Meet Author S.D. Walsey


That weird moment when you discover your story might be a real …

I was so thrilled to recently discover a real life spot that was the exactly as I had imagined a place in my book, The Seventh!

My book is about a group of 16 year olds with special abilities, brought together by mysterious forces, who all end up in the ‘gifted program’ at the same school. There’s Mimi, the main character, who keeps the company of ghosts. Drew, who can see the future. Gabe, who can feel what others are feeling. Mona, who can understand other languages. Cassie, who can control animals. Ed, who can heal injuries. And Patience, who can conjure items from thin air.

During the story, they stumble across an old story about some coded papers that are found in an abandoned farmhouse. The people who found these papers in the 1950s assumed that they were from the second world war. But in actual fact, the papers were older than that – which our language expert Mona discovered when she found she was able to translate the code.

So … during a drive in the country a couple of weeks ago, I saw this place and stopped to take a look.


I got pretty excited because this building is exactly right for the farmhouse where the papers were discovered. I mean, check out the spooky old kitchen:


Plus there were a bunch of interesting/sinister/quirky little things I saw while I was there:


Awesome old chimney.


Ominous leather bridle hanging from a rafter.


A bone! (And a lot of rabbit poop).


The lid of the old tin chest where the papers were found!??

I even found a part of the floor that had been pulled up – which is exactly where the papers were found in the old tin chest.


Is that creepy or what?

This discovery has got me thinking … I’m going to make it my quest to find locations I use in my books! Okay, so that means I have to find an orchard, a small lake with a jetty, a deep green waterhole with a rope swing, and some log cabins.

Hmm, sounds like some country driving is in my future!

Thanks for joining us on the Blogfest! Don’t forget to enter to win an e-book copy of The Seventh (anywhere in the world) or a signed paperback in Australia.
Sasha (S.D. Wasley) x

Apryl Baker

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