Finding North: January 2024

My word - and my plan - for 2024 🧸

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. If you’re someone who needs or prefers to hear their news, then I hope it’s helpful.

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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.

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Hi, my friends.

I’m writing to you from my shady back garden, on a beautiful summer day — the first day of 2024. I’m so excited for the year ahead. It’s full of wide open spaces that I plan to fill with adventure, and in these first moments, anything feels possible.

Read on for my word of the year, my plan for the year, and a story about a toy shop visit that went off the rails in the best possible way.

Can I recommend a reading picnic in the park? Set up your blanket and cushions together, set out the pastries, bring a friend to pour the tea, and then snuggle down in companionable silence.

What I’ve Been Up To

I want to tell you about the most wonderful thing that happened to me last month, and how it’s inspired my plans for 2024.

When you were small, perhaps you played with Sylvanian Families. Or if you were in the US, you might have called them Calico Critters. Whether you know them or not, all that matters for now is that they’re sweet little animal families that fit into dollhouses — in fact, you can buy a whole range of furniture and homes for them. Which is about to become relevant.

When I was small, I was obsessed with them.

Here you are — aren’t they the sweetest? Cottagecore vibes all the way down.

The story really begins in the later months of 2022, when I was badly struggling with long covid. One day, popping into our local toy shop for a birthday present, I spotted the Sylvanians. And on a whim, I bought myself one. I was so tired and so demoralised, wondering if I’d ever feel better, and that little toy connected straight with a younger version of me, bringing to life this tiny spark of wonder. So I put him on my desk — he was a sweet little hedgehog — and looked at him now and again.

Fast forward to last month, when we were in Japan. We stumbled across an entire shop devoted to Sylvanians. My inner child lost her mind, and in I went. It was like fireworks were going off inside my heart. It felt like walking straight into my childhood wonderland.

My actual child (who is four years old) was just as excited, and she spotted what seemed to be a raffle out the front of the store. I studied it carefully for a while, and eventually concluded that you bought a ticket for 600 yen — about $6AUD, or $4USD. Then you carefully spun a little ferris wheel — adorned with Sylvanians, of course — and out popped a little coloured ball. You then presented the ball to the attendant, and she handed you a baby Sylvanian.

When the kid asked if we could get a ticket, I got her two.

And then, my friends, we won an entire dollhouse.

Did we somehow get it all the way back to Australia? You know we did.

Since we had a house, we needed Sylvanians. And furniture. I wish I owned this bath on a larger scale.

Now, there’s a little dollhouse tucked away in the corner of my office, and each day the kiddo comes out to check what the Sylvanians have been up to, and honestly, I don’t even need her participating in this whole situation to find joy in it. Every time I look at it, delight sparks all over again. It’s a direct connection with a time in my life when my imagination was wild, and rules barely mattered, and I could play to my heart’s content. I want to nourish that part of myself.

I remember when I was a kid — and to be honest, considerably older than a kid — I’d see people who made me cringe for them a little. Who seemed to be marching to the beat of their own drum, unabashedly enthusiastic about their particular hobby, or completely ignoring fashion, or failing, in whatever way, to do what was cool.

Now, I realise that those people just didn’t care. They did what brought them joy, and they didn’t let anyone take it away from them, especially just to comply with a rule society happened to make up and call important.

I thought they were the ones missing out on something, but they were the ones who had exactly what they wanted.

And so we arrive at my word for 2024. I always choose a word to set my intention for the year. My word last year as ADVENTURE, and I let it take me all over the world, and let it prompt me to say ‘Sure, why not?’ to all kinds of things.

It was a busy year, though, with nearly three months spent overseas, and nearly four months spent away from home. There was a lot of hard work crammed into the gaps, as I pushed to catch up after illness, and sent The Isles of the Gods out into the world.

So for 2024 here’s where I’ve landed:

In 2024, I want lots of space to play — with new story ideas, with new hobbies, with new ways of being and doing. I want to play lots of literal games — we have a huge stack of board games at our place, and they’re always a better option for my happiness than plunking down in front of the TV — and I want to keep my mind open and enquiring when it comes to new opportunities.

What did your childhood play look like? Was there a toy you absolutely loved? Or a game? Please tell me all about it!

What does play look like when it comes to my books? Read on.

What I’m Writing

Fittingly enough, right now I’m in the middle of playtime. It’s time for me to spend some time thinking about what I’d like to do with the next few years. My goal is to make sure I’m choosing ideas I love enough to really immerse myself in for that amount of time, which means that play is absolutely key.

So far I’ve been everywhere from up in orbit to back in time, and I’ve settled on a couple of projects that are so exciting to me, I keep sneaking away to jot down extra notes about them. I hope that later this year, I’ll be able to tell you I’ve sold them!

For now, I hope it’s not too vague to mention these projects — their codenames are RSR and NOAM — but I try to share as much as I can with my newsletter subscribers, and in years to come, I want you to be able to say I remember when she started that one, because you really were there.

Here are the first words I wrote for Project RSR. Will they stick? Who knows! History tells us probably not. But for now, I’m enjoying getting to know Tom.

I’m also gearing up for my first pass pages for The Heart of the World — this will be the first time I see the pages typeset, which is always an emotional moment! It’s the moment when it really feels like a book.

Here’s the very beginning — which I share by way of telling you that there will, of course, be a recap of The Isles of the Gods in the front. Because I assume that like me, you all have memories like sieves, and put off reading sequels because you don’t remember much of book one. Fear not — I have you covered.

What I’ve Loved Lately

The brilliant

Author Amy Tintera

is one of my rare auto-buy authors. I’ve been recommending her YA novels as long as she’s been publishing, and now she’s moved into adult thrillers — and how! The blurbs from Stephen King and Liane Moriarty are probably enough to convince you, but let me add that I was absolutely gripped by this book, which will be out in March. I snuck away from a social gathering (which I can’t name, because attendees will read this!) to keep listening to my advance audio copy.

The premise is simple: Five years ago, Lucy’s best friend was killed, and Lucy was found covered in her blood, with no memory of the incident. Now, a true crime podcast is investigating what really happened, and the truth is very complicated.

Preorder this one as a gift to your future self, and thank me later. WOW, it was good.

News and Events

The

Pub Dates

podcast is back — we have a catch up episode out now, and regular episodes will resume again in February. I’ll remind you in the relevant newsletter! For now, here you go:

And that’s it from me, this month! I’m getting ready to head off in my campervan on writing retreat, so next month you can expect to hear about my adventures by the beach!

I hope 2024 begins wonderfully for you. Thank you for reading — I’m so glad we’re beginning the year together.

Please don’t forget to leave me a comment and tell me about your childhood toys! I would really love to hear.

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