Start the fanfare!
The next TWO novels in my Jaspa’s Journey series, both set in the beautifully unique Italian city of Venice, are finally finished!
Although, by ‘finished’, I mean the first drafts are complete. There’s still a lot of work to be done before publication. There’s editing for one thing. And proof reading. Not to mention the creation of covers and maps. And proof reading. Finally, there’s setting up the layout. Followed by… yes, you guessed it… one last phase of proof reading!
Which reminds me… if you or your middle-grade reader would like to join my team of editors and beta readers, drop me a line via Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or email (jaspa@jaspasjourney.com).
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, this is a happy-sad time for me. I fell in love with Venice a long time ago, but I began researching and building a plot for Jaspa’s Italian adventure in E(a)rnest (forgive the pun) 10 years ago. And while I’m thrilled to be nearing the completion of this episode in Jaspa’s Journey, I’m also a little sad that I’ll no longer have an excuse to immerse myself in all things Venetian on a daily basis from now on.
As much as I love Venice, I never intended to write two books set there. Yet, the scale of the tale has grown in the telling. I’ve tried to squash the story into a single volume, but I just couldn’t do it. I really feel the adventure is currently a well-rounded whole, and to shorten it enough to fit into a single book would require too many important parts of the story to be left out.
So it is that Jaspa’s Venetian exploits begin in the middle-grade adventure The Prisoner of Venice (Jaspa’s Journey #5) and conclude in the equally exciting The Ses Collector of Venice (Jaspa’s Journey #6). I can’t wait to share them with you!
The above post is taken from this month’s Fiction Meets Fact Newsletter. To receive future newsletters in their entirety (together with a Free Jaspa’s Journey Booklet including the short story Freefall over London and Jaspa’s Journey images to colour), click on the image below.
Upper middle grade readers can now travel the World with Jaspa’s Journey adventure novels! The first four – The Great Migration, The Pride of London, Jaspa’s Waterloo, and The Hermit of Kennecott – are now available in both paperback and ebook formats. Click here for more information.
Jaspa's Journal 