Emma is a novelist, feature writer, photographer, professional speaker and accountability coach. She is also 100% fabulous, of which I can confirm because we’ve now met twice in person 💖 Emma has such a kind soul and her clever, compassionate and open ability to connect with readers really does makes her one of a kind.

Welcome Emma, to Mel Reviews Her Books 💫

Emma, you have created a uniquely beautiful romantic novel. Grief is a topic and emotion that you bravely speak openly about in person and on your social media streams. Was it daunting for you to send The Last Love Note into the world?

It was very daunting. I think I spent the two weeks leading up to the January release in a ball of anxiety, wanting to hide from the world. It was all the usual doubts authors have – what if people don’t like the story or the writing? But it was also, ‘What if people criticise the portrayal of grief?’ Because that part was very real. I even worried my character, Kate, would be criticised for falling in love again after losing her husband. While the new love story was fictional, real life judgement in grief is unfortunately very real.

In addition to all of that, I also felt an element of ’survivor guilt’. This book exists because my husband died. And here I am, being published here and overseas, going on book tours, meeting amazing Wagga booksellers and bloggers … none of that would have happened if my real-life story had been different. I’ve had to remind myself that Jeff would have thoroughly embraced all of this for me, and that it was my own hard work that led to these things – not just the circumstances that inspired the novel. 

Gosh, what a complicated answer! I was also really excited about launching the book, once I ploughed through those other emotions 😊

You’ve just been to the USA on an author journey ahead of the November launch! What are you most excited about, seeing The Last Love Note on American bookshelves and in the hands of American readers? 

The story has a strong connection to New York. I’m from Australia, but my husband was president of the Society of Military History, based in the US. Six years ago, I was flown there for a memorial conference, just a few months after he died. 

It was while I was away that I had my ‘Byron Bay moment’ – the space to really let my grief unravel without my little boy around. I plunged to the depths of grief in an American hotel room … but then I visited New York. 

That’s a city that has experienced grief en masse. Yet the show goes on. The city is so endlessly vibrant and lit up. While I was there, I caught a glimpse of that vibrance for my own future. I believed for the first time that perhaps I, too, still had a life ahead of me. 

That’s when I decided to start writing this book. I took myself to the New York Public Library and wrote some paragraphs, just to make a symbolic start. They appear in the novel as the excerpt from my character Kate’s book. 

It’s why it feels so ‘full circle’ for me to be returning to the US now with a New York publisher, Zibby Owens. I feel like I’m on the way to creating the exciting future that city promised me all those years ago…

What’s next for you Emma? In your author life, in your writing life, in your journey?

I’m excited about touring America at the end of the year, including speaking at the Miami Book Fair, and celebrating my first Thanksgiving ever in the Hamptons. 

My new book, PICTURES OF YOU, will be published by Penguin Random House and Zibby Books in April 2024. It’s a romance, with a dash of psychological thriller. 

I’ve got some exciting plans to stage the musical I co-wrote with composer Sally Whitwell, based on my teen novel UNREQUITED. Our show, DEADPAN ANTI-FAN, is a story written for my then 14-year-old non-reader, who loved Harry Styles, to show her reading could be fun! 

A widowed friend who is a comedian has floated the idea of working together on WIDOWED: THE MUSICAL, which would be an amazing project. I’m also keen to work with a producer and composer on a TV documentary about the dementia choir my parents belonged to before my mum’s death. 

In less glamorous, but important news, I’m working with a colleague to put together some awareness-raising programs to help companies and services deal more kindly and sensibly with grieving customers. 

Then there are the new book ideas … I’m hoping to keep up with the release a book each year. 

Of course, I squeeze all of this around my copywriting work for government departments and other clients, and I’m also an accountability coach, so there’s always a lot happening.

Emma, thank you so much for your time and answers! It has been an absolute pleasure to have you on the blog and a chat over on Mel Reviews Her Books Instagram 🎤