Life Lessons by J.E. Rowney - Book Blitz
Life
Lessons
For fans of "Call the Midwife",
"Hard Pushed" or "This is Going to Hurt".
Life Lessons is a new adult chick-lit medical drama, with splashes
of clean romance.
Expect an unputdownable emotional page-turner that will take
you deep into the life lessons of a student midwife.
Violet wants to be a midwife, but she has struggled with anxiety throughout her
teenage years.
With her best friend Zoe at her side, she gets a
place at University and starts training for her dream job.
Can she overcome her fears and find the self-confidence to make it through her
first year?
Will Zoe's romance with their housemate spell
dating disaster?
Book one of the Lessons of a Student
Midwife series.
This book is a prequel to Ghosted, the
bestselling novel.
Author Q&A
1. What
would you consider to be your Kryptonite as an author?
I
used to get very distracted, and it took me a long time to write anything
because I didn’t set myself goals. It took me seven years to write my second
book. The internet is a great place to connect with readers, and with other
writers, but it can also be a massive time drain. I am a lot more disciplined
these days, fortunately.
2. If you could tell
your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
I always wanted to be
a writer, but I convinced myself that writing was a hobby, not a career.
Instead of becoming a novelist at an early age, I trained as a midwife. Without
having had that experience, I would never have written “Ghosted” and “Life
Lessons”. Although I would love to tell younger me to go ahead and write, I
would also tell her that everything she learns will be useful. Actually, I
would tell her to keep a notebook of all of those things that she learns!
3. What book do you
feel is under-appreciated? How about overrated?
Every now and again I
see people discussing books that they have read and loved that I have read and
disliked. There have been a couple of stand-outs over the past year, but I
won’t name and shame. I really enjoy reading a wide range of genres, and I feel
that in itself is under-appreciated. People find books or types of books that
they love and then don’t step outside of their comfort zones. I would love to
encourage people to try something new, and surprise themselves.
4. Favorite childhood
memory involving books?
I loved reading when
I was younger, just as I do now. I read everything I could at school, and then
I tried to find more books to read at home. I used to go to the second hand
market with my grandmother and pick up collections of horror stories. Bearing
in mind that I was around nine years old, some of the content was probably a
little too old for me. I didn’t give myself too many nightmares though!
5. If you had to
describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
“Always looking
forwards” – I am always planning something, or heading towards a future goal. I
have so much that I want to achieve.
6. What is your most
unusual writing quirk?
I don’t know if it is
a quirk or not, because maybe it is something that other authors do too. When I
am writing my first draft, in order to keep moving, and let my words flow, if I
can’t think of exactly the word or phrase that I want to use at that time, I
type in xxxx and move on. It has stopped me from getting ‘writers block’ and it
allows me to keep writing, even when I don’t know at the time how a certain
sentence might look in the final draft. The little things make sense on later
drafts, and those xxxxs get replaced by exactly the right words or phrases.
7. What’s one movie
you like recommending to others?
Currently it’s “Never
Let Me Go”. I read the book a couple of months ago and I loved it so much that
I immediately watched the movie version to see how it had been adapted. To be
honest, I didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters after the end of the
book, and watching the film was a way of holding on to them. It’s a great
story, and the film version is good too.
8. Have you ever met
anyone famous?
I recently met the
poet laureate, Simon Armitage, after a reading of his work. He used to live in
the same village as I did in West Yorkshire, about a mile away from my home,
but I never saw him around. Six years and three hundred or so miles later, we
met in Dorset. He was very lovely.
10. How do you select
the names of your characters?The names of most of
my characters come to me as I am writing. I did name one of the minor characters
in “Life Lessons” after one of my own midwifery tutors though. I had a personal
tutor called Zita, and sadly she passed away a few years ago. I remember how
lovely and supportive she was to me when I was a student midwife, and using her
forename in my book was my way of recognising that. The character isn’t based
upon her though.
11. If you were the
last person on Earth, what would you do?I would have a lot
more time to read.
12. What fictional
character would you want to be friends with in real life?I would love to be
part of the classics class in “The Secret History”. It’s my favourite book, and
the characters are all so interesting. I would probably get caught up in
something wild and dangerous, sure, but it would be worth it to meet them.
13. Do you have any
advice for aspiring writers?If you want to be a
writer, write. That’s how it begins. Grab a pen and paper, or sit at your
computer, and write. Writing is the best way to learn. Practice as often as you
can. Share your work with friends and family, or with a writing group. Get
feedback, and listen to it. Always try to learn and improve.
Author Bio
–
J.E.Rowney
spent several years in the cold Yorkshire hills, which brings the flavour of
the moorland countryside into her work. She now lives in Dorset, and the sun
and sea are slowly creeping in as influences.
"Charcoal", her first novel, was
published in 2012 to wide critical acclaim, and was a bestselling novel across
the whole of Amazon within days of release.
Ms Rowney has recently been
awarded the Dinesh Allirajah Writing Prize 2020.
Her third novel, "Ghosted", was
released in January 2020 and quickly also became a bestseller.
She spends lots of time writing in coffee shops,
so if you see her, say hello.
Ms. Rowney says: "I always dreamed of being
a writer, until I realised that I was. Then I started to write."
You can find out more about JE Rowney on her
website at jerowney.com, or follow @jerowneywriter on social media.
Social
Media Links –
Website: http://jerowney.com/
Mailing
list http://jerowney.com/join-me
0 Comments
Please try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.