New Draft and Old Station

Hi all!

As you already know, I have a new book out. It follows the adventures of three kids, and when I first started working on it, I liked the characters so much that I thought it would be a waste not to let them have more adventures.

(That’s them!)

So, I pitched it to Planeta as a series. I’m not contractually obligated to write it, but the plan is to make two more books with the same kids, and a mystery for them to solve.

Last summer, as soon as I finished the text of the book that came out now, I started panicking about what I would do next. I can’t take too long in between books! They are for children… and children GROW!

I started researching and planning out a new story. I had to put it on hold for a bit, but now, for the past 2 months, I have been working on it daily, and I just finished the first draft! YEY! It’s still a first step, but it’s progress!

I’m not sure if it was the planning, or the fact that I already knew the characters, but this time everything went so much smoother. I took a lot of pleasure from sitting down to write, which never happens. (To me, writing is always a bit like doing exercise — I never feel like doing it, but I‘m very happy once I have done it)

In this new story, Nora, Rute and Diogo will go to a summer camp. Some weird things happen, and they suspect there is a ghost haunting the woods. As it always happens once you start writing a book, things connected to your story start to appear everywhere! I was walking in a garden in Brussels and saw a teeepee exactly like the one I had imagined my characters building. I’m reading that as a sign to keep on!

Finally, on other work news. I just wanted to show you the poster I drew for the brand The Lisboner!

It’s the Rossio Station in Lisbon! I’m happy how it turned out, this is a spot I passed by frequently (on the way to the most crowded Pingo Doce in the country) back when my sister lived in Rossio, a hundred years ago.

Have a nice day,
Joana