Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m an award-winning entrepreneur who day-dreams up new plots while walking through the Andalusian countryside with my springer spaniel, Dexter. The Grotto’s Secret, is my début novel after two best-selling business books, Create A Successful Website and Pimp My Site.
My life-long dream to be a novelist has come true thirty-five years after I first decided I would be one. Harbouring a near-obsessive love of learning the craft of writing, I have been scribbling down the stories in my head ever since I can remember.
At the age of eighteen I used my first South African pay-check from the Natal Mercury to buy a long distance writing course. Many years later I received an ‘Honourable Mention’ in the 75th Annual Writers Digest Writing Competition for two novels (written and not yet published), which inspired me to continue writing.
I’ve written 6 books: How to Create a Successful Website, Pimp My Site, Pimp My Fiction, 101 Writers’ Scene Settings, A-Z Writers’ Character Quirks and The Grotto’s Secret.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Grotto’s Secret
Moving to Spain fulfilled my lifelong dream to write novels. During the hunt for our new home in rural Andalusia, my husband and I found a tranquil home with stunning views down the Valle del Guadalhorce towards Malaga and Marbella.
Apart from a white-washed village in the far distance, the valley is lush with green wheat fields and rolling hills, shadowed by layer upon layer of distant mountains. The magnificent Sierra del Torcal towers over the back of the house. My first sight of the Guadalhorce Valley gave birth to the fictional location of The Grotto’s Secret.
As I gazed at the stunning view, a medieval character just popped into my head and I could see her in that landscape. She was so real and had a story to tell.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write alone with peace and tranquillity and thought I couldn’t write any other way, but during a recent building renovation I discovered I could write anywhere, even with banging and bashing going on around me.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many it is hard to even know where to begin! I love the old classical authors and started out reading Enid’s Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. They probably gave me a taste for adventure and thrilling mystery. Over the years I have read different genres but as I love reading thrillers and action adventure, I started writing in that genre.
What are you working on now?
The follow-up books to The Grotto’s Secret: The The Sacred Symbol & The Lunar Legacy with another two in the series being plotted and planned. So many books and so little time!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook, Twitter, ebook/book sites, free book days on Amazon, and I have a VIP emailing list for readers to get notified about my new books: http://eepurl.com/byjPVT
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never, never give up your quest to be an author. Read books in your genre to learn from the greats and devour as many writing books as you can. New writers may find my FREE book a help: http://amzn.to/22hGDl9
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To keep writing. Many agents told me this even though they rejected my books. I also won a ‘Honourable Mention’ in the Writers Digest Writing Competition many years ago and they also said to keep writing. That really inspired me to continue my dream to be a novelist.
What are you reading now?
I’ve just finished a book by Graham Brown and another by Boyd Morrison. I have Steve Berry, Scott Mariani, Simon Toyne, James Rollins, JF Penn and Dean Crawford all waiting to be read! Phew … who has time to write when there is so much great reading to be done.
What’s next for you as a writer?
To finish The Grotto’s Secret sequel and then start the next. Already I have readers telling me they want more. How exciting!
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?
‘The Power of One’ by Bryce Courtney as well as anything by Dean Koontz, and Glenn Cooper. And Simon Toyne’s ‘Sanctus’, although that will not allow me to sleep on that desert island! (If I could take my childhood favourites I would sneak in the entire Famous Five!)
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