Purchase Links
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Do-Mondays-Colette-Kebell-ebook/dp/B08GCTNVWQ/
US - https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Do-Mondays-Colette-Kebell-ebook/dp/B08GCTNVWQ/
Author Q&A
1. If you could tell your younger writing self anything,
what would it be?
I’d say to stick with your creative side and don’t push
it aside for the sake of a paid job, do both.
This is going back quite some years, but it would have to
be having the Mr Men books read to me by Mrs White, a teacher at my primary
school. That was the only time that the
whole class was settled and silent.
This, please bear in mind, was when the books had only just been launched
so it was a real treat for all of us. I
appreciate that we could have easily read the books ourselves, but the
atmosphere at story time was magical and Mrs White brought the characters to
life, for me at least.
3. Did you want to be an author when you grew up?
I never knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. I loved English lessons at school, though the
class were occasionally somewhat rotten to one of the teachers, but I achieved
wall art status with a few of my poems and loved that I have been selected for
that accolade. I, therefore, ended up a
secretary for many years, until I was made redundant and had the time on my
hands to follow the urge to write which I had been suppressing for quite a few
years.
4. If you had to describe yourself in three words, what
would they be?
Funny,
pragmatic, honest
5. What is your most unusual writing quirk?
Not sure how unusual this is, but my first drafts rarely
contain much dialogue. I tend to add
that at a later stage for the sake of getting the story down in its raw form.
Love Actually is a very dear film to me. The reasons for that are two fold. One, it is a fantastic feel-good film and has
a great cast, but also due to it being the first film I ever saw with my husband,
before we were married, as our first date.
7. If you could own any animal as a pet, what would it be?
If I could have any animal it would have to be a monkey,
a small one like a marmoset… I’ve wanted one of those since I was a child,
though my parents obviously wouldn’t allow me to achieve that goal. Since then I’ve made do with having dogs,
which is a species I adore, so I am happy with my lot. I occasionally tease my husband saying I want
a parrot or a meercat, but they are a great deal of responsibility to look
after due to in the case of the parrot, its longevity and in the case of
meercats, they are pack animals and it would be cruel to have just one.
I have, through attending book signings, met a few famous
authors, one of whom is far more famous than the rest. I had the great pleasure of meeting Will.i.am
at the signing for his children’s book WaR.
I have to say I was somewhat starstruck and so barely spoke. I did, however, hand him my author card for
his mum and female family members.
10. How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?
How long is a piece of string… my first two books
where both written from start to launch (allowing time for copy edits etc) in
about four months. The one that is the
subject of this blog tour though is a very different kettle of fish. I started writing it about 2 ½ years ago…
then switched to my crime thriller as I became stuck as to where to take the
book next, so I parked it for a while and picked it up again this year. I have another which I started writing around
3 ½ years ago, which is reaching its end so that shall be the next
chicklit/romcom that I launch. Life got
in the way with those two books, due to a house move and having to renovate
certain things rather urgently.
11. How do you select the names of your
characters?
LOL this is funny as I don’t have children, but I
have a number of baby name books. I
flick through choosing names at random, though I do like to use some unusual
ones.
12. What are your top 5 favorite movies?
Well I’ve
already mentioned my all time favourite for sentimental reasons, Love Actually,
but to add to that I’d have to say A Good Year, Connie and Carla, Shawshank
Redemption and the most recent is The Upside.
13. What fictional character would you want to be
friends with in real life?
That’s an easy question for me, Lucky Santangelo J I certainly wouldn’t want her as an
enemy…
14. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Study. Read some
books about writing, attend a creative writing course, start dissecting famous
books to see how famous authors build their characters, how they construct
phrases, how characters talk etc. And Practice. A lot of it. The first attempt
is never great, but the more you write the easier it becomes.
15. What book do you wish you had written?
Either the Harry
Potter series or Lord of the Rings.
16. If you could live in any time period, what
would it be and why?
I guess as I grew up in the 80s it would have to
be that time period. Life was far
simpler then, little or no technology for starters and the music of that era is
amazing, even to this day.
17. What is your favorite genre to read?
Do I have a favourite genre… I’m not sure that I
do. I like variety in my life and so
switch genre when the mood takes me. I,
obviously read a lot of romcoms and contemporary female novels, but I also like
cosy mysteries and am a bit of a Potter Head as well as the likes of the Percy
Jackson books.
Author Bio
Colette Kebell
is an author of Chick-lit/Romcom, though a relatively new one and thus far has
self-published her books. Her books are light-hearted, fun and quirky and even
considered by some to be inspirational. She has also found avenues to
translate both into Italian (thanks to her husband), and into French, Spanish
and Portuguese via Babelcube.
As a career, Colette spent her later years as
a legal secretary. After a first attempt at writing many years ago (a book that
still remains in her drawer) she resumed this passion a few years back, after
being made redundant. After a few book signing events and a book talk,
which almost caused her to collapse with nerves, Colette now spends her time
between her home in the UK and her home in France.
Colette has two adorable dogs and spends some
time, when not writing and marketing her books, cooking for herself and her
husband, gardening or designing various items for their home. Amongst her
other hobbies, she has also experimented with furniture upholstery, and she might, from time to time, have a paintbrush in
her hand.
She can be found on twitter @ColetteKebell
though doesn’t tweet a vast amount.
https://www.twitter.com/ColetteKebell
https://www.facebook.com/ColetteKebellAuthor
https://www.instagram.com/ColetteKebell
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