The Winding Narrative is now eight years old! This past year has been turbulent for me professionally, as my publisher, Wings ePress, closed down, so I had to find a new home for my books. Next Chapter Publishing came to the rescue, and they have now republished my first two Jade Riley Mysteries – The Godfather of Dance and A Killer Among Friends – and, hot off the press, they have published the third: The Man in the Dam, Jade Riley Mysteries Book 3. I can’t believe I now have a triology!
I also had two short stories published in anthologies.
On top of that, Mansfield Readers & Writers ran the second Mansfield Readers & Writers Festival, although for most of us on the committee, it was our first.
Let’s see 2025 in review…
Novel Writing
After Wings ePress announced they were closing down, the search for a new publisher began. To my delight, Next Chapter picked up my Jade Riley mystery series in a five-book deal.
The first three books in the series have already been released. Each novel is set in a place where I’ve lived: The Godfather of Dance – Houston, A Killer Among Friends – Melbourne, The Man in the Dam – Mansfield. Two more are to follow: The Runaway Girl – Lagos, and The Desert Thief – the Middle East. I spent much of last year re-editing each of these books, which I’d already written, and they have been submitted for publication, timing to be determined.
If you’d like to read the Jade Riley mysteries, you can ask your local bookstore to order them (Ink Bookshop and Avenue Bookshops will have them in Australia very soon, Barnes & Noble can order them elsewhere), or jump online Amazon US, Amazon AU (or search your country website). If you prefer an eBook, it’s on a variety of platforms including Kindle, Kobo and Nook. If you can’t find it, please contact me and I’ll figure out how to get it to you. I can post within Australia.
Promoting my books is an ongoing challenge. I post regularly on social media as well as appearing on podcasts, community radio, blogs and articles. In particular, every few months I appear with the fabulous Marg Attley on her show Quiet Please There is a Lady Onstage on Radio Mansfield 99.7FM. And of course, I publish this blog.
The links to my various interviews are on the media page on my website. Keep an eye out for new releases this year.
This left little time for new books, but I have a new novel planned that I’m working on now, my first book outside the Jade Riley Mysteries since I began them. I also have plenty of ideas for future Jade books.
Brightside Story Studio
I still love helping authors bring their stories to life in my editing business, and while writing was my main focus for 2025, I plan to take on more clients this year. Sara Adrien with her wonderful Jewish regency romances is an ongoing inspiration.
My son, Matthew, is working with me on some projects, and client feedback has been outstanding.
Check out our Clients’ Book, which shows the works I’ve had an editorial hand in, either through Brightside, New Authors Collective or as a beta reader. More will be added to this list soon.
The Winding Narrative
I aim to blog once a month and exceeded this with 18 posts throughout the year. My interviews were mainly with authors about their latest releases, but I also spoke to Marg Attley about community work and Danny Finley about life lessons learned through music. I also wrote some posts about my writing life.
My most viewed new blog of the year was Danny Finley’s life lessons learned through music. Most viewed of the year of all blogs The Pros and Cons of Writing Memoir. My most viewed blog of all time is still The Book Publishing Flowchart. The new blog with the greatest number of likes was Jade Riley is Back.
Mansfield Readers & Writers
As part of a small committee of authors and book sellers, we held the second Mansfield Readers & Writers festival on October 11-12, 2025. This proved a huge learning curve as most of us had never run a festival before. We were thrilled with the attendance, the calibre of authors, and the intimate feel and tone of the event.
As part of this, I convened my first panel, a great thrill for me, especially as it was a crime panel with some of my favourite authors: Sulari Gentil, Margaret Hickey and Mark Smith. (Photos by Firmiana Wu.)
We also ran High Country Words Writing Competition, including three categories: short stories, poetry and bush poetry. The anthology featuring long listed authors is available at Ink Bookshop in Mansfield or on Amazon.
The festival is biennial, so 2026 will give us a chance to regroup, although we’ll still run the writing competition. Holding the festival and the competition in the same year is too demanding, so we plan to alternate years. So we’ll have the competition in 2026 and the next festival in 2027.
Short Stories
I featured in Mirror World Publishing’s anthology, Against All Odds. To hear more about my piece, ‘The Value of a Sapphire’, here’s a short interview.
I also had a Jade Riley short story in Signed, Sealed…Deceased: A Cozy Mystery Anthology with Beaches and Trails Publishing. This features a group of authors on a writing retreat in Mansfield.
Expat Writers Facebook Group
I continued growing the Expat Writers Facebook group for writers whose work is influenced by living overseas. We welcome new members whether you write novels, articles or letters home as either an expat or immigrant. Our members come from all corners of the globe. Find out more here.
I hope you’ll stay with me through 2026. It’s shaping up to be a busy year.
To see where I was last year: The Winding Narrative Turns Seven.
Brightside Story Studio 