Finding North: July 2023

Letting go of perfect, and UK tour dates for *this week*. ✍🏼🇬🇧

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. (This month I’m recording in a bedroom in our apartment in Bath, so there’s definitely extra background noise!) 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.

What a month it’s been. I’ve celebrated midsummer in a two hundred year old cottage in the west of Ireland, and I’ve reunited with my family after years apart.

I’ve met readers in Scotland, Ireland and France, and as I write this, I’m on the Eurostar, underneath the channel and heading for England. If you’re in England, or have a friend who is, please click here for tour dates THIS WEEK in Bath, Birmingham, Liverpool and London!

Family stories tell us who we are, and where we’re from. They’re not just anecdotes—they’re myths and legends about identity. Taking my daughter to Ireland this month and watching her run around with her cousins like a pack of wild animals (in the very best way) and watching them add their own chapters to our family saga has been magnificent.

In this newsletter I have news about the sequel to The Isles of the Gods, and some thoughts on the lessons I learned while writing it, plus lots more besides.

We had a gorgeous time walking around Loch Lomond in Scotland. As we were about to leave, Pip said “But Mama, we have to take our shoes off, and go into the loch!” I couldn’t think of a single reason to say no. Her spontaneity is such a gift, especially for this organised list-maker, and I love her connection to nature. It’s so instinctive.

What I’ve Been Up To

When I was sixteen, I was in Paris with my family. It was incredibly hot and sticky, and we were downing cold drinks and peeling our clothes off our sweaty skin, and having the time of our lives.

One night, we took a boat along the Seine. The river passes through the heart of Paris, under ornate bridges, alongside incredible architecture designed to be viewed from the water, all lit up at night. Paris truly is a city like no other, and that night, it took my breath away.

The night was so hot that even though it was late, nobody was at home — after all, aircon isn’t common in Parisian apartments. Instead, there were people all along the riverbanks. There were young couples, and each of them was doing the same thing. One would sit on the waist-high stone wall that lines the river, feet dangling down toward the water. The other would sit astride it, facing their lover, leaning in to whisper sweet nothings in their ear. If the whisperee liked what they heard, they might turn their head to permit a kiss.

When we passed under Pont Marie, the captain of our boat told us the local legend — that if you closed your eyes beneath the bridge and made a wish, it might come true.

I closed my eyes, and wished that one day I’d come back to Paris and sit just where those young lovers were, with someone to whisper in my ear.

It was about a decade later when I came back to do exactly that. The young man who sat beside me had the best of sweet nothings to whisper — he asked me to marry him.

It’s been about fifteen years or so, since then. This time we came back to Paris with our daughter, a newly-minted four year old. I was so excited to bring her back to just the place where he proposed, the place where I’d once seen those young lovers and wished I could be them. It felt like I’d be returning to that sixteen year old version of me, like I’d have the chance to tell her look, your wish came spectacularly, brilliantly true — you’re happier than you knew anyone could be!

We took our daughter on one of the boats that run through the city, and I craned my neck as we came up on just the spot I wanted to bring her later that day.

Reader, it was caged in by construction fencing, and a repair crew were digging some kind of hole.

I wilted, disappointment running through me. And without missing a beat, the partner in life I wished for all those years ago put an arm around me. “We’re here,” he said. “We’re all together. Let go of perfect. This is pretty great.”

And in that moment, he transformed what felt like an almost unbearable disappointment into something beautiful. This was what I wished for. Someone who’d know just how to be my other half. And he was right, of course. We were all right here — and this imperfect visit was much more memorable than my first plan ever would have been.

Letting go of perfect, in favour of right here, right now.

This lesson, of course, applies to so many things in life beyond holiday plans. And for me right now, it’s applied to my writing each and every day. Which brings me to…

What I’m Writing

I’ve handed in the first draft of the sequel to The Isles of the Gods! Is it great? Heavens, no. Is it good? I’m not even sure of that. But it’s done, and that means I have something to work with.

It will sit with my editor and my critique partners for a few weeks, and then I’ll pick it back up again and roll my sleeves up and set to work making it into the story I know it can be.

As I finished it, it was so tempting to get caught up in the long list of things I knew weren’t quite working, but I kept remembering what I’ve always known in my writing, but recently needed to be reminded of on a French river: Don’t get hung up on perfect. It’s here, it’s happening, and that’s pretty good.

When I get home from tour, I’ll be diving into edits on this book, then turning to completing my next book with Meg Spooner, which is currently scheduled for the start of 2025. And after that?

Watch this space.

In Dublin, I got to visit the Long Room, at Trinity College. It’s one of the inspirations for the Bibliotek in The Isles of the Gods, and it’s a library I’ve been waiting to put in a book since I was a child. On this particular day I was hot, tired, possessed of very sore feet, and also blissfully happy.

What I’ve Loved Lately

I inhaled the whole first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on the plane, on account of my child refusing to sleep. It felt like the very best kind of Trek, and I loved it. If you’re looking for an entry point, this would be a good one!

Sigur Rós have a new album out, called ÁTTA. It’s gloriously dreamy and inspiring.

The cover for ÁTTA

News and Events

You can click here for all my UK tour dates — bookings are required for Birmingham and Liverpool. I would absolutely love to see you there!

Finally, we’ve been busy over on the Pub Dates podcast — in our latest episode, you can listen to the prologue and first chapter of the audiobook of The Isles of the Gods. The sample totals almost an hour, and introduces you to Steve West, the narrator for Leander (and in the prologue, for Leander’s ancestor, King Anselm) and to Nikki Patel as Selly. They’re both extraordinary. Why don’t you dive right in?

And that’s it for this month! I’ll see you again at the start of August — until then, happy reading!

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