Hello from my dining table…

…where I'm theoretically supervising a sick child. Don't worry, it's just a cold—but it could progress to a mental illness, since I'm letting him binge-watch The Simpsons while I'm racing a deadline. The show is PG-rated, and I've seen it all before, but every episode has at least one joke that's way more adult than I remember.

I receive a lot of Advance Reader Copies from publishers who hope I'll provide a cover quote.

At the risk of sounding ungrateful for my success, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, free books! Yay! On the other hand, they haven't been proofread yet, which sometimes means occasional typos, and sometimes means huge plot holes. They're printed on cheap paper, which detracts from the enjoyment more than you'd think. So does having a deadline. I need to read the ARC before the book goes to print, and provide a quote about how good I think the final version will be (but in past tense, as though the book already is that good).

On top of all that, the books are always Australian murder mysteries. This makes sense—I'm only receiving them because Kill Your Husbands was so successful—but it gets a bit repetitive. The books are mostly pretty good, for the record. It's just that I'd rather be reading some sci-fi or a rom-com—something I have no idea how to write, which I can therefore enjoy purely as a reader.

Anyway, the boot is on the other foot now, because the ARCs of Choppy Water have been printed on cheap paper and sent out to booksellers, critics, influencers, and other writers. Since the mail out, I've been on edge. Pacing the house, twitching and grimacing, thinking of all those typos and plot holes that I've already fixed, but that readers are still seeing on the pages.

I've only begun to decompress over the last few days, as the good reviews have started to trickle in. If people like the ARC this much, I know they'll love the proper book when it comes out in November.

This is good, because I need to be able to concentrate on You Have To Help Me (Zoe Gale #3). I only have two weeks to finish the first draft, and while I'm really pleased with how it's going, I've veered substantially from my outline. That's a normal part of the process—no plan survives first contact with the enemy—but I'm hurtling towards the ending without knowing exactly what it is.

Anyway, on to the reason I'm emailing you today, rather than after my deadline:

My friend Dan O'Malley (author of The Rook) is interviewing Freya Marske in Canberra tomorrow night about her new romantasy novel, Bodies of Light.

I have no official role, but I'll be there. Want to join me?

And if you're not in Canberra, I have events coming up in Adelaide and Sydney. Check jackheath.net/events for details.

Oh no, my son has moved on to the Halloween episodes. Gotta go!

Yours,
Jack ❤️