You've gotta start somewhere ...

Here and now seems as good a place as any?

I’ve been threatening to start a newsletter for eons. I know all about the decline of social media and the importance of owning your own little corner of the internet. But every time I went to write my first post I couldn’t go through with it. There are just So. Many. Newsletters out there already. Many of them funnier, cleverer and more informative than anything I had to offer. What could I add to the chorus? And shouldn’t I be writing books anyway? Wasn’t this just an elaborate way to procrastinate?

Possibly/probably. But last month two things happened: I launched my debut picture book, and someone/bot started impersonating me on Instagram. So I figured now was as good a time as any to add my voice to the legions cluttering your inbox. Because good things happen and need to be documented. And because annoying things (like being impersonated/hacked) happen too, and we need to spend more time cultivating communities in spaces we control.

Besides if you wait until you can do something perfectly, you’ll never do anything. Like the graffiti I spotted in Hosier Lane on my 40th birthday said …

This is the sign you’ve been waiting for.

So here it is: Another Newsletter. I’ll try and keep it short, as promised in the title. I’ll aim for once a month and might rustle up some interviews with interesting people to make it worth your while, as well as updates on events and what I’m reading/watching/working on. I’d love to know what you’re interested in, and what you’re reading/watching/working on too.

But first thing’s first.

Sweet scenes from the launch at Readings St Kilda

The Garden at the End of the World is officially launched! It landed in bookstores on April 4, with a magical book party at Readings St Kilda on April 29. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of anxiety and a couple of meltdowns (all mine) in the lead up, but the day itself was a dream, filled with book cover cupcakes and tiny teddies and popcorn and prosecco, guessing games and Storytime and curly questions from clever kids, colouring and craft (everyone got to decorate and take home their own cloth seed bags, made by my mum). I met my wonderful publisher (Clair Hume) and editor (Cathy Vallance) in person for the first time, and looked out on a sea of supportive faces made up of family members, old school friends, former colleagues, fellow creators, my bayside picture book gang, my 2023 debut crew, my high school Italian teacher, and Felice Arena’s aunty. It was surreal and blurry and I’m still sifting through memory fragments more than a week later, trying to make sense of it all.

April was a big month for lil introverted me. As well as the launch I recorded five podcasts, and met with booksellers at 10 bookstores across Melbourne. There is a lot more I could do, and a lot of bookshops I would still love to visit, but for now I’m hoping to take a break from publicity and get back to some semblance of creativity. It’s cardigan weather again in Melbourne – crisp golden mornings and rainy afternoons. Perfect writing conditions. If only I could remember how to do it …

Thanks for making it this far. See you next month!

Some links for you, in the meantime:

Order your own copy of The Garden at the End of the World
Visit my website
Find me on Instagram
If you need a hand wrangling words, I also edit and proofread things

Listen to me ramble about books and writing on:
Reading With A Chance of Tacos
KidLit Classics
Words and Nerds (in a takeover with fellow picture book author Deborah Frenkel)
The Sunshine House
Writers off the Page (with Briony Stewart)

Happy trails,
Cassy