Finding North: February 2025
On finding energy, and a special giveaway 🤩
Note: The recording above is a reading of this newsletter — there’s no different content, and it’s not produced, so you’ll hear the occasional stumble, or sounds of daily life in the background. (Or in the case of this episode, some ravens and my daughter.) If you’re someone who needs or prefers to hear their news, then I hope it’s helpful.
Hi there! I’m Amie Kaufman, NYT and internationally bestselling author of The Isles of the Gods, Illuminae, Aurora Rising, These Broken Stars, and many more books besides. This newsletter is the place to learn about my latest releases or events, and to follow along behind the scenes as I find my way through writing, and through life.
Hi, my friends.
It’s been a lazy summer month here, as I take time off in preparation for 2025. It’s been wonderful to recharge my batteries, to think about the coming year, and nurture my excitement for all my plans ahead. This month I’m thinking about sustainable energy, among other things.
This month I’m also bringing you a special giveaway, so please do read all the way to the end — and enjoy everything between here and there!
In this letter:
On finding more energy
Lady’s Knight updates
A book recommendation
Upcoming events
Win a copy of Memento + swag from your favourite series
What I’ve Been Up To
I’ve been taking some time off for the last month — time to enjoy the Aussie summer, to celebrate with Pip as she starts school for the first time, and to settle into my approach for 2025.
It’s going to be a year that tries to tug our attention in every direction all at once, most likely to the detriment of getting anything effectively done. As I said in last month’s letter, my word for this year is present, and being present at a time like this isn’t something that happens by accident. It requires a plan.
I’ve also been completely off social media since the start of November, and though I’ve missed the chance to connect, I’ve also noticed how much extra space there is in my brain. As I return over the next few weeks, I’m going to be moving very slowly, and very thoughtfully.
The last four weeks have been a gift, full of all my favourite kinds of moments, and I plan to use all the energy I’ve accumulated very wisely indeed.
The coming year is going to be huge for me. On the work front, I’m going to write at least two novels, and possibly up to four (though one would be very short, not sure if this reduces anyone’s concern.)
I’m hoping to launch an exciting, ambitious (and slightly intimidating) community toward the end of the year, and creating it will take a lot of time and effort. I also have a book out in June, I have touring commitments, and a bunch of other projects starting to take shape.
On the personal front, my daughter’s just begun her first year of school, my husband and I are off on a hike in March, we have some wonderful family travel planned, and as my health improves, I’m excited to get back to my usual fitness.
The only way it’s all going to happen is if I approach it at a sustainable pace, with lots of time to rest and recharge, and a focus on what fills my tank. The key to getting more done is never running yourself into the ground.
I love the way author Becca Syme talks about ‘energy pennies’ — the idea that you have a certain number to spend each day, but also that you can accumulate them, if you know what recharges you. I’ve spent a long time carefully learning what fills my cup, and weaving it into my life.
I’d love to hear what recharges your batteries (I promise to find the comments among the giveaway ones) — I’ve spent a month recharging mine with Shakespeare under the stars at the Botanic Gardens, board games, beloved house guests, evenings at the beach, trips to the movies and good books.
As I head back to work next week, I’ll still have plenty of ways to generate that energy for myself woven into my life. I love dinner with friends, so I have standing monthly catch-ups, to ensure they actually happen. I love walking at the beach, so for our new puppy, we chose a breed that requires a whole lot of walking, to ensure I get out and about. Each step of my day, I look for ways to make the things that fill my cup a part of it. Is there a way you do this too?
What I’m Writing
With Project RSR off to copy edits, my focus is almost entirely on Lady’s Knight right now. It’s just four months until launch, and we have so much fun news on the horizon — from cover reveals, to tour news, it’s all coming soon! And in the meantime, we’re already elbow-deep in the sequel.
If you’d like to enter to win an ARC (advance reader copy) of Lady’s Knight, make sure you check out the latest edition of my joint newsletter with Meg Spooner — the giveaway is free to enter and open internationally!
I also want to let you know that you can get 25% off if you preorder from Barnes and Noble from Feb 5th to Feb 7th. Just use the code PREORDER25 at checkout. (Truly, nothing helps authors more than a preorder. If you think you’ll read the book, we’d truly appreciate that support.)
Here’s the rundown on all the places you can preorder:
🇺🇸 You can preorder at Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Bookshop!
🇬🇧 You can preorder at Waterstones or Amazon, with more links to come!
🇦🇺 You can preorder from Booktopia, or Amazon, with more links to come!
📙 And finally, you can add the book on Goodreads right here. (This is, of course, free, and really helps signal your interest!)
What I’ve Loved Lately
Yours from the Tower by Sally Nicholls: Set in 1896, this is a gorgeous book made up of letters between three girls who have finished school, and embarked on three very different lives after it. We follow them through all their ups and downs as they find their way through the world, and perhaps find romance as well. The girls’ voices are so vivid, and the historical period comes to life on the page. I inhaled this book in just two days, which is very fast for me!
News and Events
I’m going to have some really fun news for Aussie and US readers coming up pretty soon (East Coast USA, we heard your wails when I was mostly West Coast last year… stay tuned!) but in the meantime, there are a few places you can find me.
Adelaide: You can find me taking about The World Between Blinks at Adelaide Writers Week on Sunday, March 2nd. I’m happy for you to bring any of my books to the signing afterwards! (I’m also a part of the schools’ program, but alas, that’s not much use to you!
Melbourne: I’ll just be there as a fan, but I’d love to see you at Lili Wilkinson and Lisa Tirreno’s joint book launch on Tuesday 18th Feb, at Dymocks CBD. I’m a big fan of both these authors!
Everyone: If you have a minute, I would love you to vote for my books in the Dymocks Top 101, Australia’s biggest book poll. You just select ‘YA’ from the dropdown, and you’ll find The Isles of the Gods, Illuminae and Aurora Rising on offer. You can win a fancy gift card, but the big win here is for authors — making the Top 101 in the past has put my books on so many shelves, and it makes a huge difference!
Giveaway
This month’s giveaway is a little different. This month, I’m wondering if we can raise some money for a cause that’s very close to my heart.
You know how when someone dies, everybody says ‘oh, she was the best of us!’?
Well, my friend Emma really was the best of us. She was the most generous-hearted human I’ve ever met. She carried her friends through all their darkest times. She texted me every year on the anniversary of my dad’s death, just to let me know I was in her thoughts. When I had a baby, she turned up with two big bags of sultana scones for my freezer. (“This way, when people show up and don’t understand you’re meant to bring food to a new parent, you can just defrost one in 30 seconds, and the sultanas mean it only needs butter, no extra effort with jam and cream.”)
When Em got a totally unexpected diagnosis, we all rallied immediately. We were going to carry her just as she’d carried us. Except just a few weeks later, she was gone, and we were bereft.
Em used to text me pictures of my books, of media coverage, of really anything she could use to tease me with, and she’d always tell me she was #famousbyassociation, then joke that #itsallaboutme. (As you may be picking up by now, nothing was ever all about her. She wouldn’t have known how to exist that way.)
In Aurora’s End, there’s a scene toward the end where Squad 312 encounters another academy squad, lead by none other than Emma Cohen. I couldn’t wait to show her how she was now famous all on her own. She’d have been tickled pink. Except we all thought we had more time, and I missed my chance. I wish I hadn’t. Close readers might notice the name of the ship that saves our heroes in Isles — the Emma. Close readers will also notice the mention of “the incident with Emma’s scones” that pops up in Lady’s Knight.
Anyway. Em was a great fundraiser for Ovarian Cancer research. Not because she’d personally been touched by it, but because a friend of hers had. So, in true Emma style, she bought lycra, became a cyclist, and rode thousands of kilometres to fundraise. She was the best of us.
This year, one of my besties (and one of Em’s, too), Marion, is walking the Larapinta Trail to continue Em’s fundraising work. It’s a big, big walk!
I’d love it if we could help Marion — or Maz, I can’t remember the last time I called her Marion — raise a little money. So this month, I’m giving away a copy of Memento, signed by both Jay and myself. And I’ll also ask the winner which of my series they love the most, so I can include some swag from my personal stash in their parcel. I’ll see what I can find that’s special.
To enter, make a donation of any amount at this link. You’ll get one entry for every $1AUD you donate. (If you’re not an Aussie, this is an opportunity, as the Aussie dollar is doing historically badly right now, meaning it costs less in your currency!)
I know this is a bit fiddly, but once you’ve made a donation, please leave a comment here to let me know — just your name and the amount. So mine would say ‘Amie - $105.’ That way I can put you all into the draw for the correct number of tickets, and also have a way to contact you!
I’ll draw a winner at the end of the month, and get in touch. Thank you in advance for anything you can donate — even $1 makes a difference, truly.
That’s it from me this month — I’ll be back in March to update you on my latest (very laid back) hijinks. In the meantime, take care of yourselves, and of each other.
El - $31
(I wanted to donate 31.2 , but it had to be a whole number, Squad 312 forever!)
Bella - $10 :)