Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a retired lady of uncertain age who loves reading & can’t stop writing. I started serious authorship when I lost my last job – I was a chemist – and in six months I had a book. It took a lot longer to get it published, however.
I live near Kettering, England, without my family: they are grown & pursuing their own lives now, which gives me more time for writing.
I am a witch & have been for more than 40 years. Much of my writing stems from this.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I am very near to publishing my third book, Hunting Spectres. It is the next volume in The Bloodwitch Chronicles: I have already published Witch in Blood and The Vampire’s Granddaughter.
The inspiration begins with the question ‘What if?’ and goes on from there: how a hero, or heroine in this case, overcomes obstacles through a combination of skill and thought and not, as happens so often in horror movies, by sheer accident. Good does not overcome evil, not unless good is really, really lucky.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
What constitutes unusual? I sit at a desk with a PC or laptop and hammer away. Doesn’t everyone? I have written straight through a night: I can find that an entire day has passed unnoticed when I’m on song. I do tend to run several, and I mean several, storylines at once and bounce around the timelines of my stories more in the way of a movie director: I end up with lots of random scenes which I then have to fir together. Surprisingly, they do tend to fit rather well – I must be a writer or something.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I adore Terry Pratchett. I’d give someone’s right arm to be able to write like he does. There’s Tolkein, naturally, and C S Lewis. Terry Goodkind did the excellent Sword of Truth series, and Ursula Le Guin was influential. I also devoured Asimov, Poul Anderson &, Michael Moorcock amongst a host of others… I loved the Worst Witch books and Harry Potter was part of my kid’s lives, and mine. There are really too many to mention.
What are you working on now?
Books Four & Five in The Bloodwitch Chronicles series, naturally: Fruit of the Bitter Tree and Witch in Chains. There’s also a couple of chick-lits, Country Pursuits & Dancing in Rainbows: a comic horror about a school in hell which I’m calling Fungus Notes right now, and a dystopian fantasy, For the Flowers: and anotheer supernatural fantasy, The Singers of Dalmyre and when I have a moment, my own autobiography – Five Colours in my Skirt, about growing up in the Fifties & the changes I’ve seen. Yes, Too many. But the inspiration strikes & I have to write it down……..
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Gawd knows, because I surely don’t or my books would sell better. I sell through Amazon.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep at it. Do not be discouraged by failure. Everyone’s had that.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
How do you know you can’t do it if you haven’t tried yet?
What are you reading now?
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield. I didn’t think I’d like it, but he has a lot of down-to-earth sense that is useful for everyone.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Write, write, write. Promote, promote, promote. Pray for a publishing contract, I’m rubbish at marketing & stuff.
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?
Can’t I take my laptop and a solar converter and write my own? I’ve read all the books in my library & I won’t be able to get new releases.
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