Blog Tour: Eleanor Brown – Author Interview and Review
Photo credit: Joe Henson
I’d like to welcome Eleanor Brown and her blog tour for her new book, The Light of Paris which was released yesterday (14th July) by The Borough Press. Hi Eleanor. Thank you so much for joining me. How do you approach the writing process? Do you do much planning and do you edit as you go etc?
I’m a non-planner by nature but I’ve trained myself to do at least some. With The Weird Sisters I just clanged around discovering the story as I went, but with The Light of Paris I worked quite hard to plan things out ahead of time. Consequently, it took me years to write The Weird Sisters, but once I had The Light of Paris figured out, I wrote the first draft in under two months.
I always say to my writing students that you’re going to do the organizational work sometime – whether it’s at the beginning, in the middle when you get stuck, or at the end is up to you, but you can’t avoid it altogether. I recommend a bare minimum of planning at the beginning, even if you consider yourself a free spirit – it saves a lot of pain and dead ends.
There is zero editing as I write! I just hurl it all on the page and tell myself I can make it pretty later. I hate drafting so much I just want it over with. Besides, what’s the point of making something pretty if I am just going to have to cut it later?
Can you tell me a little about your typical writing day and do you have any writing rituals (coffee before you begin, writing in silence etc.)
For a long time I thought if I could just figure out the perfect habit, I’d have this writing thing conquered. Now I understand that there is no perfect schedule – only what you can get done.
You have to write when you can, and that may change from year to year or week to week or day to day. I used to write in the mornings and took care of business in the afternoon. But lately it’s made more sense to do business in the morning and write in the afternoon. If I kept desperately trying to fit the way things are into my old schedule, I’d be frantic. Occasionally I just have to step back and say, “This isn’t working right now. What can I do differently?”
I believe writing rituals are dangerous. What if there’s a day you can only write while you wait for your kid to get out of soccer practice? If you’ve trained yourself to need your favourite pen and the perfect blend of tea, you’re out of luck. I just write when I can, where I can, as much as I can.
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Book Review: You And Me Always by Jill Mansell
Headline Review, June 2016
Lily’s always been surrounded by love.
Ever since her mother died, she’s been cared for by friends who are as close as any family.
Coral, her mum’s best friend; Patsy, her old babysitter – and even Dan, Patsy’s incorrigible younger brother – have always been there for her.
But when she chance comes to meet the man who was the love of her mother’s life, Lily knows she has to take it. Getting to know him could change everything, and not just for Lily…
I really didn’t think it would be possible for this sparkling author to top ‘Three Amazing Things About You’. If you haven’t read that one of Jill’s yet, then make that the next one you read after ‘You and Me, Always’, before the movie comes out! Well, maybe not, but someone really should turn it into one.
Sorry, I digress. ‘You and Me, Always’ is top-notch writing and un-put-down-able reading. If, like me, you see a blurb that mentions a movie star or someone fleeing something, that always starts an alarm bell ringing, but no need to worry here. Jill’s characters are always well thought out and the character of Eddie is nicely believable, things don’t even veer towards pie-in-the-sky world when the story deals directly with the world of celebrities.
by Author Interview: Jane Green
Author, Jane Green
Eeeeeek! I am so excited to be welcoming Jane Green to Novel Kicks especially as it is publication day for her new novel. Hello Jane. Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell me a bit about your latest novel, Falling and how has your writing routine changed over the time you’ve been writing?
Falling is my first big, epic love story in a while. I wanted to narrow it down to two people, and draw from my own story, in that I met my husband three days after my first marriage ended, by renting his beach cottage. The story goes off in a very different direction, but I loved writing about these two people who I grew enormously fond of. My routine is much the same in that I still leave my house to write, and am still finished by lunchtime, but entirely different in that the landscape of the world has changed, and hours a day are spent maintaining a presence and building a following on social media.
Do you plan much prior to beginning and do you edit as you go?
I plan my characters, and sometimes my story, although I prefer to have a rough idea of the arc of the story and let the characters then tell it. I do a cursory read through every day of what was written the day before, and might make minor tweaks, but I save the major edits until I have finished.
Which fictional character would you like to hang out with for a while and what would you do?
Right now I would quite like to hang out with Claudette from This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell because I am immersed in her world.
by Latest Book Releases: 14th July 2016
Yey it’s Thursday which means more book releases. This week is a great one too.
On The Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher (Sphere, 14th July 2016.)
The premise for this book sounds so brilliant (and I am kind of annoyed I didn’t think of it.) I’ve been looking forward to reading this book and so I am pleased it’s been released today. Plus this cover is just gorgeous.
Your soul is too heavy to pass through this door,
Leave the weight of the world in the world from before
Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It’s the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she’s become her twenty seven- year-old self and the door won’t open. Evie’s soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it’s too late. As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow , some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love…
The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter (Century, 14th July 2016.)
The Kept Woman is the latest novel in the Will Trent series.
A body is discovered in an empty Atlanta warehouse. It’s the body of an ex-cop, and from the moment Special Agent Will Trent walks in he knows this could be the most devastating case of his career. Bloody footprints leading away from the scene reveal that another victim – a woman – has left the scene and vanished into thin air. And, worst of all, the warehouse belongs to the city’s biggest, most politically-connected, most high-profile athlete – a local hero protected by the world’s most expensive lawyers. A local hero Will has spent the last six months investigating on a brutal rape charge.
But for Will – and also for Dr Sara Linton, the GBI’s newest medical examiner – the case is about to get even worse. Because an unexpected discovery at the scene reveals a personal link to Will’s troubled past. The consequences will wreak havoc on his life and the lives of those he loves, those he works with, and those he pursues.
But Sara’s scene-of-the-crime diagnosis is that they only have a few hours to find the missing woman before she bleeds out . . .
by My Writing Ramblings: Best Laid Plans
This past week I had expected to be going to the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s annual conference. My cat had other plans and it has meant about three trips to the vet. My cat Buddy, who we thought had swallowed something he shouldn’t get rushed to the vet by us at half eleven in the evening on Tuesday night. Turns out, after him having to stay for two nights, he didn’t swallow anything bad but had something completely unrelated. I have seem more of the vet in the last week than I want to see for a while and I certainly think my cat has.
I think I have had enough excitement for one year if I am perfectly honest.
We did meet a lovely couple who had also brought their cat in. He had a brother at home and their names were Ronnie and Reggie. Unusual names for cats.
As a result of our vet visits, I ended up missing the RNA conference which was being held up at Lancaster. Best laid plans and all that.
However, life sometimes does get in the way like that doesn’t it. Not that my cat got in the way but you get what I mean. He was more important.
There was an element of me that was feeling slightly guilty because my plan had been to have something to present to an editor this year but that hadn’t happened so it’s great in a way as it means I can now focus on the conference next year so there was a silver lining. I am looking forward to attending next year.
by Book Club
