TUESDAY TALK CHAT TO AUTHOR LAURIE ELLINGHAM ABOUT HER WRITING CAREER AND FAVOURITE HOLIDAY DESTINATIONS…

Good morning Laurie and welcome. Can I start, as always, by asking you a little about yourself?

Hi Jo. Thanks for having me on your blog today. I love meeting fellow authors and bloggers.

A little about me… well I love writing and reading novels (although I guess that’s a given :-)). I live with my hubby on the borders between Suffolk and Essex in a lovely quiet village where our two children – Tommy (6) and Lottie (5) – go to school.

I’m one of those annoying people who loves running. I drink far too much coffee and wine, and eat lots of chocolate too. The best days for me combine running, coffee, writing, and chocolate.

I have a degree in Psychology and a background in Public Relations (although both feel like a long time ago now).

How did you begin your writing career?

Like so many authors I started writing stories when I was very young. I remember writing a lot about orphans and children who could fly. I was lucky to have a very encouraging teacher when I was 8 who patiently read my stories and gave me feedback (Mrs Noakes, Love Lane Primary).
I wrote my first novel when I was 23. It was terrible. Truly awful, and thankfully never saw the light of day. I wrote The Reluctant Celebrity when I was 24, but it got put in a drawer for quite a few years whilst I was busy being a mum to a baby and a toddler. About three years ago I had a very strange morning when both kids were at preschool and I had nothing to do. I went into the loft, dusted the manuscript off and rewrote it. I haven’t stopped writing since. I’m now 33 and despite it being ten years since I first went to PC world and bought myself a laptop to write with, I feel very much at the start of my journey as an author. I love how I seem to learn something new about the craft every day.

What made you choose Contemporary Romance?

I’m not sure if I chose it, or it chose me. The best way I can describe where my ideas come cover-final from is ‘a knock at the door.’ I open the door and there are my characters, bundling into my little writing room to tell me their story. With Jules and Guy(The Reluctant Celebrity) and Katy and Tom (How to Throw Your Life Away), their stories involved romance. The more recent knocks haven’t.

I do love the scope of Contemporary Romance. The best stories for me are ones that make me laugh, cry, and think. Contemporary Romance is a genre which is broad enough for all three to appear in the same novel.

Can you tell us something about your current WIP?

I’ve just this week finished my latest WIP. I’ve titled it The Stranger on the Boat (although this may change somewhere down the line.). It’s much darker than anything I’ve written before. Here’s a peak at part of the blurb:

‘My name is Abigail Rose Wick. My parents are Sarah and Michael Wick. And I’ve been missing for fourteen years.’
A missing girl returns unharmed. A family torn apart by tragedy begin to heal. But strange things begin to happen to the Wick family….

What’s your favourite holiday destination and why?

I love UK holidays, and I’ve had some wonderful holidays in Jersey and Ireland. If it’s a nice cottage, if there’s space for the kids to run around, if it has a pool nearby, and I don’t have to cook, then it’s a winner with me.

And lastly, if How to Throw Your Life Away was being made into a movie, who would you cast?

I love this question!!!
The first thing I do when I picture my characters is find a photo of someone who looks like them. I stick the photos in my WIP binder and look at them every day.
For me, Katy is played by Keira Knightly, and Tom is played by Damian Lewis. They actually starred together in a play once. This is the photo of the two of them that I looked at every day….

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