Ellie Marney's Blog, page 27

Welcome to 2015 and keeping the plates spinning

Hey folks, I’m back :)
We had a lovely family camping trip over Christmas and New Year - I hope your end-of-year celebrations were peaceful and fun.  And I hope you got lots of books for Christmas!  I managed to get a copy of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King (if you’re a Sherlock aficionado like me, why haven’t you read it already? – Go, go read it right now), The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion (yay Graeme!), and Forensics by Val McDermid (great, but I think I need something with more specifics).
It’s been a sobering start to the year so far.  A lovely community friend died recently after a struggle against cancer (it’s always described as a struggle, or a battle or a war, but he really did fight so hard), which threw a great deal of perspective on life.  I’ve loved having this rest time, but it’s made me realise how ridiculously busy I was last year.
About three years ago I read a blog post by Becca Fitzpatrick (who is huge, and goes on book tours and stuff, so she has it way worse than me, obvs) about how she was trying really hard to figure out a better work/life balance, and I didn’t really get what she meant.  But by Christmas last year, I was exhausted – I finished a book (Every Word), wrote another (Every Move), started another (new standalone), and edited the first two for publication, as well as launching Every Word here in Australia and Every Breath in North America and the Philippines.  I also did speaking and teaching gigs at schools, went to festivals and launches, did all the other promotional stuff for the books (launching and already-released), and spent a lot of time on social media (which is fun, I admit – I’ve made a whole lot of new friends on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram *waves*).  I also parented, worked my other job, and helped manage a household of six.
I know I’ve got less on my plate than some other writer-people I know, but it was hard work (and I should say to everyone who missed out on email replies and stuff from me last year – my deepest apologies, I’ll try harder).  Somehow I still found time for my four boys and my partner - BUTI didn’t do lots of normal stuff.  I didn’t exercise, I didn’t watch TV, I didn’t garden.  And my partner carried the can a lot (beyond the call of duty, really) and I felt really guilty for not giving my sons more time.
This year, I’ve still got lots of stuff happening – Every Move is launching in March (omg!!! So close now!!!), and Every Wordcomes out overseas in September; I’m going to Somerset Festival in Queensland, and Reading Matters in Melbourne, and the Romance Writers of Australia conference (I might be teaching a workshop – will keep you posted!), and I’d love to be invited again to Melbourne Writer’s Festival; I’m going to finish my first post-Every-series book, and prep it for publication; and I’m hoping to visit more schools and libraries this year as well.  But I’m going to do my best to balance things out a bit more, and give my partner, especially, a bit more time.  He works very hard – not just at his teaching job, but at home around the property, and most importantly, giving so much time to our boys – and has been so amazing in helping me achieve my own dreams for the last few years, I feel like he deserves to have his own goals and dreams prioritised more this year.  Being a couple is a commitment to negotiation and communication, and finding a balance that works well for both of us and keeps us both content: I’d like to make sure the balance is better this year.
I’m still excited about what's coming up :)  For those of you who’ve asked if I could come to visit your school or library or book group – sure!  Just click on the link over there (*points right*) to my speaking agency, Booked Out, or click on my webpage link for my publishers’ contacts (*points right again*), and let them know when and where!  And for those lovely people who’ve asked if I’m ever coming to visit in North America – well, anything could happen!  I’m still very open to the idea if anyone wants to invite me :)
So what other stuff has been happening?   Well, I said we went camping, right?  Our annual family beach-camping trip was amazing.  I turned off my phone for TWO WHOLE WEEKS – heaven – and spent a lot of time lolling around on the beach in southern NSW.  I know lots of people don’t like camping – insects! dirt! pit toilets! – but I LOVE it.  Vikki Wakefield and I have decided that camping-loving chicks like ourselves are an endangered species, but I think more people should just give it a try.

What else happened on this camping trip, you ask, apart from pit toilets, and lolling, and a delightful break from online shenanigans?  Well, in a nutshell:
* We saw seals, dolphins, manta rays, goannas, wombats, lyrebirds, and the usual complement of kangaroos and wallabies, of course.  The wombats were the cutest.  The seals were incredible.  A goanna nearly bit me on the ankle – yeah, gotta watch out for those goannas.
* I jumped in the sea, every morning and every evening – LOVED it.  I was hoping to do a nudie swim on the last night, but when I got down to my swimming spot at sundown, there were about a dozen teenage boys fishing nearby, so yeah…no.
* I started to feel a bit sticky and salty by about Day6, and I always have about a million mosquito bites by then – that’s okay, I’m used to it.  I won’t post pics of the mozzie bites on my butt, because that would be gross and unnecessary.
* Peeing in the bushes FTW
* I got a tick in my hair.
* Apart from ticks, hair also got very salty and frizzy.  Nobody cares when you’re camping.  I was feeling very WildGirl for the whole trip – golden and swimming-lithe and fit – and then when I finally got back home and looked in the mirror, I realised I actually looked like a sunburnt, birds-nest-haired crazy person.  Oh well.
(Side note: I actually love the break from mirrors that camping provides.  If I look at myself in a mirror every day, I start to get all self-conscious or particular about my appearance.  Having a break from mirrors, I feel like I can return to a real sense of self-perception, and let go of self-consciousness.  /End rant)
* Many fish were caught, and some were put back, and some were eaten.
* I received a full-body wetsuit for my birthday, and it has CHANGED MY LIFE.  My god, I can snorkel!  I can swim in the ocean for hours without my extremities freezing off!  This is such a revelation!

* I wrote every day (the pic at right was the view from my writing spot).  I wrote in little school exercise books, and added about 10,000 words to the manuscript that is slowly turning into (working title) No Limits.  It’s some of the most tension-filled, swoony, thrilling stuff I’ve ever written (I think) – this book is going to have all the feels.  I’m completely head over heels for my new leading man…who I’ll tell you about later.  Like, after March.
So that was camping.  Since I’ve come back home, I’ve kept up the exercise routine I tentatively began in December, watched the first season of The100(and now totally get the obsession), spent a week in Melbourne working on No Limits (65,000 words and counting!) while my older boys were attending music summer school, and done plenty of lolling.  Now, I’m on fire for the New Year!  Bring it on!
And bring on the balance.  With a bit of luck – and a lot of negotiation and communication – I’m hoping my partner and I can keep all the plates spinning this year.
Xx ellie


PS: Christmas Prize-pack Winners – I haven’t forgotten you!  I’m posting out the prizes for you all this week, so keep your eyes out for a parcel in the mail.  If you haven't sent me your contact addy - please do it now!
PPS: If you're at ALA Midwinter this year, remember to go grab an ARC of Every Word from the Tundra booth (4829)!

Happy Holidays! and Giveaway Winners

This is my last post of the year – and it’s to let you know the winners of the Every series giveaway. 
So without further ado…
Prize pack 1: has been won by Laura
Prize pack 2: has been won by Lisa Fic Talk
Prize pack 3: has been won by asmith y
Congrats to all the winners, thanks to all who entered! (My youngest boys had a ball picking names out of the hat). If you’ve won, please contact me by email at elliemarney[at]gmail[dot]com to send your postage details, and I’ll post out your prizes in the New Year.

Finally - I’m stoked to have made it to the end of such a massive year.  Thanks to all of you who’ve been so supportive, reading here, and sending me emails and messages to say hi – it’s always amazing to hear from you.  I’ll be back in January, but until then I’m signing off: I’ll be out of radio contact while we go on our annual family camping trip.  Best wishes of the season – be it Christmas, Hanukkah, or end-of-year festivities of your own – from me and my family to you and yours.  Happy Holidays!
Lots of love,
Ellie

Meet My Character Blog Hop + Giveaway Prezzies

Hi again, and happy holidays!
Yes, I know – this is the time of year we tend to go a little crazy.  School events, work events, family events, friends events…  All the Events.  In amongst this, I’ve been working with my amazing editors to prepare Every Move for publication.  And we’ve done it!!  I mailed back the final passes today.  There will be final-final passes, and other fiddly bits, but Sophie is putting all the changes and little corrections through now (Sophie – respect), in time to send it off to the printer.  Which means we’ll have a Real Live Book in our hands very early in the new year!
But today I wanted to say hi to crime writer friends, with the Meet My Character blog hop.  This tour was kicked off by the lovely Sandi Wallace, who launched Tell Me Why just recently.  I was invited to participate by Angela Savage, whose most recent book in the addictive Jane Keeney series is The Dying Beach.  Angela is a good friend, a righteous woman, and a great writer – she launched Every Word for me in June, and I was delighted to accept her invite for the blog hop, answering a few questions about Rachel Watts and Every Move.

For the next stop on the blog hop, I’ve invited Nansi Kunze and Candice Fox to join us – they’ll be posting up their answers on their own blogs here and here by Thursday 18 December.
Nansi Kunze is a mate – I’ve interviewed her once already here on the blog.  Nansi grew up surrounded by books in Australia and the UK. After studying languages and ancient history at university, she spent several years teaching overseas-trained doctors how to pronounce rude words and teenagers how to mummify each other, while cultivating a taste for manga and video games in her spare time.   Kill the Music  is her third novel, following on the success of her previous two,  Mishaps  and  Dangerously Placed . Nansi lives on a small farm overlooking the Victorian Alps with her husband and son, and is currently hard at work on her next YA book (assuming that ‘hard at work' is synonymous with ‘researching glamorous locations on the internet').
Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney's western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia's wealth of true crime writers.  Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism. Hades  is her first novel – it won the Ned Kelly Award for best debut in 2014. Eden , its sequel, was published in December this year.
Now on with the blog questions!
1/ What is your character’s name?
Rachel Maree Watts
2/ Is your character fictional or historical?
Definitely fictional – although she and I share a deep appreciation for flannie shirts and hot, intelligent men.
3/ When and where is your story set?
Every Move is contemporary – ie. set in the present day – and the characters travel from deepest darkest North Coburg to the Mallee area near Ouyen.  It’s the final book in the Every series; the first book, Every Breath, kicked off Rachel’s adventures in Melbourne, and the second book, Every Word, saw her travel overseas for the first time, to London, where she and her BF, Mycroft, investigated a murder and got into a whole lot of trouble.
4/ What should we know about Rachel?
Rachel grew up on an isolated sheep farm in the Mallee, and being raised a country girl has made her pretty physically tough and enduring.  She has a lot of practical skills – running a pump, driving a ute, shooting a rifle, climbing onto the roof to clean the gutters of dead possums…that sort of thing.  Her personal style runs to jeans, boots and t-shirts/flannies, and she generally ties her brown hair in a knot to keep it out of the way when she’s working.
She’s a fighter.  She’s also incredibly stubborn (what? Another character trait I share?  Certainly not - I’m not like that at all…) and her other defining personality quirk is that she’s fiercely loyal, and has a strong sense of family.
Rachel turned seventeen near the start of the first book, Every Breath.  Another important fact about her: she’s in love, with a certain dark-curly-haired, Sherlock-wannabe called James Mycroft.  Being involved with Mycroft has drawn Rachel into some hair-raising situations - murder, mystery and mayhem, not to mention the disapproval of her parents - but Rachel’s pragmatism and cool head in a crisis have generally seen her through.
5/ What are Rachel’s personal goals?
To keep her family together, and safe from Mycroft’s personal nemesis ‘Mr Wild’.  To recover from the trauma she endured in London – although she’s not sure how to do that.  To work out what’s going on with herself and Mycroft.  To discover who she really is and where she fits in. To pass her Year Twelve exams!
6/ What’s the name of the book, and can we read more about it?
Every Move is the title, and you certainly can!  It’s coming very soon. 
7/ When is it published?
1 March 2015 through Allen and Unwin.
If you haven’t checked them out already, you can catch up with the previous books Every Breathand Every Word here.  Hope you enjoyed this stop on the blog hop, and please do go and check out the other wonderful authors at their stops!
GiveawayNow – in the spirit of holiday cheer, I’ve decided to give some stuff away.  And here’s the stuff! Prize 1 is the North American edition of Every Breath













Prize 2 is a two-book set of Every Breath and Every Word










Prize 3 is a hot-off-the-press ARC of Every Word from Tundra (this prize only available to North American/Philippines readers).
If you’d like to win one of these prizes, please comment here on the blog, or on Facebook, @elliemarney on Twitter, or @elliemarney on Instagram.  Tell me what is your personal goal for 2015 (do you want to pass your Year Twelve exams, like Rachel?) and which prize pack you’d like to win.  My son will pick a name out of a hat I’ll choose a winner next week, and let people know before Christmas.  All prizes will be mailed out in January 2015.

That’s all from me for a while, folks.  We’re heading off on our annual family camping trip the day after Christmas, so I won’t be back online until January.  Many thanks for reading, and for keeping me company this year – it’s been a blast!  Lots of love and hopes that you all have a lovely Christmas and holiday season (may you receive many books!), and all the best for the New Year See you in 2015!
Xx Ellie

Holiday Summer of Reading List Love at the Palais Du Chook

Well, here we are – I only started this blog two years ago, with a post about writing something over the summer holiday break, and we’ve suddenly arrived at the same point again.  Yesterday was the first official day of summer here in Victoria, and it’s promising to be a hot, dry one.  We’ve finished our Palais du Chook (see left), just in time to start keeping up the water to the new crop of baby chicks, and the garden is already starting to brown off.  It seems bizarre that I was whinging about how we couldn’t get the washing dry only a few short months ago – stick around a bit, and you’ll hear me complaining about the heat.
My year of buying only books by female writers is also coming to an end.  I made that first commitment, to buy only books written by women, after writing this post on women and the NYT Bestseller List.  I have to say, it was an easy task I set myself – so easy that I almost forgot I was doing it.  Books by female writers make up the bulk of my reading and buying anyway, so it was no hardship (should I have set myself a more difficult task?). I did a bit of an audit, and figured out I only cheated twice: once when I bought a James Dashner book for my sons that they desperately had to have, and once when I bought Jay Kristoff’s Stormdancer– but that was at the launch of the final Lotus Wars book, Endsinger, so I didn’t feel bad (Jay also writes kick-arse Japanese steampunk female protags, which alleviated any remaining guilt).  Every other book I’ve bought this year has been by a female author.
Which doesn’t mean to say I’ve stopped reading books by men.  No way – I’ve just been getting them all from the library.  And there are definitely a few books by guys that I’m rather keen to get my hands on, so I’m looking forward to being able to buy them.  The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion is pretty much the top of my list (although I’m hoping someone will give it to me for Christmas – HINT), and other male-authored books I’m lining up for are Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga (god yes), Winger by Andrew Smith, The Last Shot by Michael Adams (and the third one comes out early next year! Double happiness!), Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovich, and The First Third by Will Kostakis.  I’m hoping to have a very large pile of TBR books to take on our annual camping trip over the New Year.
Now I thought I’d get in early and write up my favourite reads of 2014, because last time I did this it was, like, February already.  Not all of these are new – some were published ages ago and this was the year they called to me.  But anyway, here you go, my favourite reads of the year!
Outlander: Cross Stitch by Diana GabaldonRecced to me by loads of people, but most specifically Danielle Binks, and a hearty thank you from me.  I LOVED it.  An historical romance that gender-flips all the tropes? – I am so there.  And the teev series – wow! – reminded me of all the reasons I love Ron Moore.  And we won’t even mention Sam Hueghan…
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom RiggsOriginal, eerie, beautifully written and mysteriously plotted.  I loved the weird photos, which made me think of Carnivale and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg, and overall an amazing ride
Wild Awake by Hilary T. SmithSuch a beautiful book.  At the end of it, I felt like my world had been tilted on its axis.
The Incredible Here and Now by Felicity CastagnaThis book was up for the 2014 CBCA Book of the Year award, and I’m so glad I wasn’t judging, I would be the most horribly subjective judge, but THIS BOOK.  Just a tiny heartbreaking sliver of Western Sydney in an incredibly crafted package that doesn’t feel crafted, but rather just feels like the most beautiful real life.
The Piper’s Son by Melina MarchettaGAH.  Just…GAH.  I love Thomas Mackee.  And I love Melina Marchetta.  I have no idea why I haven’t read it before this year but I guess this was just the year I was meant to read it, and this book went off like a lightbulb exploding inside my head.
Rivers of London by Ben AaronovichI haven’t laughed so much or been so absorbed while reading a paranormal urban fantasy for a long long time. Incredibly diverse cast, and I just loved the protag’s voice.  Bizarrely plotted, but it’s all part of the fun.
Through the Cracks by Honey BrownHave I said often enough yet how I’m in love with Honey Brown and want to have her book babies?  No?  This is another searing psychological ride, not so much a thriller, but you have no idea what will happen to the characters, and you don’t want to put the book down until you find out.  Gorgeous writing – just gorgeous.  And dialogue – omg.  I always have a Honey Brown book on my desk, it’s compulsory.  And she has a new one coming out soon!  Woot!
The Raven Boys by Maggie StiefvaterI have picked up and put down various Maggie Stiefvater books for the last few years – I don’t know why I kept putting them down, maybe it wasn’t the right time to read them.  But this one – this one I could not put down.  The most awesome character descriptions ever.  I’m already desperate for the next book, The Dream Thieves, and if this is what all of Stiefvater’s work is like, sign me up.
There you go – ta da!  Finally, I’m gonna end the whole Reading List Love thing with a nod at The Book I Have Been Waiting For: I am so very very happy (I cannot even tell you: I am FULL OF SQUEE) that The Shadow Cabinet, the final book in the Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson, is about to be released.  How much am I longing for this book?  SO MUCH.  The only thing that would make me happier right now would be if Holly Black said she was releasing a fourth book in the Curseworkers series (please please say that could potentially happen!!  Holly, I love you and no pressure!!)
Okay, that’s it.  Just a few more parting words before I go about the Every series.
* Every Breath is going great guns in North America and the Philippines.  It was recently featured at The Midnight Garden here (wow!) and also on Jukebooks at theYALSA blog ( double wow!).  All you incredible readers and bloggers and book-buyers and librarians out there, YOU ARE ALL MADE OF AWESOME, and thank you so much!  I’m so very grateful for all your support, and especially huge thanks to Tundra Books for making it happen.  Also, so far as I’m aware, Every Breathwill reach UK shores in Spring of 2015.
* Every Word is being prepped for a 2015 release in North America and the Philippines.  Woot!  Right now I’m going through typeset pages to check for last minute things before printing. If you are keen for an Advance Review Copy of Every Word (and just gaze adoringly at those beautiful ARCs there for a second – aren’t they gorgeous?) then please drop into Instagram and gimme a follow – we’re giving them away to new-follower folks, so sign on up!

* Every Move – omg, we’re nearly at the finish line!  I’m doing final passes this week, and my eds and I are working our butts off to bring this book to print on deadline, which will make an early March 2015 release possible.  Honestly, after the writing and the re-writing and the editing and the copyediting and the proofing and the final passes, I must have read through this book at least a hundred times, so I’m getting tired and my butt is sore from sitting in front of the computer, and I am now also filled with the fizzy, scary nervousness of ‘will people like it?’.  There’s also lots of last minute anxiety about whether it’s going to live up to people’s expectations.  But in my saner moments, I’m pretty confident that you will like it (fingers crossed).  Either way, it’s coming very soon!
So that’s the end.  And I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, wherever you are in the world, and may you get lots of lovely books for Christmas! (and give them in return!)
xxEllie

Every Breath Blog Tour Grand Finale - Bookmark Giveaway

Ze Blog Tour, it iz Over.
*Sniff*
I had a wonderful time on the tour, and I hope you did too.  There are still copies of Every Breath being given away on a number of sites – on Goodreads, at Love At FirstPage, and at Bookish Broads – if you’d like to have a go at winning a copy.
And here’s the round up from the last few days of the tour:
Day 3
Lauren at  Love is not a triangle  has Ellie Marney take us on a virtual tour of Melbourne, where Every Breath is set. Still not convinced? Read Lauren’s review here. @laurayjameshttps://www.facebook.com/LoveIsNotATriangle Priyanka at  Priyanka Reads  interviews Ellie Marney and showcases the covers from the Allen & Unwin editions! @PriyankaReads Rachel at  The Reader’s Den  raves “Mystery, romance, danger and even well placed humor made for an awesome start to this addictive series! I need book two, STAT!” @rachelanbig Mandy C. at  Forever Young Adult  is “ready to drop everything and meet you where you live, Book. I want to meet Rachel and Mycroft, and I want to go on adventures with them. I don’t really need to see the dead bodies, but I’d love to work through the clues, make connections and come to conclusions with Watts and Mycroft.”@mandyannecurtis at @4everYAhttps://www.facebook.com/ForeverYoungAdult Link:  http://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/every-breath-blog-tour-day-3/
Day 4
Michelle at  Michelle & Leslie’s Book Picks  gives Every Breath five stars “because it’s friggin’ good and you need it in your life.” You should count the number of times Michelle uses the word “love” in her review! @chelleyreadshttps://www.facebook.com/MichelleandLeslie
Christina at  The Paperback Princesses  invited Ellie Marney over to pick her brain. And find out what galahs are. @pbackprincesses
Shanika at  Nick’s Book Blog  also has a chat with Ellie Marney and asks her a cruel, cruel question, Watts and Mycroft – who is your favorite? @nicksbookblog93https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicks-Book-Blog/166817323435092
Yash at  The Book Wars  writes a thoughtful review saying, “Every Breath dives right into the action, Watts is an engaging narrator, Mycroft is a magnetic character, the mystery is gripping, and the romance is fun.” @SeeYashTweet at @TheBookWarshttps://www.facebook.com/thebookwars Link:  http://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/every-breath-blog-tour-day-4/  
Day 5
Author to author, Ann invites Ellie Marney for an interview on her blog, Ann Towell. @AnnTowell
Dani at Refracted Light has a chat with MYCROFT. Read more about everyone’s favorite sleuthing bad boy!!! @RefractingLight
Danielle at Love at First Page has Ellie Marney stop by to talk about the research she did for her series on forensic pathology (read Danielle’s review too). @loveatfirstpage
Yash at The Book Wars also invites Ellie Marney over for a chat about Sherlock adaptations. @SeeYashTweet at @TheBookWars
Kat at Cuddlebuggery has a guest post and *drum roll* the cover reveal for EVERY WORD! @_KatKennedy at @Cuddlebuggery Link:  http://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/every-breath-blog-tour-day-5/  
Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, to all bloggers, reviewers, readers, booksellers, librarians, fans, retweeters and reposters, and anyone who joined in the fun.  And it was great fun!
Just to polish off what has been a wonderful week, I’m giving away 9 of these gorgeous bookmarks from Tundra (see the pic).  I will happily pop one in a Post-Pak for you, to anywhere in the world (Antarctica! The Amazon jungle! Anywhere, I promise) and I will send them off on a first-come-first-served basis.
To win a bookmark, please do ONE of these 4 things:
* Leave a comment here on the blog OR* Tweet something like ‘#EveryBreath bookmarks from @elliemarney – yes please! You little ripper!’ (remember to include my twitter handle so I get it)OR* Comment at the link to this blog post on my Facebook pageOR* Scrawl a similar message to the tweet above on something, then click and send the pic on Instagram (alert me with my IGname, elliemarney – did I mention I'm on Instagram now? Yep, I am)
I will take the first 9 messages I receive, and announce the winners – you can send me a mailing addy via gmail after that, and I will send you a lovely bookmark in return.
So that’s it!  Hope you’re having a good week.  I’m deep in the edits for Every Move right now – my deadline is second week of November, so I better get my bum into gear.  Take care, and see you round –

Xx Ellie

On the tour bus with Every Breath

Every Breath blog touring promotes my tendency to ALL CAPS which is only fair and just, as the blog tour so far has been pretty freaking spectacular.  Folks have been incredibly enthusiastic, and reviews are beautiful beautiful things, and I would like to say THANK YOU – my gratitude knows no bounds!
People have been getting in touch to ask if there’s anything they can do to support Every Breath during the tour – thank you for asking, and yes!  I would like to suggest (if you want to help) that you buy the book, pass it around to friends, talk about it online (make sure you ping me on Twitter @elliemarney, and I will retweet you), give it as a present to someone, say hi and leave a review on Goodreads, put it on Facebook?Instagram/Tumblr/Pinterest…  If you’d like to help, go for it!  Remember to use the #EveryBreath hastag on Twitter for sharing!  Also, I’m far away from Canada and the US and the Philippines, but if YOU see the book on shelves somewhere in your town, please please do send me a pic – I would love to share sighting s of Every Breath in the wild!

Here’s the round-up from the last few days:
Day 1
 Shelly at  Raindrops and Pages  is “head over heels for this book . . . There are parallels to Sherlock Holmes-don’t let that deter you from reading this book/series. Every Breath is that good. It’s quickly become one of my favorite books that I’ve read, and it’s one that I’m going to have a very hard time restraining myself from literally throwing it at people and going ‘READ THIS.’”@shellyswickedhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Shelly-L-Schulz/568159786537227?ref=hl Jo Ann at  Journey of a Bookseller  says, “There’s a lot of good fantasy, action, and brain work in this story and I enjoyed it a lot. I’m looking forward to seeing more of them. It’s a budding romance and a great partnership. Give me more!” @bkfaeriehttps://www.facebook.com/TheBookFaerie Lisa at  Bookish Broads  shouts, “IT IS AMAZING GO AND READ IT YOU WILL LOVE EVERYTHING. Because you will. I mean it…. EVERY BREATH is smart, dark, snarky and sexy all wrapped up into one unputdownable package…. I wanted to read this forever.”@BookishBroads Link: http://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/every-breath-blog-tour-day-1/Day 2
Jen at  The Starry-Eyed Revue  invites Ellie Marney over for tea – Mycroft-style. You know you want it. There’s even a video to teach you how to make the tea!http://starryeyedrevue.blogspot.com/2014/10/blog-tour-tea-time-with-ellie-marney.htmlhttp://starryeyedrevue.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-every-breath-by-ellie-marney.htmlLove this >> http://youtu.be/bq8sogD55oE <<@starryeyedjenhttps://www.facebook.com/TheStarryEyedRevue Shilpa at  Sukasa Reads  chats with Ellie Marney about the book, forensics, life, films, writing, and the FUTURE.http://sukasareads.blogspot.com/2014/10/in-conversation-with-ellie-marney.html@SukasaReads Mandy C. at  Forever Young Adult  has Ellie Marney (aka the Crime Queen) share her 10 rules on how to write a crime story. Join them for part 1 (part 2, Mandy’s review, will be posted tomorrow).http://foreveryoungadult.com/2014/10/21/blog-tour-every-breath/@mandyannecurtis at @4everYAhttps://www.facebook.com/ForeverYoungAdult Link: http://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/every-breath-blog-tour-day-2/Day 3 (not done yet - this news hot off the press)
Lauren at Love Is Not A Triangle says "This book is a winner!" - Ellie Marney takes you on a virtual tour of Melbourne (with pics!) and there is a delicious giveaway on the blog
http://www.loveisnotatriangle.com/2014/10/every-breath-blog-tour-giveaway-virtual.html?spref=tw
@laurayjames
Rachel at The Reader's Den says "Every Breath was a breath of fresh air...with multi-layered characters, a twisty mystery, and a swoon-worthy romance!"
http://thereadersden.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/blog-tour-review-every-breath-by-ellie.html
@rachelanbig

I would like to give all the bloggers involved in this tour a giant HUG, and send them TimTams (that could still happen).  Someone I especially want to send presents to is Sylvia, my editor at Tundra – in fact, I have a special gift for her and Tara and Pamela and Five and the whole Tundra team, but I’ve been so flat out I haven’t had a chance to post it yet (I will, Sylvia, this week I PROMISE).
Finally - the Inkys! They were wonderful – I went to the Inky Awards ceremony yesterday, and met all the amazing authors on the Gold Inky shortlist (Claire Zorn, Allyse Near, Amie Kaufman, Will Kostakis – you rock).  Best of all, I met a whole lot of students from all over the place who had come to listen and watch and clap enthusiastically and generally be inspiring.  Congratulations to Will Kostakis, who took out the Gold Inky for his fantastic book, The First Third.  Will is a doll, and was kind enough to introduce me to his Yiayia (grandmother) who had come to the ceremony with him – all the way from Sydney.  Congrats also to Julie Berry, whose book All The Truth That’s In Me won the (international) Silver Inky for awesomeness.
Take care, may Every Breath rock on, and have a great week!
Xx Ellie

LOVE LOVE LOVEDY LOVE LOVE LOVE

Oh my goodness - Every Breath is coming out in Canada, the US and the Philippines on October 14, only a few short days away.  Book birthday!!  Folks, this is such a big thing, and I can’t tell you how nervous and excited I am.  Yes, there are many feels.
I’ve been particularly thrilled by the way the excitement is spreading.  The blog tour dates are all lined up, and Cuddlebuggery is the last passenger aboard this train – the full blog tour schedule (Oct 20-24) is up here at the Tundra blogsite.  New reviews have been popping up all over the place, like this one at There Were Books Involved (so lovely!) and here at BookVerdict and here at Brittany's Book Rambles and I mentioned the Kirkus review, right?
I’ll be at the announcement for the Inky awards on October 21 – Will Kostakis (The First Third), Amie Kaufman (These Broken Stars), Allyse Near (Fairytales for Wilde Girls), and Claire Zorn (The Sky So Heavy) will all be there too, and there was some talk online about a WWE/Hunger Games-style Inky Author Smackdown…  But I’m sure we can be civilised about this! (I mean, unless you’d liketo see us authors all battling it out…)  The event is open to the public, so if you’d like to come along, jet on over to the State Library website and book your (free) ticket.
I’ll also be at Clunes Library on October 22, and at the Little Bookroom with Kirsty Murray and some other guests on November 11, and no doubt you will catch me online, blagging about Every Breath in its new life overseas.
I’m gearing up for some big thank yous soon – my cup of gratitude and happiness officially runneth over.  But I wanted to say one big thank you first of all, to my partner, Geoff.
Geoff and I jumped the broom twenty years ago this year, and apart from our kids, he is the most important person in my life.  We have raised four sons together, and share two decades of memories.  People often ask me, ‘How do you write with such a large family?’ and sometimes the answer is ‘I honestly don’t know’, and sometimes the answer is my own discipline and sheer bloody-mindedness, but mostly the answer is ‘My partner’.  We parent and order the household together, juggling work and taxiing kids and other commitments, and splitting the household chores, but he will do the lion’s share when I’m on deadline, or in some other sort of writerly frenzy.
He is the one who revs me up, calms me down, prods me to keep going when I need it, encourages me at every turn.  We put up with each other’s foibles – my head in another world of characters, his footy obsession.  We talk about everything – everything.  He is my lifeline, and my inspiration.  And y’know, he’s hot (still.  After twenty years.  Uh huh.)  He would be mortified that I’m saying all these things about him in such a public space, but I would like to acknowledge all the whole-hearted care and commitment he’s given to me, especially these last few years, since the book-writing thing has taken off, because without him I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it.
So Geoff, I know I’ve included you in acknowledgement pages and dedications, and I try to say it every day, in small domestic ways, but I want to thank you – for the last twenty years, for love and devotion, for our sons, for everything.  I love you, darling.  Happy anniversary.
Xx Ellie

YA-Bashing is the New Black, or something, whatevs

Look, I should be working on another article for the blog tour, but I can’t help it: the number of articles and the increasing fervour of the debate surrounding YA literature in the media lately has kind of infected me.  And I don’t like being angry, it generally makes me cry (embarrassing but true) or get all tongue-tied, and it’s emotionally exhausting.  But I have to say my twenty-cents worth, even though, as friends have advised, you can't reason with crazy.  Because the articles that have popped up all over the place have made me angry, and here’s where I rant, so I will have at thee, Helen Razer and all you people who have flamed my world.
For those of you who don’t know about it, here’s a little intro.  Articles about how YA lit is crap have been getting a lot of media time lately.  Here’s AO Scott in the New York Times, decrying The Death of Adulthoodin American Culture.  And here’s Robert Lipsyte in the same rag, talking about how YA is too Girl-focused.  And here’s Chris Beha in the New Yorker talking about Henry James and the Great YA Debate. Michelle Dean wrote about Our YADystopias here.  Laura C Mallonee wrote a piece here on how it’s Time for Teen Fantasy Heroines to Grow Up.  There's lots more.  And if you really want to make your eyes bleed, here’s our very own Helen Razer saying that People who read YAliterature Should Just Grow Up too.  If you want to go read them and get really pissed off about what’s being said, be my guest.  It’s probably good that you read them, so you’re informed about what’s going on.  My suggestion: keep a cup of chamomile tea handy, or something else that will help you maintain calm.
Because a lot of what’s being written about YA lit is uncritically opinionated, poorly researched, badly thought-out, academically non-rigorous bandwagon-jumping, based on a whole bunch of ingrained assumptions about teenagers and writing and reading and literature and women (I’ll get to that later), written by people who don’t read YA, and would never sully themselves by doing so.  Most of the articles are op-ed pieces – they’re clickbait, as Danielle Binks has pointed out, designed to provoke a reaction.  There’s no academic rigour; although the publication of them in places like The New York Times gives them a veneer of intellectuality, there’s no real examination of the underlying issues (and there’s plenty of issues: see Maureen Johnson’s Cover Flip).  It’s maddening, and engaging with it is frustrating, like trying to hit a buzzing mosquito in a dark room (and probably equally doomed to failure).  But there you have it – this piece isn’t academically rigorous either, because I’m too cross (perhaps it’s easier to engage on the same wonky playing field anyway?) and because I think others have done it way better before me (see below).
But I have to say the lack of standards bugs me.  How can you critically pick apart a whole category of literature, of which you have partaken of only the most recently-noteworthy examples (and it’s the same ones, always – Twilight, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Fault In Our Stars)?  I don’t know.  If you position yourself as a critic (Helen Razer, I’m looking at you), then surely you need to have some idea of what you’re discussing?  But no – the people who’ve written these articles seem to think that this handful of books is representative of the whole category, and reading them is the sum total of their academic research on the issue.  The idea astonishes me.  It’s as if I said I played Frogger once (in 1985), and I now have the right to offer scathing commentary on the whole of the gaming industry.
I would like to point out, at this juncture, that there have been a number of excellent rebuttal pieces written as well.  And here they are: Anne Ursu wrote a rebuttal of Scott at Terrible Trivium.  Sarah McCarry’s piece on pleasure principles is a must. Kelly Jensen talks here about how Advocating and Writing for Girls is a radical act.   And Foz Meadow’s writes the most entertaining stuff – her pieces in response to Dean and Mallonee are excellent.  Most of these writers have actually done some examination of the issues, and – most tellingly – they have read the literature of the category that they are seeking to defend.  They are all better quality pieces than this will be, and I heartily recommend that you go read them, if only to make yourself feel better.
But I would like to posit a theory of my own as to why YA literature is receiving such a pasting in the media lately.  I know – the issues involved are many.  But I would like to unpack two of them, and I think they are the most relevant two.
First of all, I contend (and see how I did that? I contendsomething, and I don’t even have to cite anything to back it up! I can say whatever the hell I want!  Two can play the game, folks) I contend that people who criticise YA literature are afraid of teenagers.  This, our society tells us, is a perfectly acceptable position to hold – teenagers are scary, everybody says so.  The ages between 13 and 19, depending on the laws in your state or country, are an amorphous grey area where individuals are neither child nor adult (see Scott Westerfeld’s useful unpacking of the concept of childhood/teenaged years).  Teenagers do crazy shit.  They slouch and spit and wail and groan and bellow.  They smoke and drink and drive fast and have sex and stick two fingers up at religion and politics and custom.  They are not polite.  But above all, they are unformed.
Most adults look back – not too long or hard – at adolescence as a period of their lives that was both embarrassing and frightening, when their bodies and minds were in a state of flux, when things were out of their control (quite literally, when your parents are still dictating to you what goes).  They remember – not fondly – a period of crazy experiences, painful growth and change, humiliation, lack of direction, social embarrassment.  So they find teenagers scary, because hey, it was a scary time in their own lives.  Yes, folks, they’re projecting.
Teenagers dress differently, think differently, act differently to adults.  ‘Yeah, well, obvs.  Whatever.  It’s all g’: teenagers even speak a different language.  At a really basic level, adult fear of teenagers is a xenophobic fear of a completely alien culture (and maybe a fear of what that culture will propagate after the current generation’s demise).  I find it particularly telling, the way adults are so panicked about the level of social media exposure teens willingly (nay, eagerly) participate in.  Because most adults remember adolescence as such a shit experience that they don’t want to remember it, let alone have it pasted up on the internet (and as Lauren Beukes pointed out, that shit is forever.  Your ghastly drunken embarrassment on prom night? Now anyone can see it anytime they want, and it will never go away).
Most adults display a general lack of awareness of how teenagers think, create, dream and feel.  That’s okay – they just don’t get it, or have wilfully or unconsciously repressed the ENORMOUS spectrum of mental and emotional and spiritual experiences that they went through themselves at that age.  But I find it a bit sad.
When I tell people I am a high school teacher, they look at me aghast.  ‘How can you stand up in front of a room full of teenagers?  Doesn’t it freak you out?’  Well – no.  I like teenagers.  They have a refreshing honesty, energy and transparency that I admire.  Their exuberance, their beauty, their rebellion, even their mood swings – I find teenagers incredible, and although I too don’t have great memories of my own adolescence, I admire their bravery and ingenuity and dogged optimism in the face of it.
Adult critics who denigrate YA literature (and other types of children’s literature) seem to want us all to be ‘grown up’, to move away from childish literature into ‘adult’ fiction (or even better, non-fiction).  They remind me strongly of those who also criticise genres like romance and fantasy, because they are wish-dreams, there’s no cold hard facts, no ‘real life’.
I could rant on about how this is stupid, but I think CS Lewis – quoted in Ursu’s article – says it best:

“Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. … But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”  (On Three Ways of Writing for Children)

And I would also like to quote an entirely relevant excerpt from Ursu here:

“Isn’t this really the marker of adulthood? Learning to look beyond yourself to others? Isn’t a marker of intelligence a hunger to see the world outside your own experience? Isn’t that maybe why so many people outside of traditional power structures are draw to this lit in the first place? Everyone who insults reading these books is not just denigrating the quality of the books themselves, but of the very act of using your time to give a crap about kids and the things they give a crap about.”

Before this article gets too long, I would like to just point the finger once – and that should be enough – at the underlying sexism and assumptions about women and women’s writing in YA literature critique.  Female writers dominate YA, despite what the NYT Bestseller list might lead you to believe.  One of the reasons why YA literature is such an easy target is because it’s seen as a women’s field.  This is the second major issue I have with pieces like Razer’s.  Suggesting that YA literature’s success is a collective ‘dumbing down’ of culture – in other words, crying over the decline of the cultural authority of canonical (read straight white male) texts - is staggering perilously close to saying that women’s writing is shit.  I have talked about women and YA writing before.  And as I mentioned earlier, other people have unpacked this issue, and in articles way more erudite than this. 
Foz Meadow’s article says it best -

“…women, whatever their age, are held to different standards. We’re presupposed to be the moral and aesthetic gatekeepers of every genre we’re discouraged from actually enjoying, not just because girls aren’t meant to like that sort of thing (and if we don’t, we’re humourless, fun-hating harridans – natch), but because, if we do, it’s unseemly and inappropriate and we’re doing it wrong, and why does there have to be romance and boys and ugh, trashy films with magic and explosions are just so much better when they fail the Bechdel test and are made for teenage boys and young women need to stop participating in popular culture!...
 …Whether we’re conscious of our biases or not, we’re culturally predisposed to be extra critical of everything women, and particularly young women, do (to say nothing of the women themselves) – and now that YA novels have become such a breakaway phenomenon, with plenty of film adaptations still in the works, otherwise sane adults are falling all over themselves to declare the whole business a type of commercial heresy.”

If you want more on that, I suggest you go read the article.

And that’s all I’m gonna say.
xx Ellie

Inky vid and more Every Breath blog roll-y goodness

I made a video!  I know, it’s not exciting, because people do it every day, but I don’t (usually), and I had to get my son to film it, which was kind of hilarious.  It's a first effort, so it's pretty amateur *blushes* but you also get a little glimpse at my (extremely untidy) work space where I write books.  It’s to encourage everyone who’s 12-20 years of age to go vote in the 2014 Inky Awards – and here it is:

Did you hear the rooster crowing in the background?  Yes, that is one of our many roosters – in fact, we have an excess of roosters at the moment.  Because the chook pen isn’t finished, all the chooks are roaming freely around our yard.  And some of them are very loud, as you might have noticed.
Anyway, I don’t know why I’m talking about roosters when I should be talking about Inkys and the Every Breath blog tour!
The Inkys: like I said above, if you haven’t voted, the door closes at 5pm AEDT on Sunday 5 October 2014 – so if you loved a book on the list, and you fit the age range, go aheadand vote for that sucker.  I’ll be attending the Inky Awards announcement on Tuesday 21 October at the State Library too, so if you’re keen to come along and hear all about the incredible things that were done this year to make the Inkys happen, including chats from the teen judges, scurry over to the website and let them know you’d like to be there.
The Every Breath blog tour:  yes, it’s happening!  Excitements!  If you’re strolling around the internets between Monday 20 October and Friday 24 October, feel free to drop into any of these sites and check out reviews, interviews, giveaways and guest posts (and yes, maybe a video or two):
Monday 20 OctRaindrops and PagesJourney of a BooksellerBookish BroadsTuesday 21 OctThe Starry-Eyed RevueSukasa ReadsBook Club SistersWednesday 22 OctLove is Not A TriangleThe Book WarsPriyanka ReadsThe Reader’s DenForever Young AdultThursday 23 OctMichelle & Leslie’s Book PicksThe Paperback PrincessesNick’s Book BlogFriday 24 OctAnn Towell blogRefracted LightLove At First Page
We may still be confirming a few other sites here and there, but I'll let you know if more people join up :)  The thing I love about this blog tour is that it’s ALL OVER – these blogs come out of Ontario, Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Alabama…  I am still gobsmacked that people in so many different places will soon (after October 14!) be reading Every Breath.  A huge thank you to all the participating bloggers, and big hugs to the team at Tundra Books, who have done the hard yards organising it all.
So get ready!  It’s happening soon!
Okay, that’ll do for the exclamation mark usage.  Apart from book craziness, I’m loving being on hols, and my fave song right now is ‘A Place Like This’ by MajidJordan.  What’s going on with you?  Hope you’re well, enjoying school holidays if you’re on them, or enjoying school/work if you’re not, and have a good week.

Xx Ellie

The Sap is Rising (and North American release! And Inkys!)

Ahh, the start of Spring!  You may not feel it, if you’re reading this from north of the equator, but here at our place it’s like the first touches of the changing season are thrumming in your blood – the blossoms and leaves are bursting out, all green and pink and fresh, and you feel the nip of cold more keenly as your skin gets impatient to feel air and sun again.  And it’s still cold, of course: the fire still burns in our house every night, and sometimes during the day as well, and you still can’t hang washing outside.  I’m soo sick of wearing thermal underwear – I can’t wait for t-shirts and shorts and skirts again!  The house feels crowded as we all start stretching.  But jackets and warm socks and scarfs are still de rigeur come afternoon…
I’m emerging from self-imposed exile, after two weeks of knuckling down, finishing the edits/rewrites for Every Move.  And they’re done!  That is, the complicated narrative part is done.  Now comes the fine edit, when we prune away some of the excess verbiage, and make the book leaner and tougher and right handsome.  Someone asked me what that meant, to give a book a ‘trim’, and I said it’s like cutting the excess fat off a chunk of beef.  My only concern is that this book could be a complicated trim, as the fat is veined right through the meat, like a nice marbled steak.  But my editors, Eva and Sophie, are both experienced knife-wielders, so I’ve no doubt that it’ll work out okay!*
Every Move is due for release in March 2015 – it goes to the printers in November.  If you’re anticipating it, I can only say that it’s a wild ride, and takes Rachel back to places – and people – she thought she’d left behind…  The book has been a real labour of love (ie. it was bloody hard work), but I’m very happy with it, and I hope you will be too.
Now here’s some other cool news – Every Breath was awarded a Highly Commended in the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards for Best YA Fiction, which is thrilling and amazing.  Here’s a little pic of me and the other winners on the night, as well as Lauren Beukes (The Shining Girls, Broken Monsters) who presented the awards.  A hearty congratulations to everyone!

While Every Breathdidn’t make it past the shortlist for the Ned Kelly Awards (and congrats too to Candice Fox, who won the Best Debut category of that award with her excellent book Hades), there is another award that Every Breath is listed for – and which you can help out with.



Every Breath has been shortlisted for a Centre for Youth Literature award – the Gold Inky.  And now that the shortlist has been decided, YOU can be the one who chooses the winner.  If you’re between 12-20 years of age, GO HERE to vote in the Inky Awards (Gold for Australian, Silver for International), and whether you’re voting for Every Breath or not, I do encourage you to vote!  Because the Inkys are the only award in the country where teenaged readers can choose which – in their opinion – are the best books of that given year – that’s right, you choose.  I really want to see the Inkys continue strongly onward, so that teenagers themselves can exercise their right to vote on which books rock their world.
So go vote!  Vote for Every Breath, if you loved it, or vote for another book you loved – but definitely VOTE!
Finally, the most thrilling bit of all – Every Breath is about to be released by Tundra Books in North America and the Philippines!!  I am VERY EXCITED (I can’t really express how excited I am, except to use a lot of exclamation marks and say that I’m squeeing a lot) that the October 14 release date is drawing ever-closer, and even more excited that there will soon be a blog tour.  The blogs that are participating so far are listed below, and I’d like to say a massive welcome and thank you, to all participating bloggers!
Raindrops and Pages      Oct 20Journey of A Bookseller                Oct 20The Starry-Eyed Revue  Oct 21Sukasa Reads     Oct 21Book Club Sisters Oct 21Love is Not A Triangle     Oct 22Michelle and Leslie’s Book Picks                Oct 23Paperback Princesses    Oct 23Nick’s Book Blog               Oct 23Ann Towell         Oct 24Refracted Light Oct 24Love At First Page            Oct 24
It is quite incredible to think that – very soon – people in Canada, the US and the Philippines will be reading Rachel and Mycroft’s adventures, and checking out Melbourne in the pages of a book I wrote.  I find that staggering!  And I hope folks love it, and laugh, and I hope they crush on Rachel and James, and I hope…  Oh, so many things I hope!  But above all, I wish Every Breath luck on its travels, and the love of many new friends on the way.
So that’s all the news, but I’ll be updating again soon with more info about the blog tour and upcoming release.  Until then, I’m enjoying a well-earned break after the excitement of Melbourne Writers Festival, school visits, Adelaide Emerging Writers Festival, sick kids, sick husband, Davitt Awards, Book Week, CBCA events, edits, rewrites and blah blah etc – I’m actually LOVING being able to read again.  I sometimes have to take a break from reading while I’m deep in writing mode, as I find I get so absorbed in some books that I either a)can’t tear myself away, or b)find myself thinking about the characters and plot of someone else’s book all day, when I should be thinking about my own.
But now I can read again – and I’ve had a few books saved up in celebration.  Right now I’m totally sucked into 18th century Scotland with the Outlander series (Diane Gabaldon), and after that I’m going slightly crazy hanging out for Blood of My Blood, the finale of the Jasper Dent series (Barry Lyga).  I’m also a bit desperate to finally read This Shattered Earth (Amie Kaufman/Megan Spooner), We Were Liars (E. Lockheart), and The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl (Melissa Keil), and I’m pretty sure there’s other books on my TBR pile as well…
I hope you have a good book to read right now, to get you through the early weeks of the season, and a nice warm spot to read it in.  Have a great week – remember to go vote for the Inkys! – and see you on the blog tour J
Xx Ellie

* If I’m going to draw that analogy, I have to say too that sometimes cutting the fat makes you bleed, as if the meat comes from your own body.  So it stings a bit.  An experienced and gifted editor will make sure that the knife doesn’t knick an artery, and drain the lifeblood of the piece.  Both my editors are gifted, for which I ‘m enormously grateful.  I do have to keep the BandAids handy though, for minor wounds…