FAQ

Q:. Where do you get your ideas from?

This is usually the first question people ask and it's the hardest to
answer. Sometimes I'll read a novel or an article in a magazine and I just
get the tiniest glimmer of an idea. It's usually one of those "What if...?"
moments. Even more bizarrely I'll dream a scene at night and have to
write it down asap the next morning before I forget it. Often I'll read or
watch a plot and immediately think how I would write it, develop it,
change it. Basically, there are only 32 plots in the entire universe. What
makes us read and endlessly  rewrite them comes down to the individual
voice of the story teller. So listen to your instincts, allow yourself to
daydream. It's very productive.

Q: Where do you write?

I have an old pine box-top desk with a crack running right across the
middle of it. My mouse always gets caught on it. In front of me is a empty
wall painted chinese yellow. I'm still trying to find something I like to hang
above the desk but so far no luck To my right is a window which doesn't
have the greatest view-but that stops me getting up and going to look
outside when I 'm supposed to be writing.. On my desk I have a pile of
paper, spiral notebooks and writing magazines which I constantly try and
keep down to a reasonable size. I also have a stack of lined index cards
which I use to jot down anything from an internet site, to a plot
progression chart, to whose birthday I've forgotten. They are
invaluable-and woe betide anyone who attempts to tidy them up! On my
left is a bookcase packed with too many books, stacks of printer paper
and a three foot high pile of completed manuscripts. Organized chaos I
suppose but it's my little corner.

Q: Why do you do it?

Why do I write? Because it's important to me. Like a lot of avid readers I
had one of those conceited moments when I thought-I can do just as well
as... (insert published authors name here).  It's hard work. I don't think
most people realize the amount of effort that goes into completing a
manuscript, especially when no one actually cares whether you do it or
not and the likelihood of ever getting paid to write seems a distant
impossible dream. Writing is a part of my identity. it's the part that has
nothing to do with being a wife, mother, daughter, sister or friend. It's
totally for me. It keeps me sane and balanced when everything else
around me is crazy.

Q: Why write romance novels-couldn't you write a 'real' book?

Now this question makes me gnash my teeth. Just because genre fiction
has a certain predictability to it-why make out it's inferior, especially if it's
a romance novel?  Romance novels sell because intelligent  21st
century women continue to want to read them. What's wrong with
reading a novel that has a happy ending or the potential for one?
Women aren't stupid-we can distinguish between reality and fiction-(I still
maintain we're the more practical  pragmatic sex). We're not pining after
unrealistic love stories which make us dissatisfied with our lives. We like
to read about people solving problems within their relationships and
loving each other-that's healthy and good.  I'll get off my soap box now.
Please feel free to contact me and disagree!

Q: Any writing rituals?

I don't get a lot of time to write having four kids. but I'm still excellent at
wasting as much time as possible before I actually get a word on the
page. I check my email, I check my 'other' email. I logon to my online
RWA group and chat -a lot. I check my website ratings-I'm still amazed
that people other than me and my DH actually view it. Then I get out my
sour jelly belly's. I eat them in a particular order as I read through  what I
wrote the day before (bright yellow, dark yellow, orange, bright blue,
dark blue, light green , dark green, pink , light red dark red-in case you
are interested) . Then I write something