Jane O'Connell Writer

Cover designs that didn't make the final cut. I love seeing these.

The best book covers of 2023 are the ones you’ll never see The most interesting book cover designs are often left on the cutting room floor.

Huge thanks to Christine Betts Author, an enthusiastic organiser of local writing events (Write & Sip, GCWA critique group, GCWA speaker organiser) and such a generous advocate for her fellow writers. Thanks for all you do 🙏🏼

Top 2023 picks by
Christine Betts Author (GCWA Speaker Coordinator).

In 2023, I read a lot of books on my Kobo eReader. The only negative about reading an e-book is you can’t do a sexy book photo. I read five or six of Jane Fallon's contemporary fiction books, my favourite was Getting Rid of Matthew. I also read a couple from Cecilia Ahern. Freckles is my pick of Ahern's books.

My favourite fiction titles this year have been:

terms of inheritance by
Michelle Upton The Author

Love Match by Claire Fletcher.

Cold Against the Glass by
Jane O'Connell Writer

Halfway through the year, I switched to mainly non-fiction, while researching my own writing craft book.

My favourite non-fiction titles are:

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Berkeman. I highly recommend this brilliant book

A.O. Scott’s Better Living through Criticism, which is way better than it sounds!

How to be an Artist by Jerry Saltz

John Birmingham's hilarious How to be a Writer

And Holly Ringland’s The House that Joy Built

#buylocal - 🎄Shop at the GCWA bookshop this Christmas! 🎁 To view book details & purchase, go to the Gold Coast Writers' Association website -  link in bio or below: https://goldcoastwriters.org/members-bookshop Books published by GCWA members: Christine Betts Kellie M Cox Selena Jane David Thomas Kay Sonya Leeding Megan Norris Jane O'Connell Jen Swenson Kerri Yarsley . . #gcwriters #goldcoastwritersassociation #writersofinstagram

Christine poses a really interesting question off the back of Holly Ringland's reflection on creativity, : Do you love what you're writing? Of course there is a level of discipline required, and if you're on deadline or have made a commitment, at times you just have to push through ... but isn't it interesting when you start a new project and the the energy levels are so high you cannot wait to get to your keyboard?

Do you love it? Have you seen Holly Ringland’s new book? It’s the prettiest book of the year by far but then her novels, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding both have g…

Hard to resist posting a cute Fall/Autumn template for my northern hemisphere friends. How stunning is Emily O'Neill's cover design for Cold Against The Glass, I still love it.

Buy now anywhere in the world via the link in my bio.

Jane O'Connell Writer This is the author page for Jane O'Connell and her debut novel, Cold Against the Glass.

Cheers to my super supportive MIL and her shrine to Cold Against the Glass (or is it ass?) in hubby’s childhood bedroom 🤗 📚

I love this from Leigh Sales on The Monthly's 'Read This' podcast:

"I think sometimes the mistake that journalists make is thinking that because they can write non-fiction, that they will be able to write fiction. I think that's like thinking I can play the piano, so therefore I'll be able to play the cello. Some of the tools that you have in being able to play the piano are going to help you if you're learning a new instrument, but it's still a new instrument."

Despite a background as a journalist and a career in editorial roles, writing my novel Cold Against the Glass was a huge learning curve - and that was probably what I loved most about it.

Cold Against The Glass | Twitter, Instagram | Linktree by Jane O’Connell

Huge thank you to Lynne Schinella and the book club for featuring my novel .

And 10/10 to Lynne for commitment to the theme, complete with and ‘human’ 👏🏼 👏🏼

It was an honour to attend the event and answer questions 🙏🏼

https://linktr.ee/janeoconnell

Here’s to the writers who didn’t live to see their work reach mass recognition.

10 literary classics that didn’t sell. Book not selling? Never fear, there’s hope. After all, not every literary legend started out that way—in fact, plenty of beloved, now-classic works were ignored (or worse) upon their initial …

I’m researching short stories at the moment for an article I’m writing and came across “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” by Amy Hempel. Bloody hell it’s good. Also read Tim Winton’s ”Wake” and Checkov’s “Misery” and listened to George Saunders read his new short story “Thursday”. Four completely different stories from writers who use the format brilliantly. What’s your favourite short story?

Looking for your next book club read that's sure to spark rich discussion? Cold Against the Glass is an unexpected tale of love and hope taking readers by surprise. It explores the lives we treasure, the stories we choose to tell and the grief we carry in our hearts.

Available world wide https://linktr.ee/janeoconnell

Thank you for the feedback Lara - looks like my book had a nice holiday in Fiji 🏝️

The background of this image was captured in a wonderful medical museum in Sydney, Australia where the curator, a former nurse, was known to some as 'The Matron of Morbidity'. I interviewed her as part of the research process for my novel, Cold Against The Glass.

https://linktr.ee/janeoconnell

Cold Against The Glass A novel by Jane O’Connell Sydney, 1961 The route from the birthing suite to the morgue is one all midwives know and all dread having to walk. Nurse McKenzie held back tears as she wheeled the…

Author T.J. Newman’s Open Letter To Dreamers:

“Falling, the book that was rejected by 41 agents, debuted as a No. 1 national bestseller, No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list and then became Simon & Schuster’s fastest-selling hardcover fiction debut since 2004.”

Author T.J. Newman’s Open Letter To Dreamers Who Read Deadline – Guest Column I know that a lot of famous people — writers, directors, agents, lawyers, and powerbrokers — read Deadline every day. But so do a lot of dreamers. I know because for many years I was one of them. T…

A brief report on the UTS: University of Technology Sydney Writers Salon experience written for my Hidden Stories Substack. Thanks to everyone who came along, and to organiser Atul Joshi.

https://open.substack.com/pub/janeoc/p/an-evening-at-the-writers-salon-part

An Evening at the Writers' Salon part 2 My first author event had a surprise special guest

Which one is it? A bit of both?

Is it Commercial or is it Literary? If you can’t put it down, it’s commercial; if you can’t pick it up, it’s literary. If you purposely drop the title into conversations and mention it on Facebook, it’s literary. If you pretend you’ve never read it, it’s commercial.

Interesting article 🤔 Cover design aside, this is the closest ‘genre’ description I’ve come across for and, my book seems to have struck a chord with book clubs.

What Is Upmarket Fiction? | Jane Friedman Upmarket fiction is a blend of commercial and literary fiction, but how it gets blended is where writers and industry members can’t always agree.

A fabulous Friday evening at UTS Writers’ Salon. Thank you to all who came along to hear about the journey to publication for 🍁

Packing for my first author talk, my books get their own suitcase! Wish me luck! 🍀 🤞🏼

All stocked up again! Have just sent out another book club order, thanks Barb for choosing Cold Against the Glass for your group’s next read 🙏🏼

I love seeing which covers have made it to the Australian Book Design Awards long list. I chose Emily O’Neill to design the cover for Cold Against the Glass (photo 1) because I love her award-winning designs. She is also fabulous to work with.

Emily is longlisted in non-fiction this year for Silvia Colloca’s The Italian Home Cook (photo 2).

My pick for best literary fiction cover design for 2023 is The Lovers, designed by Mika Tabata (photo 3) isn’t it stunning!

Australian Book Design Awards

Excited to return to UTS: University of Technology Sydney for the first UTS Writers’ Salon of 2023 to talk about my novel, Cold Against The Glass.

UTS Writers' Salon March 2023 The UTS Writers' Salon returns for 2023 with 'From Creation to Publication: Jane O'Connell's Cold Against the Glass'.

My first novel, Cold Against the Glass, is out in the world. I'm excited and a little nervous for you all to meet Florence, Mae and Tom who have been living in my head for the past six years.

So, what's it about? Cold Against the Glass is contemporary fiction set in Sydney and follows the obsession of Florence Lane, an emerging artist and forager who discovers a collection of human specimens languishing in a city museum. Florence is captivated by an unidentified baby and sets out to track down the infant's parents. Who are they? Why did they donate their baby to science? Why have they never claimed her?

If you're in Australia, the paperback is available at my website https://janeoconnell.me/ otherwise, on order at your favourite bookstore. Worldwide!

If you want to read it right this minute, then head over to Amazon or Apple Books or other online bookstores in your country and download the ebook. And let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way, so many clever people who were willing to share their time and talent.