This Stays Between Us - One Month to Go!
+ Book recs & 2025 writing projects!
Hello!
I can’t believe it’s somehow February???? (and forever since my last post), but with my YA Horror novel, This Stays Between Us, out in - GASP - one month, and social media becoming increasingly unpredictable, I’m motivated to make 2025 the year of regular Substacks!
For those just tuning in, I started Planchette as a way to document (and demystify) what goes on behind the scenes for a traditionally published Australian YA author after Penguin Random House Australia bought This Stays Between Us in a two-book deal back in August 2023.
And if deep dives into Australian publishing are up your street, my agent, Danielle Binks, has a fab new Substack where she’s sharing her thoughts on different aspects of the industry. For example, in her latest post, she talks about how she initially came to sign her authors with 2025 releases, and the role she played in getting each book published.
Writing-wise, 2025 is shaping up to be a BIG year for me! As well as seeing This Stays Between Us (finally!) released into the wild, I’ll be working through edits for a second YA Horror novel that’s set to be published next year, plus I’m hoping to write a first draft of a new YA Horror/Thriller. So, I’ve got a manuscript at each of the big developmental stages of drafting, editing and publishing, and my plan is to share ~monthly updates about what’s happening with each project, and how I go juggling the three.
This Stays Between Us - out 4 March!
My little monster went to the printers just before Christmas, and the postie delivered my very first copy while I was typing this paragraph (no joke - this suddenly became a *very* exciting day!!!).
So, now with one month until publication, and the book available for preorder, PRH’s publicity team are sending out press releases and review copies and pitching me for interviews and events - basically doing everything in their power to get the word out about the book. For my part, I’ve been organising things for the launch (details soon!), refining talking points for events/interviews, starting to give interviews(!), and channelling all my willpower into staying away from the book’s Goodreads page. But you don’t have to! In fact, I would be ever so grateful if you added This Stays Between Us to your Goodreads shelf.
I’m also starting to see This Stays Between Us pop up on social media, and it received a lovely early review in Books + Publishing (paywalled until the book’s release). I learned from my first book, Neverland, that reading reviews (even the good ones) is a sugar hit for my inner demons, so I’m not actively seeking them out, but I am *extremely* thankful to anyone who takes the time to read or talk about the book, even if it’s not their cup of tea.
The 2026 Book
One of the tricky things about books in development is that everything is still subject to change. This manuscript, which for the sake of clarity I’m calling The 2026 Book, is the second book of the two-book deal I signed with PRH Aus. It has a working title, but I don’t yet know whether that will be the final title, so I’m keeping it under wraps for now.
I submitted the manuscript at the start of September last year, and it’s got the green light to go into editing. I say that casually, but I had HUGE anxiety after I submitted because, even though PRH had bought a second book from me, what if they didn’t want this book? What if it was, in fact, ThE wOrSt BoOk EvEr WriTtEn?! My inner demons had a field day catastrophising.
But now that the Penguins have decided the book isn’t completely terrible and my inner demons have temporarily retreated to their cave, the manuscript is on the back burner until I get my edit letter. But because this is the last manuscript I have contracted, while it’s in development, I need to be thinking about what’s next.
The Still-Very-Much-Only-Exists-In-My-Head Book
By the end of last year, after tag-teaming This Stays Between Us edits and early drafts of The 2026 Book, my creative well was bone dry and my brain needed a holiday. I watched a lot - and I do mean a lot - of Netflix reality shows. And then somewhere between finishing Love is Blind US and starting Love is Blind UK, I decided it might be nice to read a book again. And sometime after that, I decided it might be nice to write one.
Ms 7 went back to school last week, and I have a bunch of scribbled notes and early ideas about major plot points and characters, so I’ve started my draft zero. It’s always a bit daunting starting a new work (particularly when there’s no guarantee that it’ll find a publisher) and part of the reason I gave myself a big gap between submitting The 2026 Book and starting this one was to work through a few different ideas and make sure this was the story I wanted to run with. But now that I’ve settled on a direction, this initial writing stage is fun and exciting and I love having the freedom to explore and play without any of the pieces being locked in place just yet.
The Juggle
The big challenge for me this year is to hold all three stories in my head and be able to switch between drafting, editing and publicity. Publicity is already making this tricky because, while I very much hope that there’ll be enough interest in This Stays Between Us to keep me busy in the weeks around publication, aside from a few things planned well in advance, a lot happens at short notice and it’s often hard to know what or how much there is to do until you’re doing it. (Eg: you can be quietly writing a Substack while keeping an eye on your kid who’s home sick from school when, all of a sudden, the first ever finished copy of your book arrives and it’s SO!!! EXCITING!!! and you want to show your family and text your coven and email your editor, but you also need to go do your hair and put on make-up because your publisher would love you to do a social media post and you hadn’t thought, until this moment, that you might to be camera-ready today, and after that, you’re still kinda buzzing and replying to texts and resisting the urge to check your phone every two seconds, so thank the gods you weren’t trying to work on your new book because flow state is pretty much off the table for the rest of the afternoon if your brain is anything like mine.)
There’s also this weird sense of overlapping timelines where, in one, This Stays Between Us is not quite in the world yet and I’m trying my hand at novel-length horror for the first time after a seven-year gap between books. While, in another, I’ve been writing, writing, writing and am deep in the honeymoon phase with my third horror novel and This Stays Between Us feels like something that happened a long time ago. It’s one of those strange quirks of author life, thanks to the many, many steps involved in making a book, but because I had such a long gap between Neverland and This Stays Between Us it’s new to me! It’s a bit disorienting, but it also reassures me that I’ve got I’ve got some momentum behind me now and while I’m THRILLED to finally be talking about This Stays Between Us, I’m also working hard to make sure there are plenty more stories to come!
Book recs!
On top of my writing projects this year, I’m also hoping to make more time for reading. And I started strong with ten books in January! Here are the highlights:
Rabbits by Hugo Rifkind
I’ve seen Rabbits described as a Scottish Saltburn, but honestly? Saltburn wishes. Rabbits is sharp and witty, while also being horrible and horrifying and refreshingly raw for a story about a dying breed of aristocracy.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
All the stars to Grady Hendrix! Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is set in Florida, 1970, and centres on a group of pregnant teens in one of the many homes for unwed mothers that existed before Roe V. Wade. In his acknowledgements, Hendrix explains that two women in his family were sent to such homes and you can feel his love and empathy for them burning on every page. He’s done his research, and while the book still carries his signature warmth and playful style, it also HOWLS with grief and rage over what girls endured in these homes.
It’s lighter on supernatural horror than his other books, but leans into the girls’ very real experiences of birth trauma and forced adoption, which I found to be more harrowing and heartbreaking than any made-up malevolence. And it’s *such* a timely read. Highly, highly recommend.
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer
‘Consuming a piece of art is two biographies meeting: the biography of the artist that might disrupt the viewing of the art; the biography of the audience member that might shape the viewing of the art. This occurs in every case.’ (p.80)
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma is a ‘memoir of the audience’ and offers a thoughtful deep dive into the problem of art monsters and the ‘stain of biography’ they leave on their work. Can the two ever be separated? (Not really) What if we want to hate the work . . . but don’t? Are we monsters too? And at what point does the artist’s monstrosity overwhelm the greatness of the art?
A fascinating read that navigates a thorny subject with grace and nuance. I read it alongside Anna Funder’s Wifedom and they make an excellent pairing.
Butter by Asako Yuzuki
The blurb for Butter had me thinking I was in for a darkly delicious Japanese thriller, when actually it’s more feel-good lit. I was initially disappointed that it wasn’t more murder-y, but I’m a big foodie and happily settled in to enjoy the strange-but-ultimately-heartwarming story and extravagant food porn. This book is a feast!
We Are the Stars by Gina Chick
I’ll be honest, I picked up Chick’s memoir because I thought she kicked arse on Alone Australia. I knew nothing about her incredible (and, at times, incredibly difficult) life thus far. It’s a story of quiet, hard-earned wisdom and superhuman resilience, beautifully told.
Until next time, thanks for reading and stay weird, friends!
Margot x
