But a happy new year for me
After my rather depressing post last time about the closure of libraries in Newcastle, this is a rather more up-beat welcome to the new year from me. It was great to get the first draft of my new VERA novel to my lovely agent just before Christmas. The first reponse from her, and from Moses my agent in the US, was positive, and I'm looking forward to working on the edits. DEAD WATER, the new Shetland book, will be published at the end of the month, and I can't wait to to launch it in Mareel the brilliant arts' centre in Lerwick just after the fire festival of Up Helly Aa.
February sees a tour of Scottish Waterstones (DEAD WATER will be their book of the month north of the border) and I'm specially excited about the event in Glasgow where I'll be joining up with Chris Stout, Fair Islander and fiddle-player extraordinary. He'll join me in Newcastle for the Lit and Phil launch too. Later in February I'll be south for events in London, Wokingham and Chorleywood and there are plans for a tour of indie bookshops too. Check out my events page. Confirmed dates are already there and we'll add details as soon as we have them.
There's lots to look forward to on the broadcast front too. The third series of VERA finishes filming this month and will be broadcast later in the year. The scripts have been wonderful and I can't wait to see it. We're still waiting for a broadcast date for SHETLAND. This is frustrating for us, but like the BBC, we know that it deserves the best possible audience so we're happy to wait for the optimum slot.
2013 will see my first book published in the US for a while. The success of VERA there has persuaded my publisher that an overweight and shabby female detective might be popular after all, and SILENT VOICES will come out in May. I'll be at the Malice Domestic convention in Maryland. If you're there, do come and say hello.
And that's about as far ahead as I can look, now. I know that I'll be spending a lot of time in Shetland researching and writing the second book in the new quartet, and that's always a treat.
A big thanks to the support team who have helped throughout 2012 - Sara Menguc and her associates worldwide, Rebecca Watson my TV agent, Jeremy, Catherine and Julie on the editorial side, Chloe and Sally in publicity and Isolde in marketing. Roger and Jean from Cornwell Internet look after far more than just my website. And finally a huge and grateful mention to Becky, my intern, whose enthusiasm, support and ideas gave me new energy. Publishers, please note that there are fantastic applicants who don't live in London; they just need a little bit of help to get noticed.
Posted by Ann on Monday, January 7th 2013 @ 12:37 PM GMT [link]
