What does follow?

I thought I’d share an email between me and my editor Maryann…

…

From: Shirley Marr
To: Maryann Ballantyne
Subject: What Follows Next

Hi Mab,

I had fun writing Preloved, but for my next venture, I’d like to return to my original roots and go dark, so basically what I need from you is the permission and support to do this:)

What do you think of these ideas? (attached)

x Shirley

From: Maryann Ballantyne
To: Shirley Marr
Subject: RE: What Follows Next

You absolutely have my permission and support to do this. What would be your hearts desire out of the three mentioned here? I must say 1 and 2 appeal to me more than 3 which seems very ambitious – but maybe that is because it seems v ambitious and it is Friday evening. Might feel stronger on Monday morning! It is lovely working with you, Shirley. You are a creative powerhouse!

…

I’ve started work on something, but I can’t tell you anything because I am very, very superstitious*. All I can say is that it is very hard and the story is evolving faster than I can write it. It keeps changing and it’s like trying to catch a shard of rainbow in a butterfly net.

But as the mantra I have written states:

I want to write something that surprise everyone

I want to write something that surprises myself

I hope this is true. Wish me luck:)

*But not as superstitious as my mum. Conversation at dinner today: Me: You know I’m going into hospital on Thursday right? Mum: Will you be offended if I don’t come visit you because I am scared of bringing a ghost home?

PS – I do put my milk in my tea before the hot water. I know, it’s pretty gross. And I do get at least 2 cups out of each teabag, I know, I’m into conservation. And I’m actually a little old man from the 1950s.

Firstly – thanks to everyone who has been following, commenting and supporting the blogs on the Preloved Tour! I hope you’ve had as much fun reading my entries as I have had reading your comments. Hope you will join me on Monday for the final week, there’s more books to win and a surprise gift on the very last day:)

One of the ghosts has gone a bit mad

Thanks for liking my Pacman cupcakes (which first appeared on The Tales Compendium). Funnily enough I have been asked to contribute to an internally-published cookbook Walker Books is making to raise money for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea (for cancer). Bonus photos and sekrit recipe below!

Much love *muah* Shirley xx

…

Hellooo Kitty!

Babyshower Duckie Cupcakes. Everything is edible.

Frangipani Beach Wedding

Before I became an author, I used to have a small cupcake business called Bellacake, catering for Parties, Wedding, Anything! I’ve always loved baking in the same way I love writing – the ability to take simple ingredients (butter, eggs, sugar or words and ideas) and craft something infinitely more valuable. I’m also a sugar smith as well and can make any type of decoration out of icing.

I think it was a combination of reading too much Primo Levi, Maus and Tomorrow, When The War Began when I was a youth, but I’ve always believed in being good at two things – one involving the mind and the other the hands. Because I believed if I got captured in the Dystopian future, Writer Shirley would definetly be the first to go, but Baker Shirley who can make beautiful and delicious cakes might be spared!

I present to you my recipe for my simple signature vanilla cupcake and vanilla buttercream frosting. This produces a traditional, dense cupcake with a large crumb, reminiscent of the celebration cakes people my age (Gen Y) would have eaten in their childhood. I like to think that each mouthful tastes like nostalgia!

Both my recipes are very simple. Anyone can make them. My tip for the best cupcakes is attention to detail – such as remembering to take the butter and eggs out to gently warm up, being intuitive to the temperature of your kitchen, using the best and freshest ingredients you can buy. And most importantly, bake with love. Be joyous in the kitchen – have fun, think of the people you’re baking for, give your neighbours and friends all the wonky/rejected/overcooked cakes (I’ve never seen anyone refuse fresh wonky cakes).

Remember – baking is value-adding to sugar, eggs and flour
A generous baker is a loved baker.

…

Classic Vanilla Cupcakes
(makes 12 to 18 depending on tin size)
150g butter (at room temperature)
150g castor sugar
175g self-raising flour
3 eggs (at room temperature)
splash of milk (at room temperature)
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Line a cupcake pan with patty papers.
3. Lightly beat the eggs.
4. Sift the flour and sugar.
5. Place all ingredients into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes until light.
6. Fill each patty case with 2/3 of the mixture.
7. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until risen and gently springs to the touch.
8. Allow to cool for a few minutes and transfer to wire rack.
9. Allow to completely cool before icing.

…

Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
150g butter (at room temperature)
250g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Splash of boiling water

1. Beat butter for 2 minutes until pale.
2. Slowly add sugar.
3. Add vanilla and the water. beat until smooth and creamy.
4. With a soft, bendable spatular “render” the icing i.e. – fold it inside the bowl to give it extra air and smoothness.
5. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest.

*drumroll*

*drumroll*

*drumroll*

Vegan YA Nerds!

Congratulations! Bellatrix has selected you. You are now officially the last stop on the Preloved Blog Tour. I’ll contact you shortly:)

THANK YOU so much to everyone else who entered. You’re blogs are awesome, you’re all awesome. I wish I could take you all on tour with me, but heck there will be a next time cos there will be a third book one day!

Preloved will be going on a blog-hopping tour starting 16th April!

Be prepared for lots of interviews, guests posts and giveways galore.

Are you an Aussie/Kiwi Book or Author Blogger?

Would you like a chance to take part & win the coverted lucky last destination?

Then simply enter by leaving a comment on this thread with the name and addy of your blog!

Entry closes Wednesday 4th April and as per tradition, the winner will be drawn by my cat Bellatrix.

Sorry to all the international blogs! But you know I loves ya anyway.

The wonderful blogs taking part:

Hey! Teenager of the Year

My Girl Friday

Inkcrush

The Tales Compendium

Literary Life

The Midnight Garden

The Readventurer

The Nocturnal Library

Wear The Old Coat

Be part of this illustrious lineup (cos I know how much you do, I saw your face through the computer screen)

One of the alternative covers for Preloved

I’m pleased to be featured here on Melissa Walker’s site today talking about the story behind the cover of Preloved!

Melissa runs a fascinating series called Cover Stories, looking at the behind-the-scenes making of the book covers that you may know and love.

Anyway, pop over to read my story and look at the alternative covers for preloved:) Make sure you leave comments and lotsa love so Melissa knows she’s appreciated.

The cover for Preloved is designed by the massively talented (but oh so modest) Gayna Murphy who also among other things, designed the Australian cover for Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.  Actually, I have a funny inside story about Gayna, Markus Zusak and Preloved, but I promised I won’t  say anything. Maybe if you buy me a fancy drink one day.

xx

The lovely Heather Robbins of Red Images Fine Photography has taken a new set of photos of me. I am totally rapt with Heather’s concept of a “grownup Alice in Wonderland” and I had so much fun. Hope they are as much fun to look at!

Trivia Fact # 1: you can probably see what books are in my stack if you squint hard enough, but they are (bottom to top):

• The Odyssey – Homer
• Emma  – Jane Austen
• Villette – Charlotte Bronte
• Diary of a Chambermaid – Octave Mirbeau
• Thirst for Love – Yukio Mishima
• The Loved One – Evelyn Waugh
• The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
• Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier and of course…
• Preloved by moi

(disregarding YA to one side… yes, my taste in books is kinda like an old man’s)

Trivia Fact # 2: When this shoot was done, Preloved hadn’t been printed yet, so the copy you see in the photos is actually a prop made by Walker marketing. It’s a copy of Samurai Kids with my cover pasted over the top!

Trivia Fact # 3: The spotted book with the Walker Bear logo is made by… myself. It’s actually an old textbook of mine from uni I covered in fabric:)

The very first copy of Preloved has arrived! And I am so happy to hold her in my hands. She is so much prettier in real life – the colours are all sepia and saturated pinks, like a very old tinted photo. Very nostalgic and fanciful… awww! And I’m also noticing the little details I never noticed before, like how the dress has little diamante clips in the folds, and how pretty the beading on the bust is. It’s SOOO PINK and GIRLY (including a bubble gum pink spine) and different to Gothic-looking Fury… but I love her. I can’t wait to share her with you soon. Three weeks to go!

xx

Say hi to my new book, Preloved! The untitled MS I’d been working on now officially has a name and a Goodreads placeholder.

The Most Awesome Prize of Guess-the-Plot-Based-On-The-Title goes to Wendy Darling:

“I’m guessing that it’s about pregnant women who bathe in a special lake, and when they emerge, their daughters’ mates are pre-determined. Sixteen years later, the boys attend a ritual by moonlight, when they see the images of their betrothed mirrored in the shining waters.”

LOL! I only wish I spoke to Wendy before I started writing.

I can’t say much yet (The Walker Drop Bear might eat me) … but a few things I can tell you about Preloved…

It’s a ghost story. It involves past lives. It’s about a modern teen girl and a dead teen boy from the 80s. It’s more a bad romance, less of a love story. And it’s more abnormal than paranormal! Since it references the 80s, it might also have stonewash denim and a Choose Life t shirt in there somewhere too. I hope it’s funny and dark and sweet in its own indie way.

So watch this space, cover and blurb to come! Release date is April 2012 *wink wink*

We have a special guest making a special pitstop today, it’s Sue Lawson with her brilliant new novel Pan’s Whisper!

I read this book personally a few weeks ago (as I went out as an independent book buyer, paid with it with my own money and did all this because I wanted to) and I really loved it. If you love sensitive Aussies YA that will make you cry, then it’s a book for you.

Hop over to my new Book Reviewing Blog Books on Marrs to where the party is.

We have a probing interview, guest reviewer and a chance to win a copy of Pan’s Whisper (open internationally)

See you on the flip side

I got my second edit through the post yesterday from my publisher/editor/fairy Godmother Maryann Ballantyne (otherwise known as Mab or Queen Mab).

I don’t know whether she ran out of paper or is trying to win my heart, but my MS is printed across six different colours (yellow, blue, cream, pale yellow, pink & white). See:

I just really liked it. That is all:-)

PS – Publishing date looks to be April 2012. Thought that might be useful if you want to stalk me.

Yay for me! A new publishing contract (my first with Walker Books under the Black Dog Books imprint) has arrived for me to sign. And yay for you ‘cos that means if I sign the thing, then you’ll get something within 18 months (so it’s not a Markus Zusak Indefinite Contract).

It’s been a long time coming, considering my last novel came out eons ago in May 2010… but in a way I’m glad I was given a “gap year” to experiment, make mistakes and regroup myself by taking some time off from being an author to revert back to being a reader & reviewer instead. Now I feel I’m ready to do something good (and maybe even a tiny bit fabulous).

So I guess I’ll see you on the bookshelf sometime next year? Is that a date?

PS – if you squint hard enough you might be able to see the provisional title. Sorry, just teasing!

PPS – sorry, sans-makeup. I’m only a glamour puss 1% of the time. The other 99% I’m just geeky ol me.

Hoping to get my draft finished in time. I’ve reached the pink paper & pink pen stage, so it’s getting close… If I’m a very good girl I’ll get taken to the Frankfurt Book Fair and have me looked at by some Very Important Types. xx