Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, I’m the author of the multi-award-winning Diamond Peak Series. I write heart-warming and inspiring magical realism and contemporary fantasy for young adults and adults. I’m also an editor, a reviewer, an occasional high school teacher, and a mask-maker. I love creating digital art and sitting on my veranda staring at the rain forest. I used to be a dancer and a Visual Theatre performer, and I live in Australia with my husband and a cheeky Burmese cat called George. I also have a gorgeous teenage daughter.
I’ve written five novels and a book of short stories.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The last book I published is called Eternal Destiny. It’s the final in the Diamond Peak series. It’s the most inspiring off all the books in that series because it’s the culmination of a long journey physical and mental journey, and the ending is truly mind-blowing. I was high on inspiration writing it so it’s very inspiring to read. What inspired the book? Deep meditative experience, I guess.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure what’s unusual because I don’t know what others do, but I often write with a cat’s head on the edge of my keyboard, or on a cushion on my desk if I can get it to move there.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Herman Hesse. Garth Nix’s Dark Kingdom Series inspired me to actually start writing the Diamond Peak series, but it’s hard to pinpoint any one book. I read so many.
What are you working on now?
Worlds Within Worlds. It’s an adult contemporary fiction/magical realism work about a character called Prunella Smith (Ella for short). She’s an author and the story deals with the different worlds an author inhabits – the real world, the online world, the world of her characters and stories, the world of her dreams and memories. It starts as intertwining story threads, they start to merge in the middle and become suspense at the end.
I’m hoping it will be movie length, ie read in one evening.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My personal website: http://tahlianewland.com
I also spend quite a bit of time on Facebook, not specifically to promote my books, just because I enjoy it.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be in a rush to submit or publish; learn your craft well; employ a professional editor experienced in fiction to do a comprehensive edit that includes all 4 kinds of editing, you’ll learn heaps. Better still, use a service that uses 2 or 3 editors on your book. It shouldn’t costs more than one editor. If you don’t think your budget will stretch, at least get a line edit on some of the book.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be spacious.
What are you reading now?
I just finished Amy Spahn’s Enduring Endurance, which I really enjoyed.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As a writer? Finish Prunella Smith, Author: Worlds Within Worlds. It’s possible that after that I’ll write Prunella Smith, Dancer.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and my own Diamond Peak Series.
Author Websites and Profiles
Tahlia Newland Website
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