Finding North: November 2025

On slowing down when life speeds up. ⛺️🌲

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’m just back from another camping trip to the wilds — no phone reception, just dinner cooked over the fire, the sound of rain on the tent roof, and the most extraordinary chorus of birdsong each morning. As I sat still for so long that the birds forgot I was there, I watched a satin bowerbird tend his bright blue bower and call from the trees for a mate. I saw her show up! It was good. I hope things are good for you, too.

Oh! And I must remember to tell you my fun news right up front: if you’re in the US, you can request Red Star Rebels on Netgalley right now. I have no control over who gets an advance copy, but I hope it’s some of you — and that you love it, and of course leave glowing reviews everywhere you can think of. A happy ending for all!

In this letter:

• Slowing down when you’re overwhelmed

• What I’m working on

• A book recommendation

Last newsletter I promised you a pic of my Aslan, so here it is! Still so proud of this win for this duology I love!

What I’ve Been Up To

Are you familiar with the chocolate factory scene in I Love Lucy? I don’t know why I am, as I don’t think I watched it as a kid. But somehow it’s stuck in my brain.

Lucy and her coworker desperately try to wrap chocolates on a conveyor belt, while the supply increases in volume and speed, until they’re frantically stuffing them into their hats, down their shirts, into their mouths, letting the problem pile up beyond any possibility of solving it.

I feel like that conveyor belt’s in front of me right now. I’m outlining the book I’m code-naming Relic (sci-fi, due out in 2027) and dealing with the last touches on Red Star Rebels. I’m due to deliver a paper at an academic conference a month from now. I’m behind on regular admin, because I’ve been on the road so much. Next week I’m on retreat with a friend to work on a different book together. Copy edits for One Knight Stand will be here soon. And that’s just the work stuff. I’m a wife and a mother and a friend and a daughter as well, and all those things come with delightful demands on my time that I happily embrace.

I have a reputation for getting a lot done, and I suspect that people often imagine me just like Lucy, frantically juggling and just trying to stay ahead of the inevitable collapse. Thing is, though, I do the opposite.

I just got back from a long weekend camping by my favourite river, where the hills around us are high enough to block phone reception, and there’s nowhere to plug in a laptop. I read a book instead while I was there. It was great. I’ve left you a recommendation for it down below.

One of the small people in our party, shortly after she and Pip were rescued from floating away down the river. The current is deceptive!

When life starts firing work at me so fast that it feels like I’ll never get on top of it, my instinct these days is always to slow down. The frantic version of me isn’t more efficient, and her work certainly isn’t better. She’s just freaking out while achieving the same amount, or often less.

I crowd my calendar, but with the good stuff. I book in walks with friends, and board game nights, and yes, camping trips. I make sure that the stuff I urgently have to do (and make no mistake, there is a lot I have to do right now) isn’t the only big, important stuff in my life. In Oliver Burkeman’s Meditation for Mortals (a fantastic book you should read, by my favourite thinker) he talks about resisting the false allure of effort, and invites us to consider that things might just not be as hard as we think. And when I hold the things I need to do more lightly, I find that’s true.

My fortnightly game of Frosthaven. My character is that massive pink crab with a fetching coral arrangement on her head.

We have this societal myth about the suffering of artists. It’s so common to see creatives of any kind — though authors are the most familiar territory for me — talk about how when they’re on deadline they shut themselves away, they work untenable hours, they forego sleep, they eat terribly. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t make the work any better.

Whether you’re an artist for a living or not, do me a favour: plan something fun for yourself. Do it now. Text someone to ask if they’d like to go for a walk. Take a board game and put it on the dining table as an invitation to yourself to play this evening. Ask the kids if they’d like to go to the playground. Take a minute. The world will wait.

What I’m Writing

I’ve been putting the finishing touches on Red Star Rebels this month. What does that look like? It means working with proofreaders to go over the final versions of the typeset pages, catching the last little repetitions of language, extra commas (I am due to run out of commas about halfway through my life, I overuse them so badly) and generally making sure everything’s perfect before it heads to the printer.

I’ve also been working hard on an academic paper I’ll be delivering at a conference in early December — I was thrilled when my proposal got accepted, and now I have to write the thing. It’s a really interesting subject (my area is the experience of YA authors of colour, particularly of spec fic, who are bringing their experience of race and associated culture into their writing, I could go on about this at length, just ask me!)

I had such a great time this month at one of my favourite school festivals — giving talks, signing books, teaching writing workshops. Truly fills my cup. I also went for a beach walk every night!

What I’ve Loved Lately

While I was away camping, I read Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines, and gosh, I loved it. Take Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and fast-forward fifty years. Everyone’s older, they’re retired from the stunts of their youth… and it’s possible the apocalypse is going to start in their basement. It’s full of sass, action, and it’s fantastically funny. This story was just a good time, and who’s not after that right now?

I also need to remind you about Red Star Rebels…

Every time you preorder a book, I spare the life of a character you love. Truly. Also it just really helps demonstrate reader enthusiasm to publishers, and is the best way out there to support the authors you love.

🇺🇸 If you’re in the US, you can find all your preorder links right here. And remember, you can try for an advance copy on Netgalley here.

🇬🇧 If you’re in the UK, you can preorder from Waterstones, Amazon, Blackwell’s, Bookshop, Foyle’s, Hive, or WH Smith (who seem to have changed their name to TG Jones, what’s going on over there?)

🇦🇺 If you’re in Australia, you can buy from Dymocks, Booktopia, Readings, Amazon or QBD.

And that’s it for this month…

I’ll be back next month (probably on the other side of delivering my academic paper, wish me luck!) for the run-in to the holidays! Now remember, go find one thing to do today that’s fun.

If you use gmail, you’ll find it helpful to drag this email from its place in the ‘promotions’ tab at the top, across to the ‘primary’ tab, so it doesn’t get lost among the advertisements.