Episode Details

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When The Last Love Note by Emma Grey showed up on my doorstep, I knew we had a problem. A book with a cover that good had to have a story even better within its pages. And I wasn't wrong!

I could've talked to Emma for hours (if not days), and in the latest episode of the Write the Damn Book Already podcast, we discussed:

⭐️ The backstory behind the book and how it came to be, a bit unexpectedly.

⭐️ How long it took Emma to write while “wrangling grief.”

⭐️ Where Emma started writing her book and how that moment it came full circle when Zibby Books offered to be her US publisher

⭐️ Emma's writing process, including how long it took to get her skeleton draft (65K words) and how many drafts she went through before sending it to first publisher in Australia.

⭐️ Knowing when chapters don’t propel the story forward (and how to handle it when you're advised to cut 30K words)

⭐️ Her agent's advice on how quickly to write the first draft

⭐️ Emma's perspective on alpha readers, beta readers, prologues, and chasing 100 rejections

**WARNING: The revelation at the 41:40 mark about what happened with the acquisition of her book will shock you!

ABOUT EMMA

Emma Grey is a novelist, feature writer, photographer, professional speaker and accountability coach.

She has been writing fiction since she first fell for Anne of Green Gables at fourteen and is the author of the YA novels Unrequited: Boy band meets girl, Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess, the non-fiction title, I Don’t Have Time (co-authored with Audrey Thomas), and the parenting memoir Wits’ End Before Breakfast! Confessions of a Working Mum.

Along with her schoolfriend, dual ARIA-winning composer, Sally Whitwell, Emma co-wrote two musicals, Deadpan Anti-Fan and Fairytale Derail, based on her teen novels.

She wrote her first adult novel, The Last Love Note, in the wake of her husband’s death. It’s a fictional tribute to their love, an attempt to articulate the magnitude of her loss and a life-affirming commitment to hope.

Emma lives just outside Canberra, where her world centres on her two adult daughters, young son, loved step-children and step-grandchildren, writing, photography and endlessly chasing the Aurora Australis.

CONNECT WITH EMMA

Website: emmagrey.com.au

Instagram: instagram.com/emmagreyauthor

Facebook: www.facebook.com/emmagreyauthor

Book: The Last Love Note

WHAT EMMA'S READING

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

WAYS WE CAN WORK TOGETHER ON YOUR BOOK

To see all the ways we can work together as well as explore my self-paced online programs and free downloads, visit PublishAProfitableBook.com/work-with-elizabeth

🧭 BACK COVER BLUEPRINT

Get back cover templates for nonfiction, memoir, and fiction; real-world examples; a polishing checklist; and a guide for turning it in