Back to Reality

You know how I said my next blog would come from Toronto? Well, that turned out to be rather unrealistic, and I take full responsibility for making such an over ambitious statement. I'm obviously not to be trusted when it comes to making grand announcements ahead of time, with it being 18 days into July and that many days beyond my blog deadline. That said, I did a lot of thinking whilst enjoying my six week work/play circumnavigation of the planet, and some of that related to my current book. The rest revolved around making the most of mostly outdoor activities in Paris, London, Belgium and Canada.

Here's a brief rundown of the past few weeks:

On Thursday 5th June, Neil and I flew via South Korea to Paris, where we spent a few days enjoying the food and culture before travelling to Amiens on a quest to visit my two great uncles, both named Sam Kennedy, in their respective war graves from World War One. It was a very humbling experience and I'm so glad I did it.

Ten days later, after visiting my sister Helen in Brussels, we caught the train to a little village in Brussels called Poperinge, and from there we hired push-bikes (not our choice, but there was no other way) to visit Neil's great uncle Albert Goodacre who is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. Like my uncles, he died a young man in the Great War.

From there we caught the Eurostar to London, where I attended the Self-Publishing Show Live 2025 at Queen Elizabeth Hall. This was the impetus for our trip, although we did spend nine days attending shows, and visiting friends in between. Crazy not to, right?

The Self-Publishing Show was everything I expected and more. I learned a lot about promotion, advertising, the use of AI, editorial tools and publishing platforms and mental wellness amongst other things. So money well spent. Hopefully I'll do it again perhaps in a couple of years time, depending on where I am with this writing lurk.

The second part of our trip took us to Canada, starting in Montreal and from there a four night, three day train trip from Toronto to Vancouver on the Via Rail Canadian. We saw forests, plains, mountains with snow, a few moose and deer, but no bears. And during the day I got to try out my new toy, the IClever keyboard which I spoke about in an earlier blog. Once I managed to connect it by bluetooth to my ipad it was all systems go, and I did manage to do some editing of this latest book. My reward came at 5pm each evening at the bar in the furthest carriage possible, a good fifteen minute swaying walk down the end of the train, to which the first class passengers had access until 5pm. A few of us middle-of-the-road travellers made the most of a few hours of luxury until we were hearded out for dinner at 8.30pm.

After Vancouver and Vancouver Island we flew to Vernon to spend time with family I had never met, and with whom I now have a life-long connection, which is exciting. This family comes from my mother's mother's side, so not part of the Greenwood-Potiki whanau who feature in my books. They're probably glad about that.

As usual, no matter where I was, I listened to audio books, and this month it was ex NZ prime minister Jacinta Ardern's autobiography, 'A Different Kind of Power', Lisa Jewell's 'Don't Let Him In', 'Into the World' by Stephanie Parkyn, Jean Grainger's 'The Robinswood Story: Book 1', 'Better the Blood' by Michael Bennett and Michael Robotham's 'The White Crow'. Most of these authors I already follow, apart from Jacinta Ardern and Michael Bennett. The reason for my adding Michael Bennett brings me to my latest news.

About a month ago I received a message via Instagram from a friend congratulating me on the nomination of 'Finding Miriama' as one of six finalists in the Aotearoa NZ Audiobook of the Year 2025. I had no idea about this, and when I contacted Booksellers Aotearoa, who are presenting this particular award through Libro.fm, they confirmed it. I would probably never have known if my eagle-eyed friend hadn't spotted it. Anyway, long story short, the award is part of the annual NZ Book Industry Awards night on July 19th (tomorrow) in Auckland. Having just arrived back in Brisbane two days ago, I can't justify turning around and flying back to NZ for this, especially since I'm up against stiff competition (Michael Bennett, for example), so I've organised for my cousin Linda, who is also a descendant of Miriama, to represent me. I believe she is composing my acceptance speech right now...

Last but not least, my upcoming commitments writing-wise are a book launch for both 'Finding Miriama' and 'Of Greenstone and Violins' in the Rototuna Library in Hamilton NZ on the Sunday 28th September (I fly back there on the 20th), and my conference down in Gisborne from the 8th-11th October, featuring Maori writers and organised by Witi Ihimaera and others. I should learn a lot from that one.

That's it, folks. I've caught up. If I follow my preferred schedule I should update everyone at the end of this month, but I won't promise. If I win the audiobook award you will certainly hear about it! I may even look for someone to read the sequel if that's the case. Who knows?

But for now,

Arohanui xo

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