Every summer has a
story... Fun-loving travel rep Jess doesn't want to be chief bridesmaid at her
snooty cousin's wedding, but it will cause a family feud if she refuses. She
doesn't want to fall in love either, but when a raucous stag party arrives at her
Majorcan hotel, Jess hits it off instantly with best man, Eddie. A summer
romance is exactly what commitment-phobe Jess needs and, as the stag-do draws
to a close, so does the holiday fling. She has no intentions of carrying on the
summer fun but when Eddie turns up again, Jess is faced with a big dilemma.
Will this bridesmaid get the happy-ever-after she never knew she wanted...
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
If you could work
with any other author, who would it be and why?
There are lots of authors I admire but I’m not sure I could work with
them, I’d be so in awe of their talent I think I’d feel everything I wrote was
rubbish.
What would be a
typical working day for you? When and where do you write?
I moved to Spain in November last year and no longer have a typical
working day. I write when and where I can. Some mornings I work on my laptop at
6 am, sitting up in bed, then I might work in the studio room on the upstairs
terrace which is my official office, afternoons you might find me in my
husband’s shed, or sitting by the pool with my laptop in a cardboard box to
shade the screen from the sun, and evenings I often work on the table in the
corner of the lounge. Some days I hardly find time to write at all, other days
I will write all day and well into the evening – with the occasional pool
break.
What is the hardest
part of the writing for you?
I
always find setting and description the most difficult to write. I find that
writing character, action and dialogue flows quite easily, but I really have to
stop and think when I write setting and description. I think it may be because
of all my earlier work writing for teen and children’s magazines where the word
limit was too tight to allow for description, the picture told it all. When
I’ve written my first draft I go back over it and add more description and
visualization to the scenes
When and why did
you first start writing?
Although I’ve always written stories and poems
it wasn’t until I had three young children that I started sending my work out
to magazines. After a while Jackie magazine
accepted an article of mine and asked me to write more. I wrote features and
photo stories for them, then for other teen magazines such as Loving and Patches. Just after my fourth child was born I started writing
regularly for children’s comics such as Thomas
the Tank Engine and Winnie the Pooh,
I then wrote children’s books too and about ten years ago started writing YA
and romance novels.
How did you come up
with the idea for your book?
I’ve
often admired the travel reps at the resorts I’ve holidayed in, they work hard
and play hard. I thought a story involving a character working as a travel rep
would be really interesting. They have to cope with so many different
customers, including stag and hen parties, and there might be times when they
have a summer romance with holiday-makers. When my husband, Dave, booked us a
third anniversary trip to Majorca a couple of years ago I thought that would
make a great setting, popped in a few complications to the story, and off I
went.
Are you a big
reader? If so, what are you reading now?
I love reading but don’t always find time to read as much as I want to.
My kindle is loaded with books waiting for me to read. I’m a big fan of Mandy
Baggot and am looking forward to reading her ‘Desperately Seeking Summer’. I
also love Sophie Kinsella and Sharon Shinn. I mainly read romance novels but
sometimes I’ll read a thriller, I thought ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn was
fantastic, also ‘Before I Go to Sleep’ by S.J. Watson. My all time favourite
though is ‘Gone With The Wind’ – what an epic tale with fantastic characters.
Do you have any
advice for other aspiring writers?
Don’t give up on your dream. Keep writing, rewriting and
sending off your work. And don’t forget to make time for reading, reading is
the foundation for writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment