Author Interview - Joanne Phillips

Today I am really pleased to feature an interview with author Joanne Phillips. Joanne's latest novel is Cupid's Way.

Welcome Joanne, and thank you for agreeing to answer my questions! 

Please could you tell us a bit about your new book, Cupid's Way?

Cupid's Way is a feel-good romantic comedy about a woman called Evie Stone, who finds herself in the middle of a battle to save a Victorian terrace: Cupid's Way. Her grandparents live there, along with a host of colourful characters, but Dynamite Construction are threatening to demolish the site in the name of development. Evie begins to fall for charismatic Michael Andrews at an eco conference, not realizing he is in fact the CEO of Dynamite Construction ...

I know you've started a series of mystery novels too, I'm looking forward to reading the first one when I get chance. How do you decide what you want to write about next?

I have a notebook full of ideas, some are pretty detailed novel outlines and others just brief sketches, but I need to feel fired up about an idea to begin writing. A novel, even if you write quickly, takes a big chunk out of your life, and you have to love the characters and feel totally immersed in the plot to live with it for so long.

Do you plan extensively in advance when you write, in terms of plot and character, or do you have just an outline/main idea and then see where the words take you?

I do both, depending on the type of book. For a mystery, plotting is essential. The latest Flora Lively mystery was carefully plotted, scene by scene, before I started writing. You don't have to do it this way, of course, but if you don't it definitely means more re-writing and editing later to make sure you've laid a trail of clues and made the final denouncement totally credible. But my usual way of writing is to take an idea or a character and just begin. When I get to chapter 3 or 4, if I'm happy and certain I'm heading in the right direction, I might stop and jot down some ideas about where I want it to go. But plotting too much can suck all the joy out of it, for sure.

How long do you spend writing a novel from start to finish, and does it vary depending on the subject matter?

It does vary. Now I'm on my fifth novel, I usually spend about 6 months writing and editing, but often the idea will have been working itself out in my head for far longer, or will be based on notes and character sketches I've developed over time. Writing a novel for me doesn't only include sitting down at my desk and typing out the words - much of it goes on in my head while I'm doing other things.

Do you find writing addictive - is it hard to stop once you get going?

It is addictive, and I would write all day, every day if I could!

I love your site offering advice on writing and publishing from your own experiences. I read that you have done different roles prior to writing, but did you always have that itch to write?

I've always written, no matter what job or role I've had. I can still remember the feel of my school exercise books: red, blue or green covers with lined paper inside. I still think in stories all the time, and my characters have conversations with each other in my head! I think the big moment came for me when I realised that you need to take your dreams seriously, and give yourself every chance to achieve what you want, which for me was to have my work in front of readers. I'm enjoying sharing my journey on my blog and I'll always continue to do that too. 

Many thanks for being my guest on the blog today, Joanne!

You can visit Joanne's website here, and find her on twitter @joannegphillips and visit her amazon page here.

Turning This Thing Around - Keith Maginn - Author Guest Post

Today I am pleased to welcome author Keith Maginn to my blog with an article about how he came to write his memoir, Turning This Thing Around.

Guest author post by Keith Maginn

"I'm not what I ought to be, I'm not what I'm going to be, but thank God I'm not what I used to be."

This famous quote sums up where I am these days. I am still a work in progress, but I am light years beyond where I was just a few years ago. There were times back then when I wondered if life was worth living. I do not feel that way whatsoever anymore.

About five years ago, I found myself sitting outside of a psych ward in Atlanta, Georgia. My fiancée was struggling terribly with bipolar depression. I had done everything I could, but was powerless to help her. I was also fighting my own battle with chronic pain and anxiety. I had no idea what I could do to turn things around. No matter how hard I fought, how much I prayed, things seemed to get worse and worse.

I soon found myself slipping into a deep depression, though I remained outwardly happy. Few of my family, friends or co-workers had any idea how desperate my predicament had become. My fiancée was adamant that no one know what she was going through, but I knew I couldn’t keep everything bottled up inside. I was perilously close to a complete nervous breakdown. Not wanting to betray her trust and talk to anyone, I started writing. It was my therapy, the only way to get some of the anger, sadness and confusion out of me.

I have been writing most of my life, as far back as I can remember. But it was never focused writing, just here and there. Now the words (and emotions) poured out of me. The story seemed to write itself. I realized that others might benefit from what I was writing. I felt people could relate to at least some of what I went through: heartbreak, depression, chronic pain, frustration…

Despite more hardships and heartbreak initially, my life gradually started to improve. I felt I was doing what I was meant to be doing, fulfilling my purpose. My mental and physical health improved and I had a new direction in life, a new focus. Things were looking up, finally.

When I started writing what eventually became Turning This Thing Around, I had no plans of ever publishing it. I wrote for myself, for my own sanity. But what started as a very personal diary evolved into something that I wanted to share with others. If I could overcome what I had, then others could, too. I decided to take a chance and self-published my writing as a “self-help memoir” (changing my fiancée's name to protect her privacy).

I had no idea how people would react to my book. Would they think I was feeling sorry for myself and looking for pity? I had my doubts, but I am very glad I decided to go ahead with the project. The response was wonderful. I have gotten many replies from people that relate and share their own stories with me. I am happy that people can learn from what I went through and that we can connect on an emotional level. I now know that people are often going through more than they show, making empathy, kindness and understanding all the more important.

As Eckhart Tolle said in The Power of Now, my challenges helped me grow as a person and gave me more "depth, humility and compassion." I knew it was time to be around my family and closest friends after ten years of living four hours away. Once I swallowed my pride and reached out to them, their support was overwhelming.

I moved home two years ago and threw myself into writing. In January, I self-published my second book, Goodwill Tour: Paying It Forward, about a philanthropic road-trip that I went on with a friend around the southeastern United States. After working at a library for the past year and a half, I took a leap of faith last month, leaving my job to pursue writing full-time. I don't know what will happen, but I will in no way regret not giving my dream everything that I've got. Though I may never understand why I have gone through what I have, I remind myself often that I am right where I am supposed to be and that everything happens for a reason.

As an unknown, independent author, I am grateful to people like Lindsay for giving me a platform to help spread my message. I also appreciate people like you for reading my story. I would love to connect with you on Twitter (@Keith_Maginn) or at my website keithmaginn.com. Thank you and all the best!

The Nightingale Girls - Donna Douglas - Author Guest Post

It is my pleasure today to welcome author Donna Douglas to my blog! Donna is writing about the background to her new novel The Nightingale Girls, and how she came to write it. 

Guest post by Donna Douglas 

I never set out to write an historical novel. My previous eight books, written under the name of Donna Hay, have all been chick-lit type tales, firmly based in this century.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t love the idea of writing about the past. I just didn’t think a) anyone would ever ask me to do it, and b) I would be able to handle all that research.

But then my publisher suggested I might like to write a series of novels set in an East End hospital in the 1930s. The hospital would be the central character, with other characters’ stories weaving in and out as the series progressed.

How could I turn up an opportunity like that? Straight away, I set about doing some research to find out if there might be enough material there. I read nursing biographies, researched nursing archives and interviewed former nurses about their experiences. And I soon realised I had enough stories for a dozen books!

What a life nurses led back in the 1930s. A girl committing to nursing training could expect to live for three years in a nurses’ home, under the watchful eye of the Home Sister. Their life was strict and hard. As well as working 14 hour shifts on the ward, any time off would be spent attending lectures or catching up on their studies. They were not allowed visitors in the nurses’ home, had to be in bed by ten, and speaking to men was strictly forbidden. During my research, I discovered the story of one poor unfortunate student who, as punishment for flirting with a medical student, was forced by the sister to take an ice cold bath at 6am!

But in spite of this, somehow the girls found time to have fun. They went dancing, colluded with each other to sneak back after lights out (although a lady I spoke to told me of the time she’d climbed back in through an open window only to find herself in the Home Sister’s bathroom!)  and generally had a high old time. I was told the pictures was a favourite place for a night out, mainly because it gave the nurses a much-needed opportunity to sit down!

They also formed friendships that would last them a lifetime. And it’s that unlikely bond between my three students, working class Dora, bored debutante Millie and hard-working Helen, that forms the basis of my novel, The Nightingale Girls. Together, they find friendship and the strength to stand up to their demons and the formidable ward sisters!

I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoy researching and writing it! 

The Nightingale Girls by Donna Douglas. 

Published August 2012 by Arrow

Follow Donna on Twitter - @donnahay1

Blog - donnadouglasauthor.wordpress.com

Website - http://www.donnadouglas.co.uk/

Author Guest Post - Carol E. Wyer

I am very pleased to welcome author Carol E. Wyer to my blog today!

Many thanks to Lindsay for inviting me on her blog today to tell you a little about myself. It is an absolute honour. Being a shy and retiring type of author (I’ve put in a pause there so several of you can have a snort of laughter at that statement) I always find it difficult to write about myself in these rare situations. I am much better at writing about others. I never know what people would like to learn about me. I’m pretty ordinary really. So at the risk of boring all you followers I’d like to just answer a few questions that I am always asked nowadays.

As soon as someone discovers that I write, I get asked the usual question “An author? Oh! What do you write?” My answer will quite possibly change depending on who I am talking to and the occasion. If I am at a party and have had far too much wine (which is quite likely – in fact if you find me at any social event I’ll have probably had too much wine) I might say I wrote ‘Fifty Sheds of Grey’ – that usually stumps them on two levels. If I am talking to a man, I tell him that I write books which help men understand women better – as if that would ever happen! They nod wisely and take note of the title. Actually, that is quite a good answer because several men I know have purchased my first book and not only read it but thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The best male response I had was from a businessman. He emailed me to tell me how much he had enjoyed the book, laughing out loudly as he travelled by air on a trip in LA, but what he enjoyed even more were the looks he attracted from fellow male passengers who saw him sitting in fits of hysterics reading a novel called ‘Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines’. However, I am now digressing from the questions.

Another response is to say that I write humorous literature for those facing ‘Big Birthdays’ and add what a great gift it would make for a friend or (once you ascertain that the person you are talking to is under the age of thirty) their mother. I have to be careful who I suggest the book to you see since it is aimed at middle aged women; women like myself. Of course, women like me don’t wish to be referred to as ‘middle-aged’ so some sense of decorum is required. As it happens, the book has appeal to all age groups from teenagers to octogenarians. I found a great message on Facebook to my son’s girlfriend the other day from one of her friends’ it said:

“Got your Mother in Law’s book 2day – it’s not too shabby so far!”

I guess that is praise indeed from a nineteen year old.

Once people have found out what I write I get asked “Do you earn a lot?” The answer to that is quite simple. “Have you seen my 1981 Vauxhall Cavalier parked outside? The one with the rusty dent in it and the bumper falling off?”  

Finally, I get asked “Do you like writing?”

Of course I do. I don’t just like it - I love it! I get to spend all day in my head with my characters. I eat stacks of wine gums (purely to assist with the concentration, you understand) and get left alone to play on my computer and to cap it all I can live in a pretend world for hours. It’s therapeutic. It’s escapism.

More seriously, and most important of all though, it gives me enormous pleasure to know that when I have completed a novel and sent it off sporting its shiny new jacket to work its magic on the public, I shall be making hundreds of people laugh. I’ll be taking them away from their problems and lives for a while and making them chuckle. I can’t think of anything else I would rather do, other than be a stand up comedienne of course.

So, that’s a little about me. If you would like to learn more about my humorous novels which take a light-hearted look at getting older then please go to www.carolewyer.co.uk

Carol E Wyer is a humorous author and blogger. Her first novel Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines is a #1 best-seller and has won five awards for humour including Readers Views Reviewer’s Choice 2012 Award and Silver Award for the 2012 Indie Book Awards.

Her latest novel Surfing in Stilettos follows the further adventures of Amanda Wilson, a woman determined to grow old disgracefully, and is a Costa Award nominee.

You can purchase Carol’s novels from a number of websites including her publisher’s website www.FeedARead.com and Amazon or order from all good bookshops. The eBook version of Surfing in Stilettos will be published by ThornBerry Publishing and released late September this year.

You can follow Carol on Twitter @carolewyer or find her on Facebook Carol E Wyer

Women of a Dangerous Age - Fanny Blake - Guest Author Q&A!

I am thrilled to welcome author Fanny Blake to the blog today!

Fanny is the Books Editor of Women & Home magazine, and recently her second novel, Women of a Dangerous Age, was published by Blue Door, an imprint of HarperCollins. 

You can connect with Fanny Blake on Twitter @FannyBlake1 and through www.facebook.com/FannyBlakeBooks

My review of Women of a Dangerous Age is coming soon.

Synopsis from the publisher:

Can you ever truly escape from the mistakes of the past?
Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Buchan, Elizabeth Noble and Katie Fforde this is a warm and witty novel about women, relationships and why it’s never too late to change.
Lou is married to a man who no longer loves her. It’s time to move on, to begin a new business venture and to start her life over.
To celebrate her new-found freedom, she travels to India, where, in front of the Taj Mahal, she befriends Ali after taking each other’s photographs on ‘that’ bench.
Ali is a serial mistress. But when she returns home, she discovers her latest lover is not the man she took him for. She too needs a new beginning.
As Lou and Ali put their pasts behind them, they start to discover new possibilities for life and for love, until the shocking realisation that they have far more in common than they thought.

* Q&A with Fanny Blake *

·         ‘Women of a Dangerous Age’, your new novel, depicts two women, Lou and Ali, who are both facing major changes or turning points in their lives when they become friends. Could you tell us a little more about your inspiration for the novel and your motivation for writing it please?

I wanted to write about a woman who had reached one of those turning points when she looks at her life and thinks, ‘Is this it?’ Does there come a point when it’s too late to change? As I mulled it over, Lou and Ali came into my head, two women at quite different turning points. Lou is leaving her marriage and wanting independence while Ali is looking for commitment. They make friends in India but when they get home, a revelation threatens their friendship. I wanted to write about women of a certain age, about the importance of friendship and the possibilities for change.

·         I love reading which books have been recommended and featured every month in Woman & Home Magazine. As the Books Editor of the magazine, do you have a large number of new books to read all year round, and is it difficult choosing what to feature in each issue?

Thanks. That’s really good to hear. Yes, the postman arrives with anything between three to ten proofs of new novels to be published later in the year. Opening them means it’s a bit like Christmas every day. It is difficult to choose what to feature, because there’s never enough room to include all I’d like. However, I try to feature as many different kinds of novel as possible – eg crime, historical, literary debuts, brand-name fiction – so there’s something on there for everyone. Selecting them that way does help narrow it down.

·         Have you always loved to read since being a child? Have you noticed your reading tastes change over the years?

I remember once my sister and I were put to sleep in a caravan parked in the drive of my parents’ friends’ house. While they had dinner, I was left with a pile of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven books. I’d never heard of them but I was completely gripped. After that, I never looked back. I’ve always had a very wide-ranging taste in reading. If anything, it grew even wider over the many years I worked as an editor and publisher. The only fiction I’m not very comfortable with is science fiction and fantasy. I was taught by one of my bosses that what matters, isn’t the category into which a book falls, but the quality of the writing and/or storytelling. If it’s good enough, the chances are you’ll be won over.

·         Have you always wanted to write fiction?

I didn’t think about it until I did so I suppose not. Not consciously anyway. When I worked in publishing, writing fiction was definitely what other people did. They wrote and I edited. It wasn’t until I’d become a journalist and written several non-fiction books that I began to think that I could write a novel. I had several false starts. Perhaps because I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about. But eventually I hit on the characters and the theme of What Women Want, a novel about the importance of women’s friendship.

·         Which writers have inspired you, whether present day or past?

That’s so difficult to answer because there are so many I love to read. I couldn’t say who in particular has inspired me. At university I read and loved all those classics, Mrs Gaskell, George Elliot, the Brontes, Jane Austen and Dickens. But now, I tend to read and admire contemporary novelists such as Anne Tyler, Barbara Kingsolver, Ian McEwan, Mark Haddon, Anne Michaels, Hilary Mantel, William Boyd, Susan Hill to name but a very few. I also read a lot of crime from Ruth Rendell and PD James through to Jo Nesbo  or Karin Slaughter.

·         What do you enjoy most about writing? What is the most difficult thing about it?

I love sitting down and escaping into a world populated by the characters I’ve created. There’s nothing more satisfying than making a particular scene work. At the same time there’s nothing more frustrating when I can’t get it right. The most difficult thing is making myself sit down and do it when I’m going through a bad patch. The worst point for me seems to be at about a third of the way through when I’ve got all the balls in the air and I feel like they’re all going to come crashing down. That’s when doing almost anything else, even the ironing, is preferable.

·         What is your ideal or perfect environment for writing? Is there such a place for you?

I can write anywhere - on a plane, a train, in someone’s spare room – but I prefer being in my tiny work room at home, especially when I’ve got the house to myself. The book proofs that keep arriving mean that the room’s a constant mess and it’s dangerously near the kitchen and the biscuit tin but … it’s very peaceful and overlooks the garden (which, to be honest, is a bit of a jungle) and I can hear the birds and the children playing next door. I’ve got my computer and an endless supply of peppermint tea to keep me happy. If I want a change of scene, or the kitchen’s full of people (a hazard if you’ve got grown kids still living at home), then I’ve just discovered the joys of working in bed. Always great – so long as no one else is in it!

·         Can you tell us what you are working on at the moment, in terms of writing – are you working on another novel?

I’ve almost finished my third novel. After that I’ve got ideas for the fourth and fifth as well, which I’m looking forward to getting to in due course.

·         If you could meet any fictional character, who would you choose?

Again, so many to choose from. But, today, I’ll plump for Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. She’s strong-willed, independent-minded and straight-talking. I think she’d be pretty interesting and fun to spend some time with.

Thanks so much for taking part in the Q&A, Fanny!