Amy Laurens's Blog

Book Signing NEXT WEEK

Excitingly, there is a rare opportunity to come meet me in person and buy books and have them signed! This is because I am hosting the launch for the wonderful Jack Heath‘s newest book, Doctor Who: Frankenstein And The Patchwork Man. Even if you’re not a Dr Who fan, you can enjoy this well-written, delightful book if you enjoy light-hearted action-adventure mysteries with soft sci fi elements; I blitzed through it in one morning, curled up in the sunshine on a giant cushion on my son’s bedroom f...

On The Theme Of Bonuses…

I’ve now also put up the buttons for the mood board, sound track and related blog posts for the Storm Foxes series. I’ve also added a Table of Contents for Life Had Other Plans, my poetry collection that comes out at the end of this month. I’ve had A LOT of really positive feedback on this poetry collection, and I’m excited to share it with you!

To help you decide if it’s for you or not, I’ve hyperlinked the table of contents to the poetry that I shared on Instagram last year, so you can cli...

Exciting New Bonuses! :D

Whee! I’m so excited: I’ve finally implemented a Thing I’ve been planning for a while. Where relevant, book pages will now have up to three exciting new buttons added to them:

Where relevant, the mood board button will take you to the mood board on Pinterest, the Sound Track button will take you to Spotify, and the Bonus Trivia button will link to relevant blog posts I’ve made about the writing of the book

I am Much Pleased with this. For now, it’s only on the Touchstone pag...

My Search History Last Night

Since I finished Touchstone, I’m working on a new thing that will probably/hopefully be a short story, set in a world that will one day have a novel there as well. My search history last night was full of fun historical trivia, so I thought I’d share.

First we have this video on women’s corsetry in the 1800-1900s, which admittedly was a bit of a side-track from what I actually wanted, but that’s okay.

Then, what I was ACTUALLY supposed to be researching, which was women’s underwear i...

Finishing Touchstone Deserves A Proper Post <3

*insert blissful smile here*

Well, I did it. Touchstone is complete. This is the LONGEST time I have EVER spent on any one project in my life – not book, PROJECT – excepting perhaps my first published novel, because it went through many, many rounds of edits. (Many. It was, after all, my first published novel.)

But! Touchstone is now FINISHED! OMG!

A dear writer friend came to visit Sunday last week with the intention of us having a lil writing party, and wow was it successful. We cha...

Having No Brain Is Very Hard (But At Least I Finished A Book!)

The last month has been even more fatigue-y than usual, and it was very challenging yesterday to realise that a bunch of things that would usually be super easy for me – in this case, helping the 13-yr-old with homework and literally just finalising a menu and turning it into a grocery list for an upcoming family event – were, in fact, Not Easy. Annoying, distressing… and humbling.

I feel like I have slowed down SO MUCH since peak freneticness back in the late 20-teens / early 2020s, so so m...

Writing Update, New Preorder Available

Just a quick update on the writing front. I am CLOSING IN on the end of Touchstone AT LAST, omg so excited. I should have the book basically DONE by the end of the weekend (OMG!!!) and then I’ll need to read over the final handful of chapters to make sure they are as polished as the rest of the book, and THEN IT IS DONE.

The cover artist has been booked to do the spine/rear cover, and I might even be brave enough to start putting up preorder links! (This is what happened last time I tried, s...

You Only Need Three Things In Life

If you grew up in the 90s you are perhaps familiar with City Slickers and the One Thing you need in life. If not, that’s fine, you’re not missing much because SPOILER the entire point is that that one thing is different for everyone, and you have to figure out what it is for yourself.

HOWEVER.

Lately the Spousal Person and I have returned to a TV dramedy series I started years ago when it first came out and then, for one reason or another (small kids, having no life due to being a teache...

Things I’ve Read Lately And Enjoyed

I really should try to remember to do this quarterly at least, because… I want to? IDK why I ‘should’ but eh, moving on. Here are some things I’ve read so far this year and enjoyed.

Frankenstein And The Patchwork Man by Jack Heath

I know Jack in passing from mutual acquaintances, having asked him in to schools I was teaching at for various authorial events, and being writer colleagues in the same city. So when I saw he’d been selected to write a Doctor Who book, I was THRILLED, and told h...

In Which No One Goes To Hell Biblically

So part of my commitment to occupying my own space here more regularly also means occupying this space more faithfully and more fully, as my full self without fear. That means that, every so often, I will discuss religion, because I am a deeply religious person and it has a lot of bearing on my daily life. And so, just as I would share (and have done recently) other videos I’ve been watching and enjoying, I want to note these two here as lectures I’ve particularly enjoyed of late that just happe...