Well its been a very long time since I’ve been here on my blog, what with all the goings on over the last year or so, mostly notably the arrival of my twin boys last April, so what with writing books and raising babies, and wondering if I’ll ever leave the house without some sort of baby goo down my top ever again, its been a while.
But what better way to come back, if a little late in the day, than to take part in the Next Big Thing. Last week I was tagged by lovely writer Debbie Viggiano (http://www.debbieviggiano.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-next-big-thing.html) tagged me to answer these questions, so here I go!
• What is the working title of your next book?
Well I could tell you but I’d have to kill you, honestly. I’m just not one of those writers who can talk about the project that is in the pipeline in any great detail, I think because I’m worried that if I say it out loud it might somehow vanish. I know its not rational, but since when has being a writer been about being ration? I will tell you about Dearest Rose, though, my latest novel with was published at the end of September. I called it Dearest Rose, because its a book about letter that may mean nothing, or could just mean everything.
• Where did the idea come from for the book?
It came from two places, first of all from readers, I asked them what subject they’d like to see me write about, and they overwhelmingly voted for a book concerning domestic abuse. And also I was thinking a lot about father daughter relationships at the time, the ideas melded together and along came the plot for Dearest Rose.
• What genre does your book fall under?
Ooh Genre, I don’t know. I write fiction for women I suppose, its emotional, funny, romantic, serious and sometimes challenging. What genre does that fit into?
• What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Hmm, this is hard for me because with Dearest Rose I didn’t have real people in mind when I wrote the book, and they live so vividly in my head I can’t see them as other people pretending to be them, if you catch my drift. I think I’ll wait for the film rights to get snapped up by Hollywood (a girl can dream) and see what they come up with. I’m not against Brad Pitt playing any role in principle, even a sheep.
• What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
‘One letter, one love, one last chance.’ I’m proud of that, I thought it up myself, you know.
• Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Dearest Rose was published by Arrow books, an imprint of Random House. I’ve been lucky enough to be represented by an excellent agent for the last ten and a bit years, and I still think, even in this brave new world of publishing, that having an agent at your side to fight your corner is very important.
• How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Dearest Rose took me a year to write, a long difficult pregnant with twins for most of it year, to get to grips with the first draft. After that though, most of the hard work was done so subsequent drafts were more tidying up than anything major.
• What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I find that difficult to answer, no-one want to say that my book is just like so-and-so! I’ve written ten novels for women, this book is a natural progression from the previous nine, that’s about as close as an answer to that question as I get!
• Who or what inspired you to write this book?
My readers really inspired me to write this book, I talk to them a lot, they tell me their stories and experiences. Without them I couldn’t have done it.
• What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
This is not really a book with any gimmicks, its an emotional tale told from the heart, and if you’ve enjoyed my other books, you will enjoy this one – maybe the most!
My five fab writers for next wednesday are:
www.jennycolgan.com
www.tamsynmurray.co.uk
www.keris-stainton.com
www.alexandrabrown.co.uk
and Alex Marwood (https://www.facebook.com/alex.marwood?ref=ts&fref=ts)