NK Chats To… Julie Houston

Published September 11, 2026 | By Laura

Hi Julie. Thank you for joining me today. Can you tell us about The Way We Are Now and what inspired it?

The Way We Are Now is my seventeenth novel and published by Boldwood. Slightly different from my other books in that it is perhaps a bit more of a Saga rather than a Rom Com. Still hopefully humorous in places – Maggy, Anna’s Mum was a delight to write as she is so funny and full of Yorkshire grit – but concentrating on the passion in the book. I loved writing Anna and Theo’s passion for each other, as well as Anna’s passion for the underdog and women’s rights. The book was inspired by hearing, on the radio, that the 1984 Miners’ Strike was finally having a formal, independent statutory inquiry into the policing of the Battle of Orgreave.

Which scene do you find the hardest to write?

Any scene that gets me on to the good bit, if that makes sense!

What’s your favourite word and why?

Fertiliser! Can’t hear it or say it without compulsively saying “Fertiliser” in a broad Norfolk accent. (Sorry, was this what you wanted?? LOL!!)

NK: Perfect. LOL.

What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals like needing coffee, silence, a particular place to write?

I certainly need silence! I’m a lark and like to be at my desk by 8am. If I’m not in court or been called in to teach – both great distractions! – then I’ll aim for 2000 words. I’m a total pantser and never know what I’m going to write until I start. I don’t allow myself a coffee until I’ve done so many words, and then I can treat myself. Nothing like a coffee to get the brain cells going. I’ll break for a run or the gym – I started doing Yoga a year ago and now do 3-4 classes a week No idea if it’s doing me any good, but I like to show off my balancing to my 97-year-old mother-in-law! My writing is constantly interrupted by my prevaricating on Ancestry, eBay, Rightmove and Social Media as well as chatting to my writing friends on WhatsApp. I might go for a walk around 4pm – our 16-year-old dog died last year, and I miss having him with me – and I’ve usually finished by 5.30pm.

I believe music to be a great way to establish the scene and create feelings. If you were creating a playlist to accompany your book, which songs would you include?

As part of the book is set in 1984 then tracks from 1984 definitely. I’d just returned from living and teaching in New Zealand and it was a very special, very happy time for me back in the UK that year. Hold Me Now – The Thompson Twins. What is Love – Howard Jones and definitely Relax! Frankie Goes to Hollywood. For the scenes set in the present, anything by Kygo who is a techno house genius, but particularly his adaptation of Selena Gomez’s It ain’t Me.

What’s your route to publication been like and what advice would you give to someone looking to explore a similar path?

I started writing a diary when I was fourteen – teenage angst-filled pages – and carried on until my thirties. I wish I’d continued! My sister very sadly died two years ago, and I’ve inherited forty years of her diaries. Together with mine, there’s about seventy years of diaries in the loft all bequeathed to my 29-year-old daughter who says she doesn’t want them! So, that’s how I started writing! I wrote my first novel Goodness Grace and Me about fifteen years ago now. I was taken on by Anne Williams, agent at KHLA literary agency. We did the usual rounds of submission, but nothing doing so, although Anne advised against it, I self-published my first four books. Goodness, Grace and Me went to Number 25 in the Amazon UK charts.

Julie’s Writing Space

Looking For Lucy went to Number 1in Australia. I wrote A Village Affair and was given a seven-book deal with Head of Zeus/Aria. They took on the four self-published and my next three novels. A Village Affair was the 7^th most downloaded book of 2019 and Sing Me A Secret won the 2021 Popular Romantic Fiction Award. My lovely editor, Sarah Ritherdon, moved from Aria to help start Boldwood Publishing and in 2023 I followed her there. I’ve a new three book contract with them and am just putting the finishing touch to a book about mothers and sisters. I can’t think of a title – it might be Mothers and Sisters. LOL. My advice to anyone is never give up. Self-publish if necessary – people want to read what you’ve written. Don’t try and jump on the latest bandwagon or you’ll be all over the place.

Write what interests you and have confidence that it will interest others! If you’re bored with writing something, be assured – your reader will also be bored!

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Cheese on Toast with Branston Pickle, a glass of Red Wine and, with no one to distract me, watching a really good TV (British) drama.

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?

During lockdown a nurse messaged me to say reading my books got her through the terrible days at work.

How do you approach the writing process – from idea, research, plotting, drafting, editing and polishing. How do you know when you’ve done enough research and editing?

I’m a terrible pantser. Someone once said: “Oh your characters will write the book for you” and at the time I thought, what a load of rubbish. But it is true. I do start with a character list – I think my novels are very much character driven – and enjoy creating their family trees. (My love of Ancestry and Family History I guess).

I love the research bit and could research for Britain, but realise I have to get down to actually writing something. I’d love to be the sort of writer who just writes the first draft and doesn’t go back to it until the book is finished. I have to write each chapter and then go back and polish the next day. I’m constantly going back and rewriting and redrafting and polishing which means I rarely get to the daily 3 and 4 000 words that many authors achieve.

What do you hope readers will take away from The Way We Are Now?

A knowledge of what happened in Yorkshire in 1984. But also – with the unexplained death bit – I want readers to say: “ooh, I didn’t expect that.” (I didn’t myself, to be honest- lol!!)

Is it the plot or the characters that come to you first?

Characters, definitely. As I say, my books are very character driven. I love writing dialogue.

Quick fire questions/would you rather –

Take part in a survival show or a dating show?

Neither – I can’t think of anything worse. Sorry!

Move things with your mind or the ability to read minds?

Ability to read minds

Sweet or savoury?

Both!! I love cheese and Jersey potatoes, and I love baking and making and eating tray bakes.

Hardback, paperback or eBook?

I’m into hardbacks at the moment, but definitely eBooks for travel.

Morning person or night owl?

Definitely a lark

Money or power?

Power I think! I was thinking only the other day would I prefer to have the power to have The Way We Are Now made into a TV drama or inherit a couple of hundred thousand in the bank? Probably the drama. I’d draw the line at a million!!

About Julie Houston –

Julie Houston is the author of 17 best-selling Women’s contemporary/Romantic Comedy novels. Represented by Anne Williams at KHLA Literary Agency, she was previously published by Aria/Head of Zeus but now writes for Boldwood. She has had UK top 100 selling books and Looking for Lucy hit the number 1 spot in Australia. Sing me a Secret was shortlisted for, and won, the Popular Romantic Fiction Award in 2021.

Julie is Yorkshire born and bred and lives in Huddersfield where her novels are set. After University, where she studied Education and English Literature, she taught for many years as a junior schoolteacher. After teaching for a few years, she decided to go to New Zealand to work and taught in Auckland for a year before coming back to this country. She now teaches when the phone rings to cover absent colleagues and still loves the buzz of teaching junior-aged children.

Julie is married with a son and daughter, both in their twenties and now living in London. She has been a magistrate on the West Yorkshire bench for the last twenty-four years.

Say hello to Julie on Facebook, X and Instagram.

About The Way We Are Now –

BRAND NEW from bestselling author Julie Houston comes a powerful story of first love, long-hidden secrets and second chances. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

First love, long-hidden secrets and second chances.

Anna Piasecki thought she had left her university heartbreak behind. After spending decades building a successful life, she arrives at sixty with everything as she wants it – a glittering career, a devoted partner and brightest star of all, her brilliant son Noah, the apple of her eye.

Theo Mandeville is trapped. Bound by aristocratic duty to his sprawling Yorkshire estate, he has spent decades living the life that was expected of him while regretting the star-crossed romance he walked away from.

When their children meet at college, Anna and Theo suddenly find their carefully constructed lives colliding. With a devastating forty-year-old secret hanging over them, can their families survive the truth and do they dare to trust that fate has other plans for them?

Spanning decades, The Way We Are Now is a sweeping, heartwarming and life-affirming tale of first love, friendship and second chances perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

The Way We Are Now was released by Boldwood Books on 11th September 2026. Click to buy on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Waterstones.