Julie writes a piece for us on the publication of her new novel Disappearance at Oare
Julie Wassmer
A writer writes every day…. or do I?
Leading up to the publication of a new book, my days are pretty hectic and seem to include everything but writing – no matter how early my morning alarm sounds…
Today it went off at 5 am, launching me into a few yoga poses that were quickly interrupted by Miss Maisie - the 11 week old kitten we have recently re-homed from a local vet. Cats are a writer’s best friend as they seem to want for little and don’t seem to mind if I drift off into a world of complex storylines while they doze in comfy baskets in my office… Little kittens, however, do need attention and are apt to get in the way of a Sun Salutation…
Then it’s off to London for a meeting with Buccaneer, the production company that has optioned my Whitstable Pearl Mysteries for TV. The train journey offers some time to write, but instead I use it to respond to requests from book shops for signing events and to the many readers and journalists who have asked to come along to the launch event for my new book, Disappearance at Oare, published on Thursday 7th June.
The launch event is to take place two days later, and is being kindly hosted by the Faversham Literary Festival because my new book happens to be set principally in the Faversham area of Kent – among the mysterious creek marshlands where a young man went missing 7 years ago – a new case for my private detective and Whitstable restaurateur, Pearl Nolan.
Researching the Faversham and Oare areas last summer was hugely enjoyable as I came to meet various boat dwellers and birdwatchers who gave generously of their time in helping me with the kind of information only a local person might know, so I make sure I draw up a long list of those I must thank at the launch event, together with members of a book group who first suggested to me that I should investigate Oare as a location. If they hadn’t done so, Disappearance at Oare might never have been written...
The meeting at Buccaneer goes fantastically well with an exciting update about the company’s progress in bringing my novels to the small screen. I wrote TV drama for over 20 years – series such as Eastenders and London’s Burning – so I am aware that television is a collaborative medium and I’m very happy to trust Buccaneer with the project while I fuel it with more titles…that’s if I can ever find time to write them.
On the train home I send off an update to a local radio station with whom I’m booked to do an interview on my return. It’s late before I’m finally at home and at my desk once more. The long suffering husband gets a hug and now, with a bit of luck, I can begin my day’s writing – a few thousand words of my new novel, Murder Fest, the sixth Whitstable Pearl Mystery, to be published in 2019…
But before I’ve typed a sentence, there’s a new distraction in the form of Miss Maisie peering around my laptop screen…
What do we want? Procrastination! When do we want it? Tomorrow!
Julie’s fifth novel in the Whitstable Pearl Mystery series, Disappearance at Oare, is published by Constable at Little, Brown Book Group on 7 June 2018.
