I’m still here…

Although I’d understand if you lost interest in this blog long ago.

It’s been five years since my last post. I’m keen to get blogging again on a semi-regular basis, and thought I’d start with an update on where I’m at in life and writing.

Life

My last post was in 2017, when The Undercurrent launched. At that point, I’d lost my brother Steve a few days before the launch, barely two years after losing my dad, and my mum had been diagnosed with dementia.

The years that followed were full of ups and downs. I spent a lot of time with my mum, grateful for every day she remembered me. When my dad passed, it was quick and sudden. The last weeks of my mum’s life were the opposite. Both experiences were terrible, and each changed me in profound ways I’m still grappling with.

In happier news, a year later, my husband and I bought a 160-year-old cottage on a couple of acres in the Scenic Rim, an hour south-west of Brisbane. It’s been life-changing in all the right ways. Beautiful scenery, welcoming people, a sense of community, and a re-connection with life away from a digital screen. Our cottage is small, but my life is bigger in ways I’d forgotten I needed.

Writing

If you follow my author account on Facebook, you possibly saw I’ve had two pieces of news about The Rephaim series this year.

Screen rights

In March, Sarah Kelley – a lovely and talented Canadian actress and screenwriter – bought the rights to adapt Shadows into a film (update August 2023: Sarah is now well advanced in adapting Shadows into a TV pilot). Sarah is from Algonquins of Pikwakanagan in Golden Lake, Ontario.

It’s an exciting opportunity for Gaby, Rafa and company. It’s a long road from print to screen, and this is an important first step. The process from here is for Sarah to adapt the book into a screenplay and then find a production company to bring it to the screen.

I’m so grateful to Sarah for loving The Rephaim characters enough to want to adapt the first novel in the series, knowing how many of her own projects she has going on. (This year alone, her short film Good Grief has won a stack of Canadian and international awards (she wrote, directed and starred in it), and she’s also been busy acting, and had another of her screenplays optioned.)

The Rephaim are in Poland!

In September, a Polish language edition of Shadows was released in Poland (print, e-book and audio). Interestingly, it’s been released as an adult book (rather than YA), and has so far been well received by Polish book bloggers.

The Instagram posts have been stunning.

Current project

After The Undercurrent came out in 2017, I spent a couple of years working on a stand-alone contemporary adult thriller, for a change of pace. I wrote it during an intense time in my life, so maybe it’s no surprise it didn’t find a publishing home.

And then I did something I should have done a while ago: returned to the fantasy series I’d been working on before The Rephaim. I had the first book drafted, as well as a few chapters of the second book, so I figured it would simply be a case of tightening up the line, giving it a polish, and writing the rest.

Wrong.

After working with editors on five published books, I’m not only a better writer, I’m also a better storyteller and have a stronger sense of the type of story I want to tell with this group of characters and the world I’ve created for them.

So, I’ve spent the last two years completely re-working the first book (the story is essentially the same but the characters are more nuanced and the world-building much richer) and am about a third of the way into the second book. I also have a completely new direction for the third than what I’d originally planned.

For the first time in a long while, I’m excited about writing. I’ve been doing a lot of fun research, in particular learning more about the middle ages, sword play and Greek myths.

The story will take three books to tell. Fingers crossed the trilogy finds a home.

8 Comments

  1. Jennifer Ferguson says:

    I’m so sorry for the loss that you have been through. I am just finishing my 8th reread of the Rephaim series since I first read them in 2014. I love this series so much (it’s one of my comfort reads) and realized I hadn’t checked your blog since I guess Undercurrent came out. I’m so excited to hear about a possible film! That makes my heart so happy! These characters mean so much to me! I can’t wait to read your new series! Crossing my fingers it finds a new home! Best wishes for you and your family and your stories! 💗

    1. Paula Weston says:

      Thanks Jennifer! It means so much to me that these books are comfort reads, and that you can keep returning to them. (I actually re-read them all recently and still love them too.)

  2. Melissa Jones Murphy says:

    I just discovered Shadows a couple of months ago and was wondering if you were still writing. I finished Haze tonight and thought I’d check in again. I’m so sorry for your loss and the tough times you have been through.
    It’s great to hear you are writing again. I’m really looking forward to reading the next two books. You are a wonderful writer and your characters are ones to care about. Congrats on selling the rights- that’s so exciting!

    1. Paula Weston says:

      Thanks Melissa. I appreciate that, and hope you continue to enjoy the series. 🙂

  3. Bec says:

    So very sorry for all you have been through the last few years, but lovely to read that you have made it through to the other side and are writing again! I’m so very keen to see what new stories may be around the corner!!!

    1. Paula Weston says:

      Thank you Bec. I really appreciate that. 🙂

      1. Tina says:

        This is exciting news! I love the Rephaim books so much and was always dreaming of more from that world!!

        1. Paula Weston says:

          Thanks Tina. 🙂 My new series is fantasy, but not set in the Rephaim world. BUT. I do have ideas percolating in the back of my brain about what I might do with the Rephaim once this is done.

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About Me

I’m the author of the Rephaim series and The Undercurrent.

For my day job, I’m a writer-journalist-professional communicator, where my writing involves a lot less profanity.

I grew up in regional South Australia and now live in the Scenic Rim with my husband and a retired greyhound.

If you’re interested in how I came to land a publishing deal, you can read the short version in this post from August 2011. There’s a longer version (in a guest post) here.

Paula Weston

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