Interview With Author GL Robinson
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Portsmouth, England (no, I won’t tell you the date!), but I’ve lived in the USA for over 40 years.
During the 50’s and early 60’s my sister and I were at a convent boarding school in southern England. I can still see us in the convent under the bedcovers after lights out with a flashlight reading the Romances of Georgette Heyer.
My sister died unexpectedly in 2018. All my books are dedicated to her.
So far, I’ve written 16 Regency Romances, a Contemporary Romance and two Crime Romances.
I’m 77 this year and plan, to paraphrase Tennyson, To write beyond the sunset, and the baths /Of all the western stars, until I die.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, I Have Always Loved You, a Second Chance Regency Romance, is due out on August 30 (my birthday!). It’s a bit different for me because it’s a first person narrative from two points of view. I challenged myself to write that way and it was hard! All my other books are in the third person single POV, and as the narrator you know everything everyone knows. In the first person, you only know what the person talking knows. I kept having to stop myself and say “How would he/she know that??”, then cross it out and start again!
The book is about a man and a woman who meet in their twenties and don’t see each other again for many years. For her it was love at first sight, for him… well, he has to learn what love is before he can be truly happy.
My books are not totally serious; they have a strain of humor that stops them getting dark. But the history is real, I do a lot of research, and I deal with topics I think are important.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, I can write anywhere, any time. It’s a refuge for me. If I’m stressed by something, I can always forget it when I write. And I never have writer’s block!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jane Austen, of course, and the beloved Georgette Heyer, who I read and re-read constantly. But I also love Barbara Pym, who is less well known and a bit dated now, but a wonderful, witty writer. I also love PG Wodehouse (of Jeeves and Wooster fame), who is incredibly funny and makes me laugh out loud.
What are you working on now?
I have just translated an Alphonse Daudet short story from the French (I used to be a French professor). I plan on publishing it for free on Amazon (KDP) for Christmas. I’ll probably do a paperback book as well, but that can’t be free because of printing costs.
It’s a Christmas story about a priest whose acolyte (assistant) is inhabited by the devil on Christmas eve, when the poor priest has to say the traditional three consecutive Masses. The acolyte/devil tempts him with the sights and smells of the Christmas feast that comes immediately after the services, and makes him babble the words, miss bits out, and generally rush headlong into, as Daudet says, eternal damnation.
I know it doesn’t sound like much fun, but really, it is! The descriptions of 16th century people, the food, the scenes of the priest falling over himself to finish the three Masses in record time is very amusing. I had fun translating it.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use all the normal social media and a number of book promotion sites like Awesome Gang. I’m an indie writer. that means I have no publisher to do things for me. So I have to promote, promote, promote!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I’ve heard of folks who take ten years to write a book. Nothing is ever perfect. I try very hard but when I re-read my earlier stuff I always think, “I could have done it better.” My advice is, do your best and get it out there! Of course, I didn’t begin writing till I was 72, so I don’t have all the time in the world!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Make your first sentence a zinger! A classic example is, “What would you do if you had to kill your daughter to save your wife?” No one could put that book down until they found out what was going on!
I can’t say my first sentences are as good as that, but I do try. For example, the first sentence of Héloise Says No is, “Thank you for your flattering attention, my lord, but the answer is no.”
What are you reading now?
I’m reading Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (he wrote A Man Called Ove). It’s a bank robbery gone wrong, where the robber takes hostages. But it’s not at all what you expect!
What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep on Writing. I never stop. I have a book out on August 30, I have one at the editing stage for March 2024, I have stories in two Anthologies coming out for the holidays, and my head is full of ideas.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’d take:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies (a cheat really, as it’s three books in one!)
The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx
Three totally different books, but all the absolute best of their type.
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