Grieving a furry friend, and all my August news

Hello my reader friends,

First of all, apologies there was no Story Matters a fortnight ago – I’d had a traumatic week where our 19-year-old cat Missy suddenly developed multiple serious health issues and stopped being able to eat, and after multiple vet visits it became clear it was time to let her go. I’ve needed some distance before being able to write about it, as she was my constant keyboard and TV-watching companion since 2006, my first fur baby, and my kids have never known home without her.

I’ve since learned the term ‘soul animal’, where there seems to be an instinctive, deep, soulful connection with a pet, and she was that for us: I loved that we could hold regular back-and-forth conversations with words and miaows. And in her last few years, she was often clearly telling us to hurry up and sit down so she could cuddle up to us. She even braved the annoying puppy in order to make sure she wasn’t deprived of affection.

I’ve never had to euthanise a pet before and it was gut-wrenching and traumatic – making the decision to end her life, counting down hours, watching the kids’ heartbreak as well as feeling my own. But I am grateful, too, that after being with me for almost half my life we were able to give her a peaceful ending. As she got older I’d dreaded coming home and finding that something had happened to her, or being away when she needed us. We made sure she went out on a high – literally, she had the good drugs for the last few days and was quite possibly tripping – and I was grinding up her favourite biscuits into kitty milk. She also came round enough at one stage to demand some crumbs of the vanilla cake my daughter was eating, so in some ways she was herself right to the end.

To love deeply and be loved in return by our animal friends is immeasurably special, and I’m thankful to have had her for so long. We are missing her very much, and I’m grateful that our other pets are doing a great job of being their quirky little selves and bringing comfort through their daily antics.

Well, I’ve set myself quite the task, it seems! You may have already heard me talk about how I’m integrating a couple of Agatha Christie plays into my next mystery suspense (my characters are into amateur dramatics in a big way), and this is not an easy thing to do. I’m having to be really careful in how I work with the stories so I don’t give anything away, because I really don’t want to be in trouble with the Christie estate! If I can pull off what I’m aiming for this has the potential to be a truly exciting murder mystery with some characters you’ll love and others you’ll love to hate. I’ll be telling you lots more about it when I’m confident I’ve got the first draft under control!

Between parenting duties for both kids, and pets, and friends staying with us for the last couple of weeks, AND my intense work on my new book, I haven’t immersed myself in a book for the last few weeks, but I did make sure I grabbed the latest Lisa Jewell, Don’t Let Him In. I’m a massive Jewell fan, although this one wasn’t my favourite (I think Then She Was Gone still tops the list for me). However, when I’m talking about authors I love, I’ll still devour every book, such is the power of their storytelling! Have you read it? What was your take? As always, let me know what you think should be at the top of my reading list!

I recently saw a clip of Lisa J talking about her experience in a relationship fraught with coercive control, which was obviously a deeply personal story, and I’d wondered how she felt about revealing this, and whether she felt obliged to in order to support her story. I then listened to Rachael Johns and Anthea Hodgson’s latest Reading Between Deadlines, where they discussed Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere, and how TJR had come out as bisexual in the run-up to the books release (the book is a lesbian love story). Rachael and Anthea raised an important point about how much authors need to explain themselves and their experiences nowadays to support their books and the topics they write about. For example, should Colleen Hoover have to reveal any personal experiences around domestic violence to support It Ends With Us? Should Elizabeth Haynes have to tell us about an experience of being stalked so that we accept her as the author of Behind Closed Doors? But then again, when we’re talking about lived experience that relates to those in the LGBTQIA+ community, or who belong to different cultures, then there are essential questions to ask around appropriating the stories of others. It’s a complex and important topic and I’d love to know your thoughts.

After a very ‘shy July’ where I hibernated and did nothing but write, my events ramp up again this week, beginning at Dymocks Busselton today, where I’ll be helping out from 1.30 - 2.30 pm to support Dymocks Giving Day for children’s literacy. Pop in and say hello if you’re in the area! And this evening I’m heading to Margaret River Library for 6 pm to chat to the lovely Ana Brawls about When She Was Gone and all things writing.

Coming up fast, on 30 August, I’m doing one of my favourite recurring events, the annual Writers of the North soiree with my writing buddies Holden Sheppard, Josephine Taylor and David Allan-Petale – always a lot of fun and laughter at this one! There’s more to come in Perth later in the year, and I’ll also be on two panels at the Brisbane Writers Festival on 11 and 12 October (Mis-Behaving and Cop Shop) with some amazing authors – tickets for that are on sale now. I’d love to see you at one of these – be sure to come and say hi!

Full details of all these events and how to book are on my website.

My latest post on The Resilient Author was about key concepts for authors in 2025, focusing this time on efficiency and strategy:

And if you missed my last Story Matters post, I looked at the Netflix hit Adolescence, and the ways we talk about parent culpability in this era of social media:

Coming up next time on Story Matters: I’ll have lots of events photos for you, and I’ll be sharing more about why I write and taking a look back at the first few months of publication for When She Was Gone.

Thanks for staying connected with me, and happy reading!