All the girls I write are haunted

Welcome to the newsletter, housekeeping and February updates

I sometimes wonder how it used to be for authors in the wonderful before. I don’t even know what I truly mean by that. Before social media? Before a book a year? Before corporate jobs? I imagine green hills, long strolls in nature and endless pondering time. I am sure it was never that easy and in the end, I would never choose to live any other life than the one I am living right now. But I do wish it was a bit simpler, or really — I wish I could do better.

The world is filled with inspiring people. My social media feed shows me amazing authors, living their amazing lives, writing their amazing books. And I so desperately want to join them! Don’t we all? It is almost another full-time job — reminding myself that whilst what they share on their accounts is true, it is not the full story, but only a snippet they choose to make public.

My “snippet” can also be pretty. But my reality is this: as I’m writing this post, my dog is whining at the door, then when I’m not immediately attending him, goes to steal my cap to chew it in protest. He wants me to walk him and it’s 6:30 am, pitch black outside. No, puppy, we’ll go in 20 minutes, you’ll be alright. I have to get up from my desk every two minutes to mitigate.

In an hour, my full-time corporate job starts. I am blessed that I get to work from home and this last hour isn’t chewed up by commute.

That’s it! It’s not a big deal. I’ve got a full-time job and a dog. A house to upkeep and the ridiculous reality of having to figure out 2-3 meals a day. Just for me (and sometimes my partner)! Then why does it already seem almost impossible to add anything on top?

Last year, I launched this publication and I was oh so excited. I was writing the first draft of my book, thinking I’ll document the process, I’ll build that author platform, it’ll be great. I thought it would be easy because I had something ready to share. But then, writing the actual book took most of my time and focus. I lost my previous job because the company stopped trading, then followed months of resumes, screening calls, interviews, creative tasks to complete. Then, new job, a first puppy (crazy puppy), our wedding, my whole family coming over. 2024 was such a big year for us, an amazing year. But even wonderful change can be hard and all-consuming.

Now I know that I approached Substack in a somewhat naive way, a way that would never work for me. I refused to have a schedule, I decided I will post when I feel like it. I never felt like it. Or, a more honest statement, I felt like it often at first, but I put other life commitments higher on the priority list. Then, slowly, I stopped feeling like it altogether.

But it’s 2025! A new year. My pup is now 8 months old and even though he’s still a lot of work, he’s calming down and we are used to this new life. I finished the first draft of my book (!) and at the moment I’m in this limbo where I made an editing plan but did not quite start editing. Substack feels manageable again and, more importantly, exciting again.

Welcome to this new and shiny publication. “All the girls I write are haunted” is my author newsletter. You can expect two posts a month: a monthly update and an article or an essay with something either useful or entertaining. I’ll cover:

• where I am at with my current and future books

• anything useful I can share on the process of writing, editing, pitching and eventually querying

• a link or two with writing resources I personally found helpful

• some dog photos

Thank you for being here!

Authorly Hauntings

Sometime in February my partner went to the US for a conference and I promptly forced my best friend

Sam Eau Claire

to fly over from Sydney to Auckland for a “writing retreat”. She met Pippin (her nephew-dog), slept on my couch and entertained me so I wouldn’t be sad at Will being away for so long. But more importantly, we wrote together!

We set a somewhat crazy goal of 10k new words in two and a half days. It was rough, but we managed to hit around 9k and I wrote “THE END” on my first ever fully completed draft. I must say, finishing the first draft whilst sitting opposite the person who walked the entire walk with me was very special. Highly recommend!

When the year started, I set a very simple list of writing goals for 2025.

• Finish the first draft of THE DARK TWIN (working title) and make it publication-ready, so I can query it in 2026

• Brainstorm and start drafting my next book

• Work on my author platform

Having done a solid writing year in 2024, this seems actually achievable. As always, for me, the hardest part about writing is the author platform. I’ve known it for what it is, a necessity, for the last nine years, and I’ve struggled with it for just as long.

Only after doing

Courtney Maum

’s “Getting Platform Right” workshop, I realised it doesn’t have to be scary and it doesn’t have to be social media-centric (mind-blown emoji). My platform goals for this year are:

• Be consistent with “All the girls I write are haunted”

• Publish two short stories

• Create my author website

• Attend a writing festival and chat with people in workshops

Literary Hauntings

I’ve got two writing links for you this month!

• I am currently reading The Best American Science Fiction And Fantasy 2024. So far, I am two short stories in and loving it. They are all one-sitting read and by one-sitting I mean you could finish it in under an hour. I did and I’m a very slow reader. For New Zealand readers, the link leads you to my local independent bookstore Time Out.

• In preparation for back-engineering THE DARK TWIN’s worldbuilding, I watched this Brandon Sanderson lecture and found it really insightful. It made me see worldbuilding from a different angle after reading countless articles on it. I especially resonated with the idea of a “hollow iceberg” for all my fellow fantasy writers. The pressure to world build to perfection is ever present and hearing someone this accomplished say it’s not always necessary was really relieving.

Mundane Hauntings

Our personal life is very full right now. We are house hunting and making our peace with having to compromise. For our budget, we either get enough space and a decent backyard for Pippin to run around OR a great location. We’re firmly leaning towards location, having lived in very close quarters before. We love going out for coffee and we do have to walk our pup morning and evening in the dark during colder months - being in a safe area with nice places to go to is important. This just might mean that my work-from-home and book-writing will have to migrate back to the dining table. But that’s okay!

Canine Hauntings

Pippin turned 8 months in February and we’re counting down to two years when he is allegedly supposed to calm down. He is a lovely dog but overly confident and has to say hi to every passing human, dog, cat, bird and leaf caught in the wind. This makes walking him quite hard especially when I do it alone. He’s a big heavy boy and when he lunges at someone, he almost takes me with him 😅

I hope the March update will be filled with both personal and writing wins. In the meantime, look out for the next post where I’ll share my editing plan for 2025.

Have a lovely day!

Daria