Update or "what I did this
summer".
Any essays starting with that title is
a bore. It was an horrible assignment in school - who did anything
during their summer in the 70's? We didn't travel much, and we lived
on the coast, so my childhood summers where rainy and cold,
intercepted by moments of sunshine when everybody rushed out in the
garden to play or sunbathe. And then it rained again.
I did a lot of reading.
This summer I have had little time for
other books than my own, although I did read Alec Scarrows
TimeRaiders series - wonderful stuff) - I ploughed through all seven
in two weeks ...
I've just finished the first draft of
the 13th book, and cyperspaced it through to my editor. I'll get it
back for rewrite on Monday. I've already started on the 14th and last
book in the series. A weird feeling. Nice to finish something I've
worked so hard on, and a bit sad to say goodbye to characters I've
lived with for three years.
And then I'll start something totally
new, a project that fell out of the sky thanks to my very brilliant
editor, and I can't wait to see where it will go. It's going to be
great fun, and I'm having to be very disciplined now, not to start
too early ...
September will be more than busy enough
with what I have going on, so not a good idea to start new things too
soon.
September 9th is publishing day for the
12th book. Always nice to see my books in stores - especially since
I'm blessed with a great illustrator. Check the front page!
Then on September 14th I'm joining book
bloggers from all over Norway, and I think a few Swedish, on an all
day meeting/dinner during the Oslo Book Festival. It's the second
year they arrange it, and I wouldn't miss it for the world.
Discussing books with a group of super-readers - what could be
better?
On September 16th my new magazine
series starts running in Sweden (Hämmet), then on September 23rd the
same series starts in Norway (Hjemmet). (this means "Home"
in Swedish and Norwegian, and are two of the longest running magazine
publications in both countries).
The series will run for 7 weeks. I love
it when I get an assignment like that. The two editors in Hämmet and
Hjemmet wanted me to write something they could both use, and I had
so much fun writing the story. It's set in the same time period as my
book series (1793), and in Oslo (or Christiania as it was called
then), but with totally different characters. I'm turning into quite
the expert on the "golden period" in Norway - a period of
about 20 years where a handful of people made ginormous amounts of
money and did things like having their shirts and underwear starched
and ironed in London! Mary Wollstonecraft wrote letters from her
Nordic travels, and she was quite shocked about the luxurious living
...
Happy September
Natalie
