Blog Tour: Love You Better by Natalie K Martin
I am very pleased to be welcoming Natalie to Novel Kicks today and her blog tour for her new novel. To celebrate the release of Love You Better, Natalie tells us about her typical writing day. Over to you, Natalie.
Being a bit of a nomad, typical days are few and far between now, let alone a typical writing one, but one thing I always try to incorporate is yoga. It’s a nice way to stay constant with so many physical and environmental changes and I find it really helps to get my mind settled, especially because I tend to have a million things going around in my head at once and it only increases when I’m writing.
After yoga and breakfast, I usually start with checking my social media, emails and then get a cup of tea going. I tend to go back and re-read a couple of the previous chapters to get me back into the groove again, and start from there. My ideal working spot is somewhere quiet, where I can disconnect from the distraction of the internet and plug in my music, but since I’m travelling a lot I tend to end up in buys hub cafe’s. It can sometimes stretch my day out by a few hours with people dropping by to say hello, but it can also be pretty precious, and let’s face it, working in a cafe in Goa, or Cornwall by the beach is hardly a chore! I’ve met lots of people in situations like that who’ve inspired aspects of my characters, or situations.
by 
A Moment With: Ellie Campbell
Pam, one half of the sisterly writing duo who writes under the pseudonym Ellie Campbell, talks about her favourite novel. Over to you, Pam.
My favourite book is Compromising Positions by Susan Isaacs.
I sound like an old record when I talk to people about this novel but it’s always by my bed when I need cheering up. Written by Susan Isaacs it tells the story of Judith Singer – a Long Island ex-journalist now housewife who turns super-sleuth when she finds out that the local dentist has been murdered.
It’s got such fabulous humour all the way through and yet there’s a believable plot. Susan’s writing is phenomenal, witty, full of twists and turns, funny, insightful. You can turn to any page and in seconds you’ll find yourself laughing out loud, or identifying with the lead character. As the book goes on, Judith can’t leave the investigation alone and keeps putting herself in dangerous circumstances.
There’s also a good part of the novel that deals with some very real life issues. Judith’s basically bored in her marriage. Her husband works long hours. Their sex is tepid, predictable and routine. Continue reading
by Author Interview: Scott Mariani
Hi Scott, thank you for joining us. Could you tell us a little about your writing process?
It’s pretty simple, really. I wish I could make it sound exciting and glamorous, but writing is just a job like most others – there’s no special mystique to it. I don’t take long walks on windswept beaches in search of the muse, or anything like that. Six days a week, after breakfast and feeding the dogs and other sundry duties, I go up to my study, coffee in hand. As I climb the stairs I start getting my brain in gear thinking about what I need to do that day. It could be an action scene, or it could be a scene between two characters involving lots of dialogue, or it could be something with a lot of geographical or historical content. In the latter case, I might need to have various reference books or maps around me to refer to. In the former case, I may have nothing at all to rely upon other than my poor overworked imagination. Then I sit down and spend the next few hours trying to do whatever it is I need to do, as effectively as possible. I don’t like to leave the desk until I’m happy with what I’ve set down, which means I might sometimes have a very long working day. Some days are hard, others fly by and I’m able to hit whatever word quota I’ve set myself and stop early to go and attend to the thousand other things I invariably have to do, living out here in the country, like cutting wood or strimming the meadow. Oh, yes, and trying to have a life.
Tesla was a great inventor. What do you wish you’d invented, and why?
He was responsible for, or at least instrumental in pioneering, many technologies that we find essential and take for granted in the modern world (apart from also being, very possibly, a dangerous lunatic). But you don’t necessarily have to be a scientist or an engineer to be an inventor. I think that writers, as designers of stories, are inventors too. I regard what I do as a kind of industrial design job, blending technical and creative abilities in the same way that an automotive designer might come up with the sleek, beautiful form of a new Ferrari or Porsche, or some other end product aimed at appealing to the public. And being a writer, I can’t think of anything I’d rather have invented than a fictional character like Ben Hope, the hero of my books. Readers say they feel they know him like a real person, a friend even, someone they love to share time with, in whose world they love to dwell a while. That’s good enough for me.
by A Moment With Hannah Vincent
Hannah Vincent, whose debut novel, Alarm Girl was released by Myriad Editions in August last year tells us about her writing room.
I write in bed. I could justify this with the excuse that this way I am closer to the dream state and an unconscious mode in which words and feeling flow but the truth is, my bed is comfy, smells nice and my cat likes it when I write there. It is highly un-ergonomic: I lie with my neck crooked on cushions, typing straight onto an ancient laptop with Twiggy the Siamese pinning down one arm.
I once read that humans crave greenery because of our outdoor ancestry. The view from my bedroom window is bland and grey, which is useful in that it’s not a distraction but sometimes I move to the kitchen table to work. Ours is a topsy-turvy house with an upstairs kitchen that is slightly above the level of the garden, so when I look out of the windows I feel as if I am in the trees with the squabbling sparrows and busy blue-tits. Continue reading
by A Moment With: Holly Martin
Holly Martin is the author or The Guestbook, The Sentinel and One Hundred Proposals (as well as One Hundred Christmas Proposals. All published by Carina.) She lives in Bedfordshire in a house with round windows.
She shares her five writing tips:
Read everything, the good, the bad, the ugly, the amazing. See how things work and how things don’t.
Watch people, listen to what they talk about, how they talk, walk and dress so you can create real life characters
Get people you trust to read it and give you feedback.
Don’t take any criticism or feedback personally
Never, ever give up
Learn more about Holly and her books at her blog: https://hollymartinwriter.wordpress.com
by Book Club
