Finding North: August 2025

All about writers' retreat. 🏡 ✍🏼

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, Lady’s Knight, These Broken Stars, and many more. 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 recently spent a week signing my name 15,000 times, which is nothing if not an exercise in meditation. I was working on one of the special editions of Illuminae that’ll be coming out for the series’ tenth anniversary. I am grateful for the opportunity, and also my hand is sore, and for sure I was ready to head out on writing retreat by the end of it. This month I’m going to tell you about what that was like.

In this letter:

• Writing retreat — what it’s like and why I go

• A secret door in the making

• A writing update

• A book rec

• A giveaway

A few of the pages in question, along with the graveyard of pens this effort left behind. These pages are called tip-ins, and will be bound into finished copies.

Before I begin properly, though, I want to thank you all for your excitement and support for my new book announcement last month. I’m so excited to head back to space (well, Mars) with you in February. I’ve just seen a final cover, and it’s so good!

If you’re one of the people excited about Red Star Rebels, it would mean the world if you’d add it on Goodreads (these early numbers really do help!) or preorder it — that’s a link for US booksellers, many more are coming soon!

What I’ve Been Up To

I go on writing retreat several times a year — sometimes on my own, sometimes with a handful of friends, and once each year with a whole pack of author friends.

This has been a yearly tradition for nearly a decade. We rent the same amazing house, which has a big fireplace, a zillion couches to sit on while we work, kangaroos outside to admire, and towering eucalypts all around. Then we pile it full of writers, and magic happens.

The calm before the storm. Lili Wilkinson was the first to arrive this year, and captured this before she lit the fireplace. Lili and I spent retreat sitting on that big couch on the right of the picture.

Retreat is a time to immerse ourselves in writing, but also a time to strengthen and renew our connections. Writing is a solitary endeavour, and time spent with others who see what you do is so important.

We sit around the long (loooong) dining table each evening and eat together, and solve plot problems, and brainstorm traps and titles and plot twists. Someone’s always laughing, someone’s always staring into space, having an idea.

It’s a time to pass on wisdom to others, and to learn from their ideas. The community of retreat is as important as the creativity, is what I’m saying. I had such a good time on this retreat, and I’m already counting down to next year’s outing.

Retreat class of ‘25.

If you’d like to hear about the practicalities of retreat (how do you book a house, how does there come to be dinner?) then you might like the episode we did on this on the Pub Dates podcast. Kate and I talked all about this very retreat, and how the logistics happen. You can find it in the Pub Dates feed wherever you get your podcasts, or at the button below.

Also in news at our house, we’ve bought a huge antique wardrobe, and the plan is that my husband (who is a ridiculously talented woodworker) is going to turn it into a false door through to our library, so watch this space for updates on that.

We are at the ‘Amie throws impractical suggestions that demonstrate her lack of understanding of basic carpentry’ stage of proceedings right now, and he’s holding up quite well.

Soon these doors will lead to my library.

What I’m Writing

Meg and I are plunging into edits on Lady’s Knight 2 — you can look forward to a cover reveal and a title reveal before the end of the year, but for now I’ll just say that we’re having so very much fun. And here’s a sneaky peek at the doc we made to tell our editor all about this book.

I’m also up to my eyebrows in PhD work right now, which I really should talk about more here. I’m definitely at that stage where I’m doubting myself, my intelligence, and every choice I’ve ever made. Fortunately, I’ve been here a time or two when novel-writing, and I know the trick is to just keep going anyway. So, on I go!

What I’ve Loved Lately

I recently read Text Appeal by Kylie Scott, who’s an auto-buy author for me. This was such a delightful read — if you’re into shows like Virgin River, small towns where everyone knows everyone (and knows everyone’s business!) then this one’s for you. It was the perfect escape.

News and Events

We’re heading into Book Week here in Australia, so I’m going to be very, very busy, but not at public events! There’s a couple of chances to see me this month, and one next month before I head off to Japan.

Melbourne: On 16th August, I’ll be at Flemington Library for a free talk on using science in your science fiction. You can book here.

Melbourne: On 28th August, I’ll be at Readings Emporium to host Alina Bellchambers in conversation about her new romantic fantasy The Weight of Crowns. You can book here.

Melbourne: On 18th September, I’ll be at Readings Kids to host Bianca Breen in conversation about her new YA spec fic, Made of Steam and Stardust. You can book here.

Giveaway

This month’s giveaway is for a copy of Lady’s Knight, signed by both yours truly and Meagan Spooner. I got Meg to sign it before she went home after Aussie tour, but you won’t get another of these dual-signed copies in a hurry!

To win, leave a comment letting me know what you’ve read lately that you’ve loved — and why, if you’re so inclined, though that’s not required to enter! I just like picking up book recs!

One answer will be randomly selected, and you’ll be notified via the email you signed up to this newsletter with.

That’s it from me for this month. Next month I’ll be back with more musings, and of course another giveaway. Happy reading!

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