact, it’s only a matter of time…

I’d better crack on – that book isn’t going to write itself – but I’ll be watching the internet behind closed fingers, waiting for those first reviews to appear. My first review though, will come from my mum – who I dedicated this book to. I’ve only received two finished copies of Pictures of Lily from my lovely publishers so far – the others are on their way – but I immediately sent one of these to my mum in Australia. She helped me research the book at Christmas – driving me around the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, where I grew up, so I hope she enjoys it. Here come the nerves again – I won’t have to wait much longer before I find out…