Me! On TV! ME!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

I just remembered that I forgot to tell you all about this!

I was on Channel Ten's The Circle on Wednesday morning, chatting about my book. It was extraordinarily surreal, and I was absolutely petrified beforehand (what if they ask questions I don't know how to answer? Or I forget how to speak? Or I faint?) but the crew and the hosts, Chrissie and Yumi, were all lovely, and a make-up artist did my make-up and hair (I look so glamorous!). I am so infinitely grateful that I was invited on (it was actually kind of fun... once I got over the being absolutely terrified business!). (I saw Kaz Cooke in the green room and the set is smaller than it looks on TV, I think, and it was so strange seeing myself on the camera while it was filming!)

If you want to see me, go to: http://ten.com.au/watch-tv-episodes-online.htm - then click 'The Circle' then 'Steph Bowe Wed 25 August' (you might have to scroll down a bit).

UPDATE:
For those who couldn't get it on the above link (international folks!), here it is on YouTube (thanks Tempe for the link).

Jealousy: the singularly most useless emotion in existence

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

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This is the thing that confuses me (okay, so this is one of several trillion things that confuse me).

I'm Steph Bowe. I was Steph Bowe yesterday and a year ago and during 1997 (I was one awesome Steph Bowe during 1997) and for the rest of my life. I'm weird, but no more weird than anybody else. I put a lot of effort into being kind and not being sad and faking confidence.

And before I got a book deal, nobody really had a problem with me. I existed on the fringe of things. I mean, people liked me, because I give lots of compliments and dislike confrontation and everyone likes my mum. But I was never really a part of things (and I still don't feel as if I am now. But it's like I've been standing at the edge of the pool for years and then somebody pushes me in and I've no idea how to swim but I'm faking it really well).

But now, it's strange.

I'm the same person that I was before. And yet heaps of people now have this barely-concealed resentment towards me (I get being jealous of other people's success. Why you have to make them aware of it, I don't know. I'd rather be happy for other people). People I knew before and people I know now and people I'm friends with and people I barely know.

You get that just because I'm getting a book published and I've had all these opportunities fall in my lap and suddenly I'm flavour of the month doesn't mean my life is suddenly fantastic, right? I mean, I'm lucky, I'm insanely lucky, and I'm grateful - but I'm still me. I'm still confused and weird and shy, and terribly unsure of myself.

(There's also this attitude I've encountered that I don't deserve it. I've had people tell me on numerous occasions that I'm not going to be flavour of the month forever - not in those exact words, though. I try not to tear people down, as a rule, because if everyone's like me, I'm sure they do enough self-criticising.)

This is what I think it is:

Everyone has this idea in their head that once they get a certain thing they'll be happy, life will be perfect.

For a young person, it might be that when they're eighteen and move out, they'll be happy. Or when you weigh a specific weight (for me, I have a lot of trouble keeping this down and reminding myself that being thin and happy are not synonyms), you'll be happy.

Or if you had a book deal, if you were succesful like [insert the name of someone you're jealous of here], then you'd be happy. Then you'd be proud of yourself, then you'd feel accomplished.

Here is the thing:

External circumstance is not going to make you happy. Of course there are things that help like access to food and water and shelter and being loved, but your life will not suddenly transform once you hit a certain weight or sell however many books or whatever other goal you have.

If you're not good enough for yourself without a book deal, you will not be good enough for yourself with a book deal.

There will always be something else. You guys, I felt inferior to everyone else and as if I had to be an author, or something, so that I meant something. So I wasn't a total failure. (Just to let you know: my family are wonderful and supportive and this whole feeling is a mental thing and very much a result of being a teenager and overwhelmingly self-critical. And I'm aware you're all going to judge me for this, but I'd much rather be real than project a false image of myself.)

Now that I am author? I don't feel any different. It's an internal thing, guys. External circumstance will not change how you feel about yourself or how you feel in general. (I'm sure I've said this before on this blog. Sorry.)

If you are seething with hatred towards succesful people right now, you won't be happy when you're as succesful as them yourself. You'll just focus on people who are even more succesful.

And here's another thing: no matter how much you accomplish, there will always be someone better than you. Someone funnier, better-looking, thinner. Someone who has sold more books in more countries and has more friends and seems to have their life totally sorted. I'm not saying this to make you sad, or anything. You need to be happy with being the fabulous person you are right now - obviously, strive for your dreams. But don't feel as if they'll complete you as a person. Don't hate the people who are already there. Everyone still has trouble with life.

And look, I don't want this blog to be depressing. I'm just trying to tell you something I'd like to have told myself a couple of years ago. I'm just trying to tell the people who hate me for no reason that resenting others doesn't make anyone feel good.

I'm just trying to let you know that who you are to yourself shouldn't be dictated by whether you accomplish something others value. It should be about being a good person and loving others and stuff like that.
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This Is Shyness by Leanne Hall

Saturday, August 21, 2010

A guy who howls. A girl on a mission to forget.

In the suburb of Shyness, where the sun doesn’t rise and the border crackles with a strange energy, Wolfboy meets a stranger at the Diabetic Hotel. She tells him her name is Wildgirl, and she dares him to be her guide through the endless night.

But then they are mugged by the sugar-crazed Kidds. And what plays out is moving, reckless…dangerous. There are things that can only be said in the dark. And one long night is time enough to change your life.


A lot of other people have described this book in a lot better ways than I will here. And they compare it to this film and that book and this author (usually all things I have never heard of, because I'm really not worldly, on account of being sixteen and geographically isolated and spending most of my time having existential crises. But this review isn't about me, damn it!)

So I'm going to try and express how I felt about the book. I can't find quite the right word to describe it (the Germans probably have a word for it, because the Germans have a word for everything. I need to learn another language, I think) so I'm going to use a whole bunch of different adjectives and maybe that will come close. Okay?

This Is Shyness is beautiful and hilarious and unique and dark and strange and wondrous and unputdownable (I overuse that word terribly and I don't even think it really is a word, but I mean it) and bizarre. This Is Shyness is the sort of book that I wish I could disappear inside and live in this strange suburb where it's always night and have existential crises there.

I could say that it Wildgirl reminds me of Daria, and when I read it I imagined it as a graphic novel in my head (I would love to see this turned into a graphic novel, though the words alone are already halfway there. I'd also like to see a film version of it, all in black and red). I could compare it to a lot of other things I read, but not particularly well, because it's totally unlike anything I've read before. I want to find out what happens after the book ends. Desperately.

I usually don't like reading books that I've heard great things about, because they often disappoint (like when I went to see Inception and was expecting my socks to be knocked off and they kind of weren't, even though it was good). But this didn't. This was knock-your-socks-off material. For me at least. Go check it out now.

On the publisher website
On the author website

Tips for YA Writers: A Guest Post by Dee White

Friday, August 20, 2010

Exciting to be hosting Dee White, author of Letters to Leonardo, to share her writing tips:

Thanks for inviting me to visit your blog, Steph. I can’t wait to read your new book.


I love reading and writing YA novels. I think because they are full of great characters, action and emotion, and they’re real stories about real people. Here are some of the things I’ve discovered about writing YA fiction.

One of the most important things that writing my Young Adult novel Letters to Leonardo taught me, is that authors should stick with a story they love.

Over the ten years and 30 drafts it took me to write Letters to Leonardo (view book trailer at http://www.deescribe.com.au/), I could have given up many times, but this was a story I had to tell.

15-year-old Matt arrived in my head almost fully formed, with a big dilemma. He had just found out that his mother was not dead – that his Dad had lied to him for the last ten years. Should he confront his dad or should he seek out his long lost mother and find out where she’d been for the last ten years? He ended up doing both, and when Matt brought his mother back into his life, he soon discovered that finding out the truth could be worse than not knowing.

Matt deals with the turmoil of his mother’s reappearance in his life by writing letters to his dead idol, Leonardo da Vinci; someone who was taken from his own mother at an early age.

Since talking to readers of my book, I’ve discovered two important things. Many Young Adult readers liked the realism of it – they like to know what’s going on in the ‘real’ world. They don’t like being talked down to, and they like to know about things that happen to ‘real’ people. So even if they hadn’t experienced the same things as Matt, his story seemed to resonate with them – perhaps because his mother is based on a real person.

Young Adult readers like characters they can connect with – characters with a problem – characters at emotional or physical risk.

So if you’re thinking of writing for YA, keep it real, and put your characters in jeopardy – give your readers a reason to read on and find out if the star of your book is going to survive all the challenges being thrown at them. Your main character needs a realistic problem that needs to be solved - that’s going to make the reader care about them.

I know how hard it is to get published, so I’m committed to helping other writers on their journey, and here are some of the tips you’ll find at my blogs http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/ ( I have new writing tips here every Tuesday) and http://tips4youngwriters.wordpress.com/
• Interview your characters to get to know them before you start.
• Know where your story is going – don’t let it wander out of control.
• Make sure your story hooks the reader in right from the start
• Read your work out loud to yourself – this will help you pick up any plot or character inconsistencies or typos.
• Only use what’s important to the story. If the main character being allergic to bananas doesn’t move the story along then the reader doesn’t need to know it.

Thanks for having me here, Steph – always great to catch up.

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood

Friday, August 20, 2010

A funny, emotionally honest story of first love, with a fairytale backbeat.

Fourteen year old nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a reversal of family fortune, moving house, new school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and an impossible crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life is a mess, but for now he’s narrowed it down to just six impossible things…


This review demands itself be written as a list. Six things. Which is going to be difficult because I have a whole lot more to say than just that (and it's also going to be difficult not to litter this entire review with spoilers. The reviews I write tend to just be one massive spoiler). But humour me.

1. I love Dan Cereill (and that's 'surreal' not 'cereal'). I also love his friends, Lou and Fred. Perhaps more than I love him. I would read a whole other book about Lou and Fred. Lou and Fred 4evs.
2. I love the Cinderella theme. That was just plain awesome.
3. Dan's crush on Estelle is the sort of thing that I think every weird and nerdy person who has ever had a crush on someone who seems perfect and untouchable will be able to relate to. Which is, you know, pretty much everybody. (I think infatuation would probably be a better word.)
4. I kind of wish I lived in a house adjoining Estelle's or Dan's and had an awesome attic hiding space and snuck out to go to socials (socials! They call them formals where I live, but I think socials sounds nice. It sounds social). Oh, to be fourteen again! (I cannot remember being fourteen at all. I imagine I would have been innocent and adorable, though. Kind of like I am now.)
5. Okay, so Dan's mum kind of frustrated me (i.e. why must you be so silly, Dan's mum?). And Estelle did, a bit (i.e. why are you not falling for Dan's adorable awkward charms, Estelle?). And Dan, a bit, too (i.e. why don't you return your dad's calls, Dan?). None of them answered my questions, perhaps on account of the fact that they are fictional characters. Or maybe they're just being rude. I don't know. (But they frustrated me because I liked them and I wanted life to be good for them. *sniffs*)
6. I recommend this to teens on the younger end of the age spectrum (the characters are around fourteen or fifteen, and usually kids seem to like reading about characters older than them), though of course older ones can like it as well. It's funny and adorable and full of lists and awkward teen romance. Exactly the kind of book I love.

On the publisher website
On the author website

The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher by Doug MacLeod

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Thomas Timewell is sixteen and a gentleman. When he meets a body-snatcher called Plenitude, his whole life changes. He is pursued by cutthroats, a gypsy with a meat cleaver, and even the Grim Reaper. More disturbing still, Thomas has to spend an evening with the worst novelist in the world.

A very black comedy set in England in 1828, The Life of a Teenage Body-snatcher shows what terrible events can occur when you try to do the right thing. 'Never a good idea,' as Thomas's mother would say.


When I started reading I expected this novel to be funny and ridiculous and not to have a whole lot of substance (the blurb on the back cover doesn't really make you expect literary genius). I didn't expect I'd like it (I try not to come to books with these expectations but I inevitably always do - I can't help it) - sometimes I find with humorous books, that everything's a little too out-there and preposterous and silly for me to empathise with characters.

And it was funny (sometimes laugh-out-loud funny), and pretty ridiculous in parts - I thought the story was fabulous and original, and the pacing was great (I had difficulty putting it down to do stuff that must be done such as eating and sleeping and schoolwork). I totally proved myself wrong (this happens frequently) and loved it. The characters were all likeable and offbeat and the story certainly had substance (lots of unexpected twists! Gosh, I hope I don't ruin it for you by telling you that). I was absolutely sympathetic for Thomas (his brother and mother especially are hilarious characters, too).

I’m not sure who to recommend this book to (I have trouble saying, oh, boys would like it, especially those between twelve and fifteen, because I don’t like to generalise and I don’t really know enough people and their tastes in books to make educated recommendations). But I will say that if you like comedic books (historical comedic books, even better), this won’t disappoint. (I wish I knew a book to compare it to, but I can’t think of anything.) Maybe you should just read the start here and see if it suits your tastes.

And, oh, the dialogue. It killed me. But not literally. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing this review right now. This is the summing-up sentence: The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher is brilliant: dark, witty and enthralling. And probably shouldn't be read in a graveyard at night. Not that you should read anything in a graveyard at night (though if you were going to, maybe you should take this, to lighten the mood. And also freak yourself out, because it's a little bit gruesome in parts). (Do you like the way I said in parts?)

On the publisher website
On the author website

Sixteen things you maybe didn't know about Steph Bowe

Friday, August 13, 2010


  1. I hate unfinished things, in particular bottles of shampoo. As a result, I use extraordinary amounts of shampoo.
  2. I dislike owning things in general. I can't stand having bookshelves full of books, which makes me the weirdest writer/reader in the world.
  3. I wish I could fit everything I own in one suitcase and live out of that.
  4. I would love to travel but I'm afraid of the world. And I don't have anybody to travel with me.
  5. I am in favour of soul-baring. I think the world would be better if everyone were just entirely honest about everything. I can handle whatever people honestly think of me.
  6. I find growing up both wonderful and horrifying. I wish I could remain a small child forever and have people care for me and avoid responsibility and at the same time I find my existence and the fact that I'm capable of independent thought and that I'm becoming someone I maybe like a little bit who is a good person at least most of the time... it's quite lovely.
  7. Whenever I meet someone who previously only knew me online, they always say that they didn't expect I'd be so shy! I didn't expect I'd be so shy either. I was a very outgoing child.
  8. As I've gotten older and met more people I've realised that I am not the most awkward person on the face of the planet. I am far from the most awkward person on the face of the planet.
  9. I like everyone I meet. I also suspect that everyone I meet is an axe-murdering psychopath (I saw this documentary the other night that said 5% of women and 2% of men are psychopaths and I thought, oh my god! I know lots of women! 5% of them are probably axe-murdering psychopaths!). But I worry like that.
  10. No matter how hard I try, I am always myself (which is to say, I am fearful, a good listener, curious, thoughtful, worrying, polite). People keep giving me advice and usually it involves me acting like someone who is not myself, which means I fail dismally at taking advice.
  11. I wish I was the sort of person who quotes dead authors and old bands and was wonderfully indie and quirky and all of that but I'm really not. All the authors I like are still alive and all the bands I listen to are still young and beautiful. Not to say old people aren't beautiful, I think everyone's beautiful. Maybe that should be my next point.
  12. I think everybody is beautiful. Especially people who smile.
  13. My scariest nightmares involve losing family members and people being angry at me. And that one where I tried to stop a cannibal from turning kids into soup and ended up being blamed for turning kids into soup myself.
  14. I worry. A lot. About everything. Everyone around me is the exact opposite. Sometimes I just lie on the floor like a starfish and agonise over everything I have to do and everything that might go wrong. And then I write stuff based on the stuff that might go wrong. (I know. I have a beautiful mind. *gazes dreamily into distance*).
  15. I give a lot of advice that I'm actually trying to give to myself. I'm onto me! I know what I'm doing, but I can't stop doing it.
  16. I feel doubtful of myself all the time. So it baffles me whenever someone says that I come across as self-assured or self-possessed or self-confident or self-something else. I'm not sure whether I'm an exceptionally good actor (if I do say so myself) or whether people just see in me whatever they want to see in me. I know I see in other people whatever I want to see in other people. As in, you're all beautiful and lovely and unique.
If you are in favour of telling people odd things about yourself on your blog, which you should be, you delightfully odd you, please do a post and let me know about it. It can be sixteen things or twelve things or thirty-four things or however many years in your life. Do leave a link.

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers.

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.

His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.

Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.

But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.



I read Graffiti Moon when I was meant to be doing schoolwork and it was so fantastically awesome that I had to put it down every few pages because it was overwhelming me. And then I'd lose track and I'd read thirty pages or so and then I'd have to stop myself and go and have a snack or watch TV or something because the book was going too fast and I was going to finish it soon and I didn't want it to end. So I had to slow down. I slowed reading as much as I could but I still finished it in one day. It was that sort of book.

I met Cath Crowley at the launch of Emily Gale's Girl, Aloud earlier this year and I hadn't read any of her books then (now, I've only read Graffiti Moon, but I'm going to go back and read everything else she's written). And I kind of wish I could go back a bit in time and give Cath and a hug, You get it. Thank you. (Except I suspect other people might find this odd. And I'm not much of a hugger.) My life is drastically different from all of the characters in the book, but the feelings of being in that space between childhood and adulthood and on the verge of something massive and unknowable that's supposed to be your life... it was so real and so honest and so beautifully written.

Graffiti Moon is possibly my favourite book in the world right now. The characters, the storyline (though occasionally a bit preposterous, I love love loved it), the fact that it was set over one night, the different POVs... but most of all the way it was written. Graffiti Moon made me wish I wrote like Cath Crowley (but instead of feeling as if I won't ever measure up to the writer I admire - which is usually how I feel when I read brilliant books - I felt inspired! And my writing wasn't too copy-cattish. I don't think).

Seriously - read it. It's hilarious and wonderful and all of the characters are brilliant (Ed and Leo are my favourites. And Lucy! She's fabulous) and you will love it. And they need to give Cath Crowley an award. Who 'they' are I don't know, but they have awards to give out and I know who they should be giving them too.

Graffiti Moon on the author website

Graffiti Moon on Goodreads

Win a copy of Girl Saves Boy!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

It's happened, you guys! My book is real!


No photo will do it justice! It's beautiful! There are sparkly bits on the cover as fairy lights (I think it's called foil but I'm going to call it sparkly bits)! The spine is mauve! The first page inside has a gnome on it! The font! The quotes! My book! Oh my! (When it arrived, my mum squealed. My mum is not a squealer. Then my mother and sister skipped up and down the hallway. I was the most calm.)

And guess what? You can win a copy! I'm going to give one away! (It's international, you guys, international!)

Because I am so dizzy with excitement I can't think of an awesome and original way for you to enter the contest, so I'll give you a few options.

To enter, you can either:
  1. Make a book trailer! Using the book's blurb and photos (yours, or ones from Flickr's Creative Commons, or maybe drawings), put together a book trailer, and put it on YouTube! (I anticipate nobody doing this because it's rather time- and effort-intensive, but if you do, I will love you for all of eternity.) OR you can do a video of you talking about why you must read the book! That would be ace.
  2. Draw a poster or do a book cover! Include a gnome, lobster or a girl with two different coloured eyes (one blue, one brown) for extra points. (That's all relevant to the book, by the way.)
  3. Write something! A poem or a story or a blog post or a letter! About why you must read the book. Or about garden gnomes. Or lobster emancipation. Or awkward teenage love.
If you have another idea, you can do that. You can enter the contest wherever you live (it's international! hurrah!), and if you could email me (steph@stephbowe.com) your entry (a link, or attached file) before August 27th, that would be ace. Then I'll announce the winner the day after. (Put 'Girl Saves Boy contest' or something like that in the subject line.)
Please please please everybody enter! And tell you friends! Unless you want the book for yourself, of course.
I'm so excited!
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