Rejection – Authors face it a lot and I’ve built up some resilience but it leaves me feeling vulnerable for a while. Rejection from an agent or a publisher is hard because they’ve been especially picked because I think they’ll like my work. I think an awful reader review would be kryptonite too but, fingers crossed, I haven’t had one…yet. 

2. Favorite childhood memory involving books? 

I used to receive a new book every year for reciting at my Sunday school anniversary celebration. The first year was always a bible, the second was a hymn book and the third was any hardback book you wanted. I still have that bible and, in ‘Rose’s Choice’, there is mention of Sunday school and their anniversaries.

3. If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?  

I think I’m an earthy person, a sod of the earth.

Survivor – I’ve survived two bouts of cancer and a few operations

Open -minded – I’m always ready to learn something new or see the world in a different way.

Determined – that’s why I’ve become an author

4. How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?

Times vary and I’m becoming quicker through practice and experience. It took me three years to write ‘A Jarful of Moondreams’ and I don’t think many original words were left in the final draft. I kept learning new skills and having to revise the book. I’m a member of the  sent it to the Romantic Novelist’s Association and sent the draft to the new writers’ scheme for a critique and amongst the praise was such good advice that I had to start a big re-write. Luckily, I loved my characters. My second novel took eighteen months and ‘Rose’s Choice’ took a year. I’ve written a novella and half a book this year so I’m definitely speeding up but not so much that I lose the pleasure in what I do.

5. How do you select the names of your characters? 

I take ages to choose names but I do enjoy it. They have to belong to the time of the novel, they have to suit the character and they haven’t to be the name of anyone I know if the character is at all unpleasant. On top of all that, they can’t sound like other characters in the book. I wouldn’t have Ginnie and Jennie or Johnnie and Ronnie for instance because its confusing for readers and sometimes they sound too comical and take the reader right out of the story. Ginnie, John, Rose, David and Stanley are an example of my ‘rules’.

6. If you were the last person on Earth, what would you do?

I’d make a time capsule in case the Earth was ever inhabited again. I’d put my old tattered bible in there, my complete works of Shakespeare and then pick out a few more books. I would add a couple of my own, of course! I’d put paintings, music, a few video recordings, some clothing, a laptop and a phone in there. What a responsibility to choose! I’d then shut it up, go off back to my local beach with a bottle of wine to watch the sunset and wish I had someone to share both with.

7. What fictional character would you want to be friends with in real life?