Living in Melbourne, 24-year old Anna was loneliest when surrounded by other people. Dreaming to be someone else, she was desperate. The constant parties didn’t help. But in order for Anna to discover the importance of the journey within, she had to travel outward, starting solo, in India.
Only real life isn’t like the internet.
What follows is a misadventure that will have Anna acknowledge her influences, reassess her expectations & perspective, & ultimately change the course of her life.
Moving between India, Australia, Europe & Asia, Hello I am Lonely is a new adult adventure story told from the voice of a strong-willed, young female discovering her place in the world.
“While I didn’t know what I wanted, I was learning what I didn’t…”
Background
Hello I am Lonely is my first novel, self-published in 2022. The story was born in 2014, six months after I returned to Melbourne from Cambodia. Its first draft was written on an iPad over three weeks as I travelled between Thailand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
It was an unintentional stream of consciousness with barely a paragraph amongst it. This original writing was a form of therapy—one I never thought to create a novel from. While inspired off true events, the finished product is a figment of my imagination.
It will always be my first book.
Gratitude
Through the eight years that followed the original stream-of-consciousness, the story took on many forms, as did my life. To unpick these experiences would be a book in itself. Instead, in short, for the end product
I give the following my greatest admirations & appreciations:
Mum & Andy, for taking me in during all the times of no money or plans.
Emma, for picking me up from the airport & giving me a couch to sleep on.
Dad, for all the support.
Julie, for the insights, understanding & spirituality.
Zena, the theta healing wonder woman, for your guidance & meditations.
Caroline of Oxford, the great warrior, for your words, your openness, your acceptance, & your awesomeness.
Lisa, my banking buddy with fine taste in shirts, for the enthusiasm you shared when I first sent you the rambling story.
Sophie, Josh and Annie, for remaining a friend despite my demons.
Caroline of London, for reading a cringe-worthy early draft & yet still encouraging me to pursue it.
Kelly, Steve & Emily, my adored West Preston housemates, for your support & golden encouragement of writing.
Yannick, Michelle & Lorna, for all your writing & editing wisdom at RMIT’s Professional Writing & Editing Diploma. And to Holly, Catherine, Jason, Ashley, Madii & Lucy, for the beers & Bananagrams & all the cool conversations we could have about writing.
Emily, Jesse, Rachel G, Mia, Lucy, Cassius, Tom, Sophie, Jacqui, Shevaun & Paul, for the poetic, intoxicated &/or nourishing conversations in my West Preston living room/garden.
Vanessa, for being the ruling witch of non-toxic cleaning & allowing me to meet all those awesome people whose house or offices I cleaned, while giving me space to listen to music & books, think, plot, exercise, & pay my rent.
To the libraries of Alice Springs, Broome, Exmouth, Margaret River, Perth & Albany, you provided excellent peace, people watching & social expansion.
To my dear friend Rachel F, for the wild & remote opportunity in your wonderfully basic bayside shack, where I spent the early mornings writing & watching the sun’s rise change the colours of King Sound.
As for the rest of the wile time at ‘Cyprus Way,’ thanks to Millie, Melle, Sarah, Laurel, Meg, Carol & Bruce for making it saner. And to Stephen for reminding me of Marseille & French translations.
Kevin, the permaculture wizard, for teaching me, challenging me, & having me in your home.
Jay, my Belgian soul sister who howled with me in laughter as we lay under the moon.
To Kamali, who gave me a unique opportunity to be productively selfish & write in a natural & meaningful environment when I had no job & fuck all money, thank you thank you thank you. The space you give for creativity without the need of a scholarship or a label or a stated career or experience is invaluable. We need more Kamalis in this world!
Josefina, the talented designer, for your resonance with my brief & the perfect front cover.
Luna, the trailblazer, for your deeply insightful conversations, feedback & support that erred me on to the point of completion.
Roser, my Spanish soul sister, for igniting the spark to pursue self-publishing, & for all the moments experimenting with design, editing each other’s work, guitar playing, photoshop, laughter, food, swimming, adventures, & for sitting on the pool lounge through endless conversations full of wonderment.
Pippa & Elsa, for your love of reading, your conversations, your comments, your insight, your enthusiasm & your presence as we united in our haunting halls.
And Beth, for your integral help in copyediting & proofreading, allowing for me to close this chapter in such positive spirits.
As for the real-life characters I met in the real-life version of these events, it is you I am most grateful. For every interaction made me who I am today.