Penny Jaye's Blog, page 3

10 days and counting...

We're 10 days away now. From the release date of Out of the Cages: the 1st July 2018.
How do I feel? 
Like I've been holding my breath. Like dropping over the finish line of a race I never thought I'd finish. Like a kid, one hand in the popcorn bucket, waiting for the movie to begin. 
It's exciting and oddly surreal too. We're holding the official launch of Out of the Cages on the 7th July, at 7pm, in the Big Hall of St Marys Anglican Church, in St Marys, NSW. 
We'll have book signings, chats, chai tea, and supper. And I'll share some of the journey behind this book; the research, the writing and what I learned along the way. 
I'd love to have you there! 
RSVP's are great (to assist with the supper preparations) and can be made by sending me an email, or via the Facebook event. 

Out of the Cages - an update

The countdown is well and truly underway for my new novel, Out of the Cages .  Over the last month I've been doing those final little (and not so little) tasks that editors send my way: like slowly reading through the uncorrected proof and double checking details. The novel will be off to the printers soon, if it hasn't been sent off already. July 1 is the official release date. 
I'm looking forward to planning a really special launch for this book - it's been so long in the making and so many people have supported me over the years and encouraged me to keep going. I'm excited to be able to share the celebration of this book with those who have helped along the way!

If you haven't yet read the blog Rhiza Edge asked me to write for their website, you can find it here. I share a little more about where the story for Out of the Cages came from. 

And if you're a Goodreads member, you can now add Out of the Cages to your 'Want to read' list! 
  

Hanging on.

Can you see him? The tiny gecko? Hanging by his toes? 

I'd been doing some jobs around my parents' home while they were away. Watering the pot plants on the deck, checking the fish were still swimming and clearing the post from the letterbox etc. It was time to add some scraps to the worm farms, so I lifted the heavy brick that had been keeping the worm farm lid secure. And I saw this little guy. So tiny. His chubby fat gecko toes gripping the black plastic. He glanced up at me with those big shiny eyes and made a run for it! 
'Careful!' I called after him (yes, I have a habit of talking to lizards). But he didn't listen. he just panicked and leaped off the worm farm - dove off into oblivion - or at least that is what it must have seemed for a little guy that small. 
He's dead, I thought. Surely he's dead. But I looked closer. Bent on my knees and there he was. Gripping for dear life by his back feet to the stalk of a stubborn wild violet.
Never have I been so impressed by such a small creature!

I wonder if we grab the opportunities we hurtle past with such incredulous faith?

The story behind the story behind the story...

When my daughter was one year old, my husband and I went to live in Nepal. We had gone to support the work of a local health and development organisation and ended up living in the city of Pokhara, west of Kathmandu, for five years. We were there in a challenging, yet important period of time for Nepal as they experienced the end of the civil war and their revolution. We had arrived in the Kingdom of Nepal and left the Republic of Nepal. It was a privilege to have been there at that time. 
I have many, many treasured memories of our years in Nepal and made some life long friends. You cannot live in a place like Nepal without being changed by it, without it lodging in your heart. And for myself as a writer, it obviously had an impact on what I wrote.  One of the things I began writing about and researching while we lived in Nepal was the stories of people who had been trafficked. Human trafficking occurs all over the world, an exploitation of the most vulnerable, and the situation in Nepal is no exception. Every year, thousands of people are trafficked from Nepal into situations of slavery around the world. But although there are many, many stories, they are not all the same. Each person has family, has friends, has dreams and hopes that trafficking snatches away. And when - or if - they are able to escape the situations of slavery they'd experienced, it can take incredible courage to piece lives back together, to face the stigma of the lives they'd been forced to live and to learn to hope again. 
The more stories I heard, the more I read about in the local paper, the more I knew I wanted to write a novel that addressed these issues. And so I began writing a novel about two young Nepali girls who are trafficked into the brothels of Mumbai, and the one that is given the chance to escape. Although the novel is entirely fictional, it is based on the stories I heard and read about, and also on the real love for Nepal that I caught while living there. 
​
This novel - for older readers - will be published by Wombat Books' Rhiza Press imprint mid 2018.

What's in a name?

This my first post for the new website. 
Exciting! 
​And a big welcome to you.
Gum squiggles - blogs in Cuddlepot and Snugglepie's world, perhaps?I'm glad to have you along and to share some of my writing adventures as I launch my new site, under my new author name, in preparation for some new books due out soon. 
But, a new author name? you ask. Well yes. Let me give you a little bit more info. ​I've been writing children's books as Penny Reeve for about 17 years now. It's been great and I've had over 20 books published in that time for the Christian book market. (Feel free to pop over to my other website if you're keen to take a look at my other work.) 
But I've always wanted to write a wide variety of books, and for a wider audience. So when Wombat books offered me a contract for one of my novels written for the general market - a novel that is considerably different to anything else I've written so far - I figured it was time to consider a new name. Not only would it allow me to shift my brand a little, it would potentially make it easier for my readers, librarians, schools and parents to know which books are which and to be able to pick and choose between the two with ease. 
And so I'm Penny Jaye. 
So far I have two books contracted for publication, both with Wombat books, that will be published under this name. But I'm always working on new material and seeking publishers for completed books, so I'm really looking forward to sharing these stories and more with you over the coming years. 
If you'd like to keep up to date with what's coming out and when, the best way to do that is probably to join my mailing list. Starting 2018 I'll be emailing the Penny Jaye News bimonthly - enough to keep you in the loop, but not too much to overload the inbox (I know what that's like!).  #element-b2906736-3833-44b8-af14-ce6d02f9925d .colored-box-content { clear: both; float: left; width: 100%; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; -ms-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: #f4f7f8; padding-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; -webkit-border-top-left-radius: 0px; -moz-border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; -webkit-border-top-right-radius: 0px; -moz-border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; -webkit-border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; -moz-border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; -webkit-border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; -moz-border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px;} #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */Sign up to Penny Jaye's Newsletter* indicates requiredEmail Address * First Name Last Name