Natasha Lester's Blog, page 7

January's Monthly Digest: There's So Much Happening in Natasha Lester-Land in 2024!

The first thing I want to say is welcome! So many new people have subscribed to Bijoux over the past month. I don’t know why, but it’s lovely to have you here!

I thought I’d say hi properly to you all in a video and let you know a bit more about what Bijoux is. If you don’t have time to watch the video, here’s the quick summary: I publish a minimum of three posts a month. This post, the Monthly Digest, is always free for all subscribers. The other two (occasionally three) posts each month are fo...

The First Bijoux Magazine of 2024!

December in Kruger National Park, South Africa

It’s Bijoux Magazine time! I always love writing the magazine, because it’s about my favourite things for the month, but there have been so many favourite things lately that I’m going to have to restrain myself otherwise this post will be too long!

My not-so-favourite thing this month is that I was struck down by a virus that turned out to be quite nasty, hence the magazine is a week late. I figured you’d prefer one written when I was of sound mind, r...

Which One is Your Best?

Being the festive season, I’ve been out a lot at the kind of gatherings where you make small talk with strangers and new acquaintances. It’s pretty common in the course of small talk for the conversation to turn to how we spend our days. When I say I’m an author, usually about half of the people in any given group will have read at least one of my books in the past and the other half will have never heard of me, which is totally fine—I’m still constantly amazed to discover how many people have a...

You Could Make This Place Beautiful

I’m at my holiday house by the beach. This morning I went for my run before anyone in the house was up and when I’d finished, I took off my shoes and my shorts and walked straight into the cold sea in my underwear. There was one other person walking along the beach, a young women, and maybe a few years ago I would have waited until she’d walked past before I went swimming in my knickers and my sports bra. But today I didn’t care. And it felt great—both the not-caring and the cold water on my hot...

My Fave Books of the Year

If you read last week’s magazine, you’ll know I’m in Europe - sitting in Barcelona airport while I write this post, in fact. I’m having a fabulous time and I promise to write more about the trip in a future post. Highlights so far have included watching the art of manual velvet weaving in Venice, making my own signature perfume in Florence and gorging on castles and art.

Not being at home means I can’t tell you exactly how many books I read this year, but a quick glance at Goodreads tells me it ...

The Magazine. In November's Issue: Venetian Velvet Ateliers & Florentine Perfumeries!

This picture pretty much sums up my October – lots of book signing, which I loved!

Since the last edition of the Magazine in September, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ASTRID BRICARD has been published, I’ve been on book tour and done 20 events, and I’ve submitted my next manuscript to my publisher. Just an easy month, right?!

Ha! I’m exhausted. But that’s okay because I’m now in Europe, on holiday with my 17-year-old daughter and we’re enjoying every minute of having no routine, of wandering around cities,...

Courtesan and Muse, Or A Greater Designer Than Coco Chanel?

You might not be interested in fashion or fashion muses. But don’t let that put you off today’s post. This is the story of a research journey that led me around the world, a story of paying attention to the smallest clues, of finding a trail of evidence that’s somehow been ignored by almost every person who’s ever written Christian Dior’s so-called muse Mizza Bricard into a book or an article. Or perhaps the evidence wasn’t ignored – perhaps those writers didn’t bother to look for it. After all,...

October's Monthly Digest ... In November!

If you read my mid-tour post, you’ll know October was something of a whirlwind. A fabulous whirlwind, backed up by a deadline for my next book, which was due at the publisher on Oct 31. Did I make the deadline? Of course I did – I’m such a rule-follower that my soul would never let me submit late!

All of that means I missed my Monthly Digest, which I usually send out in the last week of the month. You’re getting it a few days late, for which I apologise. But to make up for it, November is going ...

What Really Happens On a Book Tour

I’m almost at the end of a book tour that’s taken me to six different states and territories in Australia over three weeks and eighteen events. I have no idea what day it is, I’ve eaten so much hotel room service that I’m about to turn into a club sandwich, and I’ve almost used up all of my signing pens (Artline Calligraphy 4.0, in case you’re wondering!) It’s been a fun and exhausting whirlwind of bookshop visits and reader events, aeroplanes and hotels, book signings and interviews.

My book tou...

10 Books Later: Do I Know More Now (or Less) Than When I Started?

On the first Friday of every month, I write a post that’s usually more of a behind-the-scenes writing post. Here’s this month’s post!

When I wrote my first book, I didn’t know how to write a book. I thought I’d need a plan, a chapter-by-chapter outline; at the very least an idea of where the story began and where it ended. Instead, I had a notebook of disconnected phrases, a poem that felt unfinished, and a Joan Didion sentence about what a mother cannot promise her child – little shards that cou...