H.M. Waugh's Blog

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You may have noticed I’m not blogging about books very much at all these days (sorry!). I’ve certainly noticed, and I’ve missed the connection.

So I’ve tightened my harness straps, closed my eyes and jumped into the terrifying world of newsletter creation… and it’s actually lots of fun! I’m planning an *absolutely free* monthly publication, starting off by going through the process I took to complete my next book, coming out May 2025. As well as chat about what I’m up to now, of course!

Th...

Dee and Holt are in Türkiye!

Mars Awakens is now out in Türkiye! I love this new cover so much check it out!

Thanks to the entire team at Everest Cocuk for taking such beautiful care of my book baby.

We have a story comp winner!!

I was so impressed with how many amazing young writers entered my Mars Awakens Short Story competition!

It takes guts and commitment to write something and send it through, and I’m really proud of everyone who entered their work.

Mars with moons Phobos and Deimos (Image NASA)

I had so many awesome takes on Martian moons and aliens, friendships and battles, magic and science. Congratulations to you all! Obviously, I had to pick one winner – and this was seriously hard, and required seve...

The Mars Awakens Short Story Challenge!

Mars Awakens is out in Australian stores on May 3rd, and I am well on my way to finishing the second book in the duology! (Yay me!) So it’s time for a story challenge.

But first, some background … There are a lot of connections to the Martian moons, Deimos and Phobos, in the books (Dee, one of the main characters, is named after Deimos). And they’re pretty interesting moons. Much smaller than our own, not very round at all. Phobos is really close to Mars and orbits it four times every sol...

Evacuation Road is a CBCA Notable!

I am so excited and proud and happy and grateful to announce that Evacuation Road has been listed as a Notable Book in this year’s CBCA Book of the Year Awards. A huge thanks to everyone at the CBCA, to all of the hard-working judges, and of course my publisher Rhiza Edge.

I’m so proud of this book, and I love that the judges connected with Eva and her race across a continent. There were so many brilliant Australian YA novels published in 2021, and I’m honoured – right into the heart of m...

The fact behind the fiction – why sometimes your backup plans need their own backup plans

Three weeks to go until Evacuation Road comes out! I’m so excited, and I’m loving how many early reviewers are really connecting with Eva and her story!

This week I’ll be looking at one of the important foundations for the book. Resilience. Getting back up when you’ve been knocked down. Making new plans when your original plans die a terrible death. And then devising even more cunning plans when your back up plans fail as well.

And, sometimes, throwing all your plans in the proverbial...

The fact behind the fiction – why sticking together is way better than the alternative

In four weeks my next book ‘Evacuation Road’ will be out in the world, and that calls for a super celebration countdown! So every week I’ll be bringing you some of the actual events that inspired some of the story.

Let’s start it off with a bang. One of the big mantras that Eva and my other characters learn to live by as they race for the last flight home, is “Stick together”.

It’s something I learned the hard way. How? Glad you asked …

Getting kidnapped is not recommended

I don...

Evacuation Road is off to the printers!

Every book has a set of milestones, and sending it to the printers is definitely a great (and mildly terrifying) one for me!

After all the months and years of writing and editing, the submissions, the rejections, the happy acceptance, the final edits and the typesets… now ‘Evacuation Road’ is becoming an actual book. One I can hold in my hands. I’m so excited!

Think end-of-the-world road trip. Think danger and humour, friendship and fear. All against a ticking clock.

Evacuation Road is ...

An ode to NaNoWriMo (and a Happy Birthday too!)

It’s almost November! And that means two very cool things for me:

NaNoWriMo (of course!), and
My debut book’s first birthday month is almost over.

The two are actually linked, because ‘The Lost Stone of SkyCity’ was written during NaNoWriMo 2016. I had heaps of fun writing it, but I had no idea it would be the first of my MSs to be published.

I certainly never dreamed it would be shortlisted for an Aurealis Award (OMG!!!). Or that it would get such a positive response from readers. The past ye...

Five lessons I’ve learnt on the path to my debut: ‘The Lost Stone of SkyCity’

[image error]Mate. There are no decent maps to show the path you’ll take to your debut and beyond!*

My middle-grade fantasy adventure ‘The Lost Stone of SkyCity’ came out this month. As my debut, it’s been a whirlwind of preparation and editing and excitement and stressing about the unknowns. Which there were a lot of.

Still are, actually.

My book was originally scheduled for publishing Q1 2020, until one sunny day in February I got a phone call from my publisher. A spot had opened up for October. Could I get everything done in time?

To which...