Why you need a deadline to finish your book

Posted on

When you don’t think you are going to meet that major deadline, and you are drowning in the sheer size of the task, you need to remind yourself that you can do anything!

But sometimes you need an unshiftable deadline to make it happen!
I managed to finish my fifth crime fiction novel (80,000 words) and submit it to a publishing award six hours before deadline, and I feel proud.
I wrote this novel in my spare time, around family and my business commitments, and I had to be super organised, passionate and motivated.
But I needed a deadline, not one set by me as that is easy to shift, but one that wouldn’t change.

I actually ‘finished’this book on January 1, 2017, which was the first deadline I had set for myself. However, it wasn’t actually finished, it was in very rough draft.

I then faced what seemed an insurmountable task to proofread, edit and organise the book into something that closely resembled a real book.
I stuck at it quite diligently for a while, but then life got in the way, and my scribbled on manuscript sat in a messy pile on my desk reminding me every day it wasn’t done.

Twenty-four hours before the deadline I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do it, but I meet deadlines every day for my clients, so was determined to meet this deadline for myself.

If you’re a writer and struggling to finish your manuscript, remind yourself to breathe, write lists, remember to do what you love, then go for it! Because you can do anything.

Book club reads Write About Me

Posted on

The club used the book club discussion questions I have developed for the novel. The photo they posted on Instagram says it all – what better way to spend an evening than with a group of book-loving friends, cheese, wine talking about books!

Here is what they said:

“Where do I even start? A great discussion tonight with lots of personal experiences and thoughts – some quotes from the night include:

Harrowing but just so well written
It sounds strange because of the content but I loved this book

We also had comments about how well Write About Me demonstrted just how many people can be affected by a missing person and how it can happen to anywhere, to anyone. And a lot of interest in following your young detective Rhiannon McVee – yay! Thankfully you have three more books after this one!!” Sandra Moon

“A wonderful book Melissa Pouliot. Harrowing subject matter, but as I said to Sandra Moon, your book cleverly illustrated the enormous impact any one individual has on so many lives. Thank you for a great read.” Kristen Ody

One of my favourite comments from the night was this one:
“I will show these photos to hubby to prove that we do talk about the books – not just the wine and cheese!”

* If your book club would like to add Write About Me to your list, my discussion questions are HERE . It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if you would like me to join your discussion I’d be happy to – just get in touch via email mp@melissapouliot.com and we can arrange to Skype, talk books and drink wine!

Missing persons: Crime writer walks line between fact and fiction

Posted on

TO THE thump of leather on willow, crime writer Melissa Pouliot delves into the heartache of families with missing loved ones.

As her children play Saturday morning cricket, Melissa imagines life in Kings Cross in the 1980s and the unremitting grief felt by families of missing people.

Melissa doesn’t have to delve far to find empathy — her teenage cousin went missing in 1987 when Melissa was just 14 and her disappearance was never solved.

It’s this Saturday morning routine that has allowed her to become “a book writing machine” as her children, Jake, 17, Tom, 12, and Laura, 7, describe her.

She has published four novels about missing people, Write About Me (2013), Find Me (2014), When You Find Me (2015) and You’ll Never Find Me (2016).

The former journalist, originally from Quirindi in NSW, now lives near Merimbula on the NSW south coast.
She has never given up hope there will be answers to her cousin Ursula’s disappearance.
“Ursula went missing when I was about to turn 15,” Melissa says. “She caught the train from the central coast of NSW to Sydney and nobody heard from her again.”

Melissa is hopeful her cousin’s disappearance might be solved by the 30th anniversary of the date she went missing, but she is aware of the limitations of the original police report.

“There were only six pieces of information about her disappearance, such as her hair colour, eye colour, height and where she got on the train,” Melissa says. “And some of that information was wrong.”

Melissa’s first book, Write About Me, is fiction but was inspired by Ursula, and Melissa drew on her family’s experience. She admits it was somewhat cathartic.

“The main character, Rhiannon, she is what I wanted for Ursula,” Melissa says. “She is someone who is so determined when police have limited resources.”

At the last minute before publication, Melissa decided to include an end note about Ursula.
The publication of the book led to fresh leads and Melissa was determined to get the inaccurate records changed.
“Ursula’s case was never closed and in the past few years it was given to a new detective and it has been a whirlwind since,” she says.

As a journalist, Melissa says she had always wanted to write, but never thought fiction would be her style.
Melissa started her career at a newspaper in Charleville, Queensland, before a long stint in the Wimmera where she worked in journalism before launching her own public relations company.

She started to write about Ursula, her missing cousin, but there was too little information about the disappearance of the 17-year-old to hold up a book, so Write About Me became a blend of fiction inspired by real-life events.
As a journalist who sticks to the facts, Melissa says she found writing fiction liberating, although she brought some journalism skills to the research.

“I have police officers who worked in the 1980s who check my police sections and my brother lived in Potts Point since the late 1990s so he helps me find the Kings Cross history,” she says.
Melissa says her family still grieves for Ursula, as many families of missing people do.
“There is a term ‘ambiguous loss’ where you grieve for your missing person but there is no end point because you don’t know where they are and what’s happened. So the writing has helped me understand and make sense of the emotions that go with missing Ursula for so long.”

Write About Me for Book Clubs

Posted on

Check out the Book Clubs page on this site for Reading Group Questions for all my books!

When I was in my late twenties a friend and I started a book club in the tiny rural Victoria town of Minyip, home of the television series The Flying Doctors and home of some very special people in my life. Nikki and I wanted to discover books that were not on bestseller lists, to challenge ourselves by reading books we would never consider purchasing in a bookshop, and to find books that didn’t follow a formula. Okay, we also wanted an excuse to get together and drink wine!

I have since moved away and our book club is no longer running, but many of us still keep in touch and remember the wonderful books we read and the robust discussions each book inspired. Although I had always wanted to be an author, I never imagined that one day book clubs just like mine would be reading and discussing my books.

It took a lot of courage for me to firstly write, then release to the world, my debut fiction novel Write About Me – inspired by the mystery surrounding the disappearance of my cousin Ursula in 1987. More than one hundred thousand people have read Write About Me since it’s 2013 release, and it has been the impetus for a fresh investigation into Ursula’s case. I’m so proud of this book, and of what it stands for. It has changed my life and the life of so many others.

On my never ending list of things to do when I became a published author was to put together a list of reader discussion questions for all my books, of which there are now four with a fifth underway. With the help of my book club friend Nikki, here is a list for Write About Me .

Kicking things off is what Nikki thought of my book.

“Just finished “Write About Me”!! Wow!! You had me from the first page! Couldn’t put it down. I was enthralled with the characters and the storyline! Please don’t stop writing, I’m now a huge fan as well as a friend!”

WRITE ABOUT ME synopsis

The year is 1988 and 16-year old Annabelle Brown from northern Queensland runs away from her family and friends for the bright lights of somewhere new. She ends up in Kings Cross in Sydney where her life takes some dark twists and turns. Endorsed by the Australian Federal Police, Write About Me is real and raw and will break your heart into a million pieces. Inspired by the author’s true family cold case mystery, Write About Me is a heart-wrenching story about a teenage runaway who doesn’t come home. Not crime, not fiction, but that dangerous place in between.

Discussion topics

  • Missing persons – Has the book made the reader more aware of this important subject and created more empathy towards the missing and those missing them?
  • Mental illness – Are we today more knowledgeable and compassionate towards those with mental illness or are we still just as ignorant and is the stigma still there?
  • 80’s song references – Does this help to take the reader to the time and place in the book and invoke emotions/nostalgia? Are the lyrics of each song relevant to what is going on in each chapter?
  • Sex workers – Has the book made the reader more sympathetic to how people find themselves in this line of work or do we continue to see these people as bad people, not people who have made bad choices?
  • Sexual abuse of children – How far have we come in exposing and preventing this insidious crime?
  • Drug use – Scarier now or when the book was set in the late 80s? With ice and other designer drugs now in use, are these drugs worse than what was around back then?

More Specific Questions for BookClubs

  1. The simple act of stealing her friend’s mail changes the course of Annabelle’s life dramatically, was this the beginning of the end for Annabelle’s future choices?
  2. There are many hints of what happened to Annabelle as a young child behind closed doors, although largely the adults in Annabelle’s life remain oblivious, how important is it to speak to our children about feeling safe and giving them skill to get themselves out of dangerous situations?
  3. Do you think Annabelle’s risk taking was learned or was she simply born this way?
  4. Big John and Lins rescued Annabelle and provided her with a safe haven, what could they have done differently which might have resulted in a different outcome?
  5. Bessie rescued Annabelle when she reached Kings Cross – was Annabelle fortunate or unfortunate that Bessie entered her life?
  6. Rhiannon McVee is quick to investigate Annabelle’s disappearance and appears to leave no stone un-turned. How is it that she was still unable to solve the case?
  7. What was your favourite storyline within the book and why?
  8. Did you understand who the characters of Anna and Belle were right from the start or did it take some time for you to realise who they were?

Q & A WITH THE AUTHOR

Q: Is the book fact or fiction?

A: This is a great question and I get asked all the time.

“The best lie is the one that has an element of truth, so it’s good to include something real in your fiction.”  Renee Conoutly , Australian writer

I describe Write About Me as ‘not crime not fiction but that dangerous place inbetween’.

Athough inspired by my first cousin Ursula Barwick who disappeared after she boarded a train bound for Sydney in 1987, it is a fictional novel about a teenage runaway called Annabelle. What happens to Annabelle is pure fiction, not fact about Ursula. The readers of Write About Me know what happens to Annabelle and see her journey through her eyes. But sadly, none of us know what happened to Ursula after she reached Sydney.

When I published Write About Me I decided to share the story behind the story because I wanted people to know Ursula wasn’t just a two-dimensional face on a Missing Persons poster. But most of all I wanted the world to know what it’s like when families and friends, investigators, school teachers and friends of friends have to go on with their lives while their missing person remains missing. I was also hoping that somebody, somewhere might come forward and help our family find some sort of end point in regards to her disappearance.

The book resulted in NSW Police taking a fresh look at Ursula’s case, and although we haven’t found clear answers yet, it has given fresh hope to us and to other people in the same situation as ours. So the answer to the question is yes, Write About Me is fiction even though the characters and meaning behind every single word come from a very real place.

Q: One of your characters is a young policewoman named Rhiannon McVee. Who is Rhiannon McVee?  

A: A twenty-something girl from the Australian outback with her eyes set firmly on being a detective. Her career starts in the late 80s at Kings Cross Police Station, amongst a dominant male police force who see so many people go missing that one missing person just blends in with the next. But Rhiannon’s no pushover, and doesn’t take no for an answer when she’s on a case. Off the job Rhiannon is like any normal girl in her twenties, she loves to party, she loves her family and she loves her cowboy who waits patiently for her to return to her outback home. Rhiannon McVee is also the detective I have created as my own fairy godmother, who I wish was in our lives in 1987. It’s people like Detective Rhiannon McVee who make our lives better and help us find our missing loved ones. And when we do, she’s there to help us pick up the pieces.

Q: How difficult is it to fictionalise what you have experienced in real life?

A: Fictionalising a real life experience the way I have, gives me some distance and allows me to explore the experiences of others. All my characters have something important to say about missing persons. For example, one of my favourite characters is Rhiannon McVee. I’m so captivated by her I’ve created a detective crime mystery series in her honour. Through her experiences and those of the people she’s looking for, I’m able to convey the issues and feelings that surround missing people. Rather than get dragged down by my own experiences missing Ursula, writing fiction helps me channel my energy into a reinvigorated search for answers. Through my books I am giving a voice to Ursula, and to all of those who are missing.

Q: Your books are drawn to two distinct places – Kings Cross and the Australian outback. Can you explain the significance of location for a writer?

A: Location is extremely important when you are piecing your story together. While I write I see the scenes play out in my mind like a movie, and location plays such an important part. Both Kings Cross and the Australian outback have a real sense of mystery about them. They’re intriguing and although vastly different, evoke similar feelings for the reader. The outback is such an isolated and lonely place, and with that comes a sense of foreboding and danger. Kings Cross is so small size-wise compared to the outback and it’s busy and hectic and noisy, but has the same sense of foreboding and danger. I love moving from one space to the next in my books, as both provide dramatic backgrounds for my characters.

Australian women’s VIEW

Posted on

Last week I was special guest at the Bega Evening VIEW Club dinner, a club whose history stems back to 1960 when George Forbes, then General Secretary of The Smith Family, saw the potential for an organisation which allowed women from all walks of life to develop interests outside the home, providing friendship, education and mental stimulation. At the same time he hoped to offer these women the means to assist others less fortunate through The Smith Family.

It was a special evening and a generous audience of women who had all worn red in honour of having their local ambassador for   Day for Daniel   at their table. It was an absolute privilege for me to share the story of balancing my professional career with my role as wife and mother. Added into the mix is my passion for writing crime mystery novels in my ‘spare time’ and my volunteer community advocacy to raise awareness for missing people, driven by my personal quest to find my missing cousin Ursula who disappeared in 1987.

What fascinated me most about the VIEW club was its history. I would have liked to meet George Forbes, who spoke up for women at a time when women were discouraged from having a voice in the community. George believed society needed a better balance in decision-making processes at the local, state and national governance levels. He believed that this imbalance could be rectified through the creation of a supportive network of women that worked across these levels.

“People nowadays who insist that ‘A woman’s place is in the home’ are living in the dark ages.” VIEW World issue 1, 1971

VIEW was underpinned by the ideal of providing opportunities for women to engage with other women and ideas, to develop not only their social capital but also their knowledge and self-confidence, enabling them to think and act in new ways.

“Since inception, VIEW Clubs have enjoyed a rate of growth unmatched by any similar organisation.” R. Turner, The Smith Family General Secretary, 1977

Reading this makes me appreciate just how fortunate I have been in my professional career, which started in newspapers before I formed my own company 17 years ago, which I still love as much as I did when I first started. I am working in an era where women can and do. Where women can have a family and a career. An era where women support women. An era where women make change.

So what happens when women get into a room together and make plans to help others in their community? What is behind the success of women’s groups both past and present? One Australian woman I admire greatly, Ita Buttrose, knows the answer.

“I believe that VIEW’s success is founded in friendship. Australian women coming together and doing what they know best: caring for each other and for society.” Ita Buttrose in her address at the 1999 Melbourne Convention

I agree wholeheartedly. While we live for today and plan for tomorrow, I think we also need to look back at those who helped forge our path. With more than 300 clubs and 17,000 members across Australia, and its heart still very much in the right place, I encourage all women to take on this special VIEW of the world.
VIEW Clubs of Australia

Who is Rhiannon McVee?

Posted on

I am so excited about my new book – YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME – which is the fourth in my bestselling Detective Rhiannon McVee crime mystery series inspired by the real life disappearance of my own family member nearly 30 years ago.

My readers are on tenterhooks for every new book I publish, to find out what Rhiannon McVee is up to – is she living happily ever after with her true love cowboy Mac? Has she solved any of her captivating missing persons cases? Has she found missing teenager Keely, or missing wife Ayala? And who is the mysterious body buried in the outback with just the random clue s.k.y.?

So, who is Rhiannon McVee?

A twenty-something girl from the Australian outback with her eyes set firmly on being a detective. Her career starts in the late 80s at Kings Cross Police Station, amongst a dominant male police force who see so many people go missing that one missing person just blends in with the next. But Rhiannon’s no pushover, and doesn’t take no for an answer when she’s on a case. Off the job Rhiannon is like any normal girl in her twenties, she loves to party, she loves her family and she loves her cowboy who waits patiently for her to return to her outback home.

Rhiannon McVee is also the detective I have created as my own fairy godmother, who I wish was in our lives in 1987 when my first cousin Ursula Barwick boarded a train for nowhere on the NSW Central Coast.

My crime mystery novels are all endorsed by the Australian Federal Police. They are part of my quest to let the world know that Ursula and all the other missing people are not just faces on a missing persons poster. Ursula is one of Australia’s 2000 long-term missing. She is a much loved daughter, cousin, niece and friend. She is funny, outgoing, laughs loud, loves 70s and 80s rock music, rides motorbikes and horses and loves kids.

Every person who reads one of my books learns a little bit more about a growing ‘community’ within our society which none of us joins by choice. My readers learn that going missing is not a crime, you don’t have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing, more than 100 people a day go missing in Australia – around 35,000 every year – and that for every missing person at least 12 others are affected. When you do the sums, there are around half a million people in this missing persons community.

It’s people like Detective Rhiannon McVee who make our lives better and help us find our missing loved ones. And when we do, she’s there to help us pick up the pieces.

I hope you enjoy my new book, and that you are so captivated by my Rhiannon that you want to introduce her to all your friends.

  • The AFP National Missing Persons Coordination Centre Team Leader Rebecca Kotz launched You’ll Never Find Me at Dulcie’s Cottage Merimbula on July 21, 2016 to a crowd of 120 people. Beers, Burgers, Books & Blues was the best book launch ever! But that’s another story…

Book Review: You’ll Never Find Me

Posted on

NUMBER one best-selling author of Write About Me Melissa Pouliot has pieced together another detective novel, inspired by a true missing person tragedy.

You’ll Never Find Me continues to centre on Pouliot’s main character, detective Rhiannon McVee, whose friends and cases make up a thriller plot as she explores both the detective work and the emotional strain endured by people whose loved ones are missing.

Pouliot explores the fate of those left behind well, which could be due to her lived experience of the disappearance of her first cousin, Ursula Dianne Barwick, in 1987, a case detectives are still investigating.

You’ll Never Find Me follows McVee from country to city as this gritty detective follows the leads of a handful of missing people. It makes for an interesting read as the book darts from one character to the next and reveals piece by piece McVee’s detective work. All the while McVee is managing a long-distance relationship with cowboy Mac, a welcome balance to the sadness of the novel’s main theme.

Having not read the previous novels it did not take me long to get hooked and realise You’ll Never Find Me is just as good as a stand-alone book. The characters are everyday, relatable people. Among them is Sarah-Jayne Heart, who goes for an afternoon walk in Bourke and never returns, and a Sydney teenager who gets mixed up in the wrong crowd and sees too much.

In Pouliot’s own words, her writing is “a desire to help the broader community understand what it’s like when someone you love goes missing”. One thing that stays with you after reading this book is that families of missing persons rarely get closure. There will always be a gap that a missing loved one once filled.

Giving missing people a voice

Posted on

It’s book launch time! I can’t describe the feeling when I pulled up in my driveway and a truck was parked at my garage unloading boxes of my fourth crime fiction novel – You’ll Never Find Me .

You’ll Never Find Me  is the next instalment of the Detective Rhiannon McVee crime mystery series . It picks up from the previous book,  When You Find Me , where young policewoman Rhiannon McVee left the bright lights of Kings Cross to be closer to the cowboy of her dreams, Mac, and the vast outback that is her home.

While she searches desperately for all those who are lost, her missing persons’ cases keep drawing her back to the city streets. This creates complications for her relationship with Mac but she remains determined to never give up hope, particularly on her long term missing cases.

At the heart of all my books is a desire to help the broader community understand what it’s like when someone you love goes missing. I’m contributing something really important to the families and friends of the missing, highlighting an issue which affects a large number of people in our community.

That’s because my books are inspired by my real life experience, the 29 year old mystery surrounding the disappearance of my first cousin Ursula Barwick.

In Australia, an average of 100 people a day, or one person every 15 minutes, are reported missing. Thank fully many of these people are found, but around 1600 people are classified as long-term missing.

Rhiannon is a character that sprung from my debut bestseller Write About Me. The novel that first details the story of Ursula, published in 2013.

Rhiannon is a character I have developed through all of the books that have followed, and through her experiences and those of the people she’s looking for, I’m able to convey the issues and feelings that surround missing people. Fictionalising a real life experience the way I have, gives me some distance and allows me to explore the experiences of others.

My previous books Write About Me , Find Me and When You Find Me have reached international bestseller status and most importantly, have resulted in a new and ongoing investigation into Ursula’s disappearance.

There is such a contrasting range of emotions when someone goes missing and one person’s disappearance affects so many. Statistics say that for every missing person, 12 others are affected, but in many situations including mine, it’s much higher than that.Ursula’s family, extended family and school friends all carry a piece of unresolved guilt and loss about her disappearance. I am one of those. I could’ve, would’ve & should’ve  done so much more for Ursula all those years ago.

But rather than get dragged down by guilt, I am channelling my energy into a reinvigorated search for answers. Through my books I am giving a voice to Ursula, and to all of those who are missing.

  • You’ll Never Find Me is out now and available to purchase  HERE .

What the media wants, and how to give it to them

Posted on
  • What does the media want, and how can you give it to them?
  • How do you develop good relationships with the media?
  • What are some tips for preparing for a media interview?
  • How do you deliver a media interview that hits the mark?
  • How do you maximise media opportunities and get your message across to the community via the media?
  • And how can the media help you sell more books?

My clients commonly ask me these questions. I worked in the media and then switched to the other side to set up my media-based PR business mp|media solutions, so I understand how the media works.

In more recent times, as a bestselling crime mystery author and ambassador for missing persons, I’ve been square and front on to media cameras and microphones where I put my clients all the time. The advantages are two-fold. I have an opportunity to speak about an issue I’m passionate about putting into the limelight – missing persons.

And I have an avenue to lead people to my books . I speak regularly with my media contacts about the latest in my author world, book releases and milestones I reach with my writing. I appear regularly in radio, television, print and online media because I know exactly what the media want. And I am pleased to say that because of this regular media presence I am continually picking up new readers which is ultimately leading to more book sales. Win win.

During my 20+ year career in the media industry there have been major changes – for example, I wrote my first newspaper articles on a typewriter and didn’t have a mobile phone until I was in my mid 20s – but many things have stayed the same.

Here are my top 3 tips for getting the media to pick up your story:

  1. The most important thing to remember is “the media wants news” – new news, not old news.
  2. They also want it quickly and they also want it delivered in a way that’s easy to understand and easy to translate. This can be a major challenge for people working in highly structured environments. There is a massive difference between a media release and a report. You can’t cut and paste from your report, put a heading at the top Media Release, and expect that the media will be interested.
  3. The most common thing people forget when they’re writing a media release is to put the “story” at the top. By all means provide background, but don’t meander around the block and leave the most interesting and newsworthy part of your story at the end, otherwise it is highly likely to be overlooked.
  • Watch my blog closely for more tips on dealing with the media, or pop into my media marketing company page mp|media solutions.

Write a novel in just 10 minutes a day

Posted on

I love getting the opportunity to talk about books and writing, and during an interview on Australian radio I was asked – when do you find time to write?

Admittedly my plate is pretty full and writing crime mystery fiction novels in amongst my real job, busy family life and community commitments can be a challenge, but I discipline myself to write for 10 minutes every single day. It doesn’t matter what time of day I snatch this 10 minutes, but I figure that the words I write in 10 minutes all add up to make a finished novel one day!

I have shared this tip so many times, and most recently at a business breakfast when a woman approached me to ask if I could help with her writer’s block. She allocated three hours at a set time every day as her writing time, but every time she sat down to write, the words just wouldn’t come. I told her about my 10 minutes a day, and at the breakfast the following month she greeted me with…

“You have changed my world! Thank you! I can’t thank you enough!”

It was a wonderful feeling to make such an impact on someone else’s writing with such a simple concept. By choosing to write for just 10 minutes, she had removed the pressure she was putting on herself to write for three hours. And the great thing was, she would end up writing for the three hours anyway.

I am now in the finishing stages of my fourth crime mystery novel, You’ll Never Find Me, and it is my biggest novel yet at 100,000 words. But it has taken the least amount of time to write thanks to my very successful strategy of just writing for 10 minutes a day.