Category: Writing

Good morning Lisa and a big welcome as my first guest of 2017. Can I start, as always, by asking you a little about yourself?

Thanks for asking me to do this, Jo. I am trying to convince myself that I’m not a fraud being interviewed by you as I’m not a proper, grown-up author yet! However, we all have to start somewhere, eh?
I should have just given you my Match.com profile for this part. It got me a husband after all. True story! Although, he may be asking me questions if I’m flirting with the readers of this interview through my dating profile. Moving on…
I’m in my 40s and I am very lucky to live in Bournemouth, close to the sea. I’m originally from Oxfordshire which is about as far from the sea as you can get.
I used to be a secondary school English teacher but I decided that I liked having a life and not feeling perpetually stressed, so I escaped.
I loved the job in terms of encouraging the next generation of readers and writers but this isn’t Dead Poets Society. Often the English teacher is met with groans when poetry and Shakespeare rear their heads. No one ever stood up on a desk and called me ‘Captain’ either.

How did your writing journey begin?

I came late to writing. It’s funny how I’ve spent years teaching writing skills, been an avid reader, and studied the classic authors to Masters level, but have never ventured into writing territory myself.
Here’s my time to boast – allow me this moment if you will, there aren’t many – I wrote a blog post about how I came to writing and won an international blogging competition in the process!

If I am allowed a cheeky bit of shameless self-promotion, here’s a link to the winning post: https://www.lisasell.co.uk/2016/05/crushed-by-a-cheeseburger/.

In short(ish), when I was 11 years old, I wrote a novel about a child spy called Pete whose exploits were fuelled by cheeseburgers. I handed it over to my favourite English teacher for her praise and adoration. I was gutted when she barely glanced at it and stuck it away in her drawer. It never saw the light of day again.
It may sound silly now but that rejection remained with me. Every time I attempted to write fiction after that, I felt like I was substandard. This lasted for decades!
In early 2016, I took stock of my life in many ways. I got married and was in the best place in terms of confidence and having a supportive partner.
I decided that I had something to share so I started writing. It wasn’t an epiphany; more of a slow burner. There has always been a writer in me wanting to get out shouting and screaming. I cannot shut her up now!

If you hadn’t become a writer is there any other occupation you would have chosen?

Before I became a writer I had so many different jobs, trying to find where I fitted in, that I think I may have exhausted my options!
Trite as it may sound I have finally found what I was always meant to be doing; writing and blogging. I wish I had come to this sooner. I would then have been spared awful jobs such as cleaning, working in a call centre and being verbally abused daily, and being a retail manager (also verbally abused).
I don’t even want to consider any other occupation now *shivers in horror at the thought*.

 Can you tell us something about your current WIP?

One of the aspects that drove me to begin writing was my passion for enlightening people about the pain and struggle of both living with mental illness and being the loved one of people who have it. I have had major depressive episodes, on and off, for 20 years.
I decided to begin by ‘writing what I know’. That was tough in a few ways: to go back to dark places of personal experience, and to have some scathing authors sneering at the ‘newbie’ making the rookie first novel mistake of writing something partially autobiographical. I’ve always been a bit of a rebel. So I carried on.
I believe this novel had to be written; for me and for anyone who cares to be informed and entertained by it. It’s about depression, but depression isn’t all doom and gloom. Depressives are some of the funniest people in the world. Many comedians have depression.
I completed the first draft of the novel. I was proud to achieve something and I loved my main character and how she documented her highs and lows. I was just beginning the revising stages and then life imitated art; depression returned.
Long story, but I am beginning recovery now. I haven’t worked on the novel for months. It has been too painful to deal with concerning its subject matter and the illness rendering me incapable of doing much at all. I will, however, be picking it up again. This novel nags at me to see the light of day. It will.
I have also been scribbling short stories, which I really enjoy, and I have an outline and some characters planned for my second novel.
The one thing I have been consistent in writing throughout depression is my writing blog. I love it! I am now going to sound like a really sappy writer but writing that blog every week kept me going. It still motivates me.

Name the top two destinations on your bucket list.

I was extremely lucky to cross one of these off my list last year when I honeymooned in Rome. It is such a wonderful place to discover and eat your way through!
I’d love to travel around more of Italy in the future. I fell in love with Italy years ago from seeing it on the screen. It did not fail to live up to my expectations in real life.
I have wanted to go to Australia since the ‘80s days of Neighbours. I was a huge Kylie Minogue fan back in the day!
I’d love to visit Oz in the future. I even thought about moving there in the past, possibly to stalk Kylie. I’m sure Australia and Kylie are thankful that I didn’t.
Kylie is safe now. I’m over my fandom. Australia? Not so much.

And lastly, you’re planning to get away from it all for a year on a desert island. What four things would you take with you and why?

Do the Husband and cat count as ‘things’? If so I guess they’ve just taken up two of my list. I couldn’t live without them.
The Husband is so encouraging of everything I do, even when I make humongous mistakes. He also makes amazing dinners out of all the bits he finds in the food cupboards, so we’d be okay for meals!
Feegle, the cat (named after Terry Pratchett’s Nac Mac Feegles) is a given. I caved in and got a cat because it’s apparently writer law and I was jealous of all the cat pics on social media.
The next item would be a pen and notebook. I’m counting those as one as they go together, and frankly, I’m cheeky like that.
I would need to write, I’ve written journals since I was a child. Although I do wonder how exciting this journal would be: ‘Dear Diary, The sun is hot, the sea is wet and the sand is, well, sandy.’
My bookcase full of my favourite books is a must. I cannot live without my books! I’m not sure if I’m allowed a Kindle due to possible lack of electricity. Even if I could power it up, I’d still plump for the physical books.
I am old school. I delight in the feel of a book, with its delicious bookish smells, textured pages, and words spilling out across my hands. There’s nothing quite like it.

Social Media Links
Blog, ‘Reader I Wrote It’: https://www.lisasell.co.uk/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lisasellwriter/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaLisax31
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/lisasellwriter/

Author Bio
Lisa Sell is a fiction writer and blogger. When not wrestling with words she can be found showing the love for chocolate, cheese, coffee, the cat, and the Husband. Not particularly in that order.

As we hover on the brink of 2017, I’m back, as promised, with the second of my festive posts.  It’s currently 3.45 pm and Thunderbirds are Go for this evening’s meal.  I think when I posted on FB yesterday about my virus it might have appeared I was worse than I really am.  It’s still there but in a very minor form and today happily it’s continuing to improve.  If I had to describe it, it’s a bit like a sticky toffee paper on the bottom of your shoe – difficult to get rid of. The antibiotics were, in the words of the GP, ‘a safety net in case it should get worse’.  Luckily I woke up this morning to find it’s still heading for the door so I haven’t been to the pharmacist today to collect my medication.  I’m actually feeling quite buzzy and looking forward to meeting up with friends to see in the New Year.

Looking back I’ve been thinking about some of my memorable milestones in 2016.

• First my eye op which meant as far as my left eye was concerned it was no longer like looking through the bottom of a milk bottle!
• Meeting up with my baby sister after many years.  I’ve a complex family history – a father killed in an accident, a mother who remarried and raised two more children…and a stepfather who thought education was wasted on women – yes you love him already don’t you? As I grew older life became more difficult and I eventually left home when I was 18. My sister was only ten years old.  I had run into her on occasions over the years but when I walked into a restaurant back in the summer and there she was having lunch with her husband, I decided it was a ‘meant to be’ moment.  Of course, we’ve a lot of catching up to do but it’s a feel good situation and one which I hope will only get better.
• Publishing Watercolours in the Rain.  I honestly thought I would never get there.  Hand on heart there were several moments when I wanted to throw the whole thing in the bin. And it wasn’t artistic temperament that triggered this feeling. The first draft went like a breeze and then I simply hit a brick wall.  I found things I didn’t like, things that didn’t work, but no matter how long I spent, it simply wouldn’t come right.  In the end I told myself I hadn’t put in a lot of hard work in front of the PC and typed up 105,000 words simply to walk away.  But walk away I did – only for a short time though – and when I came back I could see exactly what I needed to do to fix it.  Working on this improved draft with my editor Elaine Denning, I eventually got the book I wanted.  And the icing on the cake?  Jane Dixon Smith’s wonderful cover. I had definite ideas how I wanted it to look.  I’d sent her sample photos and she sent some of her own ideas back.  Then this one shot arrived and that was it…it was perfect!

Holidaying abroad with my OH on our own.  Yes I know this sounds absolutely crazy but until last September we hadn’t been abroad on our own since 1982!  Although we regularly take some of our UK holidays alone, without exception we have always gone abroad with friends.  This was to be the last of our 2016 holidays – a week in Desenzano on Lake Garda in September. However a month before we were due to fly out our friend had to have surgery and sadly  wasn’t fit to travel.  So the travel agent was advised and the booking changed to two. Taxi pick up and flight were fine (apart from leaving the house at 4am in the morning to get to the airport) but when we arrived in Verona we discovered they had cancelled the private hire to take us to the resort hotel.  The reps were very busy with incoming flights; getting people onto coaches, arranging self drive or like us, a taxi but thankfully it didn’t take long before we were on our way again.  The hotel was amazing. The food, the service, the accommodation – everything was fabulous.  Maybe we didn’t do the same things we would have if four of us had been there (and we did miss our friends) but we met a lot of great people in the week we were there and had a fabulous holiday.

And now here we are with 2017 just around the corner. A new year which will no doubt come with lots of challenges and surprises. For me, my next big event will be starting on the new book next week.  This time I’m over the border in North Cornwall with new characters Jordan and Luke to keep me company.  Exciting times!

I’ll be back with Tuesday Talk on the 3rd of January.  In the meantime…

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

There’s always a bit of a guilty moment whenever I hear John Lennon utter those words ‘So this is Christmas and what have you done…’  It automatically makes me reflect on the year and ask myself the question – yes, what have I done?

This year certainly has sped by.  Now we haven’t exactly lived out of suitcases but we made it  a New Year’s resolution at the end of 2015 to spend more time away in 2016.  This time last year we had three separate weeks’ holiday booked and several mid-week breaks lined up.  We were very optimistic that out of our selection we’d have some good weather.  And on our UK holidays we might actually get to sit outside not only for lunch but during the evening as well. Unfortunately as far as this country is concerned we are totally under the influence of the Jet Stream. If it settles itself in the north it’s a sign we’re in for a run of good weather.  If it’s south of us then we’ve got problems.  And that’s exactly what it did for most of 2016. So it was very much a year of dodging the rain and keeping fingers crossed when we did hit on a sunny day that it would maybe last. Here’s a look back in pictures of the sunshine and the shadow moments of 2016…

SIDMOUTH

LONE SURFER

ROUGH SEAS

FEBRUARY – SIDMOUTH, DEVON

Greenwich with Canary Wharf in the background

The Cutty Sark

Greenwich Park

MARCH – GREENWICH, LONDON

Richmond

Hot House, Kew

Hampton Court

APRIL – RICHMOND

Grey Skies on Bodmin Moor

Fowey – with sun

Fowey – with fog

MAY – FOWEY, CORNWALL

Burgh Island

Dartmouth

Blackpool Sands

JUNE – SALCOMBE, SOUTH DEVON

Liverpool & the Liver Building (right)

Liverpool Docks

Beatles Museum

JULY – LIVERPOOL

DESENZANO

HOTEL VILLA ROSA

ON THE LAST DAY – RAIN!

SEPTEMBER – DESENZANO, LAKE GARDA, ITALY

Of course holidays and the accompanying photography were just part of this year’s activities. Reading, writing and reviewing take up another big part of my life.  Here I exceeded my target on my Reading Challenge with Goodreads – 52 books read and reviewed.  I had a full diary of guests on my Tuesday Talk…and, of course, I published Watercolours in the Rain, the sequel to Summer Moved On.

So what’s in store for 2017?  Well, I’ll be back in the run up to the New Year to let you know.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone…

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 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….

Thanks again for having me!!!!

Social media links:

Facebook: Laurie Ellingham Author
https://www.facebook.com/Laurie-Ellingham-Author-281498025371642/
Twitter: @LaurieEllingham
Webiste: http://www.Laurie-ellingham.com

PURCHASE LINK: How to Throw Your Life Away on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2h2gVjj

2016. Where has it gone?  It’s almost like standing at the side of the road watching Roadrunner accelerate past.  But if the time has gone quickly when I actually stop and think about it I realise I haven’t exactly been sitting around doing nothing.   On checking, I’ve read and reviewed 32 books, most of them for Brook Cottage Books.  I’ve also been involved in 27 promotions for authors.  In between that my weekly blog chat spot ‘Tuesday Talk’ has hosted 37 guests with future bookings running through to March ’17. And this is only one aspect of my life.

In between this, I’ve written and published another book and taken a few holidays and mid week breaks.  That  balance, for me, has been just right.  You can overdose on both the reviewing and the writing if you’re not careful.  Therefore not only taking time out but being away from home gives you the opportunity to escape for a while and recharge those very essential batteries.  Of course a writer never really leaves their work behind and new places can very often lead to fresh ideas and changes to your current WIP. Certainly Desenzano on Lake Garda proved a great place for inspiration. So it’s a win-win situation.On 20th December I host my last Tuesday Talk for 2016.  I’ll then be able to concentrate properly on the Festive Season.  To see friends for lunch, make sure all those names have been crossed of my ‘To Buy’ present list, sort out food for the holiday and – if there’s any time left – get everything ready to make a start on my WIP The Boys of Summer.

I did make a beginning of sorts of around 1,000 words some time back but soon realised unlike most of my writing this wasn’t going to be a ‘seat of the pants’ job.  Yes I do tend to stick with the same formula – get the framework of the story sorted, work out my character bios and get on the road.  This time, however, the story which is currently marinating in my head has taken longer to come together.  That’s probably because I’m  not writing something which goes from A to B.  Instead it will be set in two different time frames – 2013 and 2016.  Another challenge but that’s what I love about writing. Every journey is different.

And to get in the festive spirit, from 10th to 16th December I’m offering the e-book version of Watercolours in the Rain for just 99p on Amazon.co.uk and 99c on Amazon.com.

Good morning Susan and welcome. Can I start, as always, by asking you a little about yourself?
Hi Jo, I’m what I would call a part time book blogger and a full time medical administrator with the local health board in Cardiff. I’ve been a passionate reader since I was a child and books have been my cwtches since that point. Other than reading, I love going to the theatre and pottering in my garden.

How long has your blog been running and what made you decide to start one?
My blog has been running since April this year. I started it because I needed a challenge outside of work. Books have always been a way to relax and I wanted to share my love of reading with others, while waking up a few sleepy brain cells at the same time. I didn’t really know that book bloggers existed until I joined an on-line book club and having read some amazing blogs wanted to give it a try.

Who are your favourite authors?
That is a difficult one to narrow down! I would say that Ben Aaaronvitch is a current favourite, his PC Grant book series is a must read for me. Robert Galbraith would have to be another, Cormoran Strike is the perfect detective, brooding, flawed and yet he has a strong moral aspect to his character. Tracy Chevalier writes perfect historical novels where characterisation is more important than drama. Deborah Harkness writes novels than manage to combine fantasy, contemporary drama and historical adventures, what more could a reader want. I know Madeline Miller has only written one novel, A Song for Achilles, but I will love her forever for bringing that book into my life.

If you decided to become a writer, what genre would you choose and why?
If I decided to become a writer, I think I would have to write fantasy. I love the freedom it gives you to explore worlds that only exist in your imagination. If you can imagine it, you can write it and the possibilities are endless.

Where’s your favourite chill out place?
That would have to be my garden if the weather is good or my bedroom, because these are the places I love to read.

And lastly, you’re inviting four celebrity guests to dinner. Who would they be and why?
My first guest would have to be John Partridge, West End Actor and former East Enders star. I’ve been lucky enough to meet him a few times. He never fails to make those around him feel they’re the centre of his world in that moment. He has an amazing sense of humour and gives the best cwtches.
My second guest would be J K Rowling. I love her passion of equality and fairness. Her tweets are fearless and her intelligence shines out.
Marc Elliott is another actor who has graced the West End stage and our TV screens. His sense of humour is naughty and dark and having acted with John Partridge on East Enders, they could regal us all with tales of a theatrical nature.
I’m struggling between the lovely Sue Perkins because she makes me laugh and the superb Tom Hiddleston, who portrayed the perfect Loki on screen as my last guest. If I’m to keep the balance between female and male guests, it would have to be Sue Perkins, but I would probably just squeeze an extra place setting around the table!

Susan’s Social Media Links

Blog: https://booksaremycwtches.wordpress.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Walescrazy?s=0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Susans-World-of-books-A-personal-blog-1746493225586956

‘A writer is not a hermit who writes alone in a cabin in the woods, emerging with an amazing story after a period of time.  No, a writer is a human being who needs others to help bring forth her story and share it with the world.‘ Morgan L Busse

I discovered the above text while  browsing on the internet recently.  At first read it seemed it was all about readers and reviewers.  A writer needs people to read her work; to spread the word.  A sort of domino effect which leads to new readers, reviews, interviews, questions about the next book and maybe if they’re curious enough, a check up on any back listed novels.  And then I realised that readers are only one part of the equation in a writer’s life.  Because in order to ‘bring forth’ that story to the public, a small team of other very important people need to be involved. Incredibly important people in fact – an editor, cover designer and formatter.

• My editor takes the draft I have written, pummeled into shape and beaten with a stick and works with me to make it even better.
• My cover designer helps make the vision I have for fronting this book a reality
• And lastly my formatter, who sets up the e-book and paperback – that final and most essential job leading up to publication day.

So I would just like to send a big thank you to Elaine, Jane, Cat and Rebecca for the all the support they’ve given me in the past. I couldn’t have done any of this without them and  I’m very much looking forward to 2017 when we will all be working together again on my next book.

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

Thanks for having me, Jo! I’m a long-time expat, an American who’s been living in the Netherlands since 2004, and the author of two novels, Down and Out in Kathmandu: Adventures in Backpacking and The Lover’s Portrait: An Art Mystery.
In America I worked as a journalist and multimedia developer until massive burnout lead me to quit my job, buy a backpack and head off to Nepal as a volunteer English teacher for three months. As cliché as it might sound, this trip ended up being a life-changing experience.
After several years on the road, I moved to the Netherlands. I ended up here by pure chance. After a 24 hour layover in Rome turned into a two-month tour of Europe, I arrived in Amsterdam on Queen’s Day and immediately feel in love with the city, country, culture and people. Several months of paperwork later, I returned to Amsterdam to study art history and never left!
After completing degrees in art history and museum studies, I worked for several museums before the economy crashed and the cultural sector imploded.
While apply for jobs, I wrote my first novel as a way of keeping my mind occupied. Writing about my adventures in Nepal and Thailand also helped curtail my wanderlust! I finished it between contracts, but never pursued publication.
After my son was born, I had the luxury of staying home to raise him. Writing became a way to connect with ‘grownup’ life, and gave me an excuse to visit several museums and archives I’d always wanted to check out. The Lover’s Portrait was so well-received by everyone who read it, I decided to publish both of my books and see what happened. I’ve been absolutely blown away by the overwhelmingly positive reception so far!

When did you first decide you wanted to write and how did you begin that journey?

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, though in my younger years I focused on poetry and short stories. One of my favorite childhood memories is of my father and me thinking up storylines together. During college I majored in journalism and worked as a columnist, investigative journalist and newspaper editor before life took me in other directions.

Have you a favorite place to write?

There are a few small cafes in Amsterdam I love to go to when I get the chance. I’m not sure if it’s the friendly personnel, beautiful views of the canals or great background music, but I always find it easy to write when I’m there.

Can you tell us something about your current WIP?

I have two upcoming releases I’d like to share.
In January I’ll be releasing a travelogue about my real journey to Nepal and Thailand, Notes of a Naive Traveler: Adventures in Nepal and Thailand. Since Down and Out in Kathmandu’s publication, I’ve been surprised by the number of readers who want to know which of the events described in my debut novel really took place. Very few, I’m afraid! Now everyone will have a chance to read about my actual journey and experiences gained while volunteer in, and traveling around Nepal and Thailand. I’ve also included several photos of places I’d visited, many of which were destroyed in the massive earthquake that rocked Nepal in 2015.
Last week I finished the first draft of my third fiction novel, an art-related mystery set in Amsterdam and Papua New Guinea about bispoles (religious objects akin to totem poles), American anthropologists, and Dutch missionaries. I’m planning on releasing it in the summer of 2017.

You’ve done a lot of travelling. Is there any one place which has been really memorable for you?

It’s true; I’m addicted to traveling and love learning about other countries and cultures. I’ve spent a total of seven years living out of a backpack while traveling through more than thirty lands.
Nepal was the first country I visited, aside from day trips to border towns in Canada and Mexico. It couldn’t have been more different than Seattle. The amazing people, cultures, and religions made it so memorable; Nepal will always have a special place in my heart. Simply thinking back on all of the wonderful people I met – their resilience, kindness, love of life and ability to be truly happy when they possess so little – is humbling and constantly reminds me to enjoy what I have.

And lastly, if you were able to invite four guests to dinner, who would they be and why?

Amelia Earhart is someone I’ve always admired because she dared to follow her dreams and live the life she wanted, despite society’s expectations of women at the time. I imagine it would be fascinating to talk with her about her journeys.
A guilty pleasure is watching a clips show called Ridiculousness. I’m a huge fan; it’s my favorite way of turning off my brain and completely relaxing before going to bed. The host, Rob Dydrek, is the kind of guy who’s met and partied with pretty much everybody; I bet he would have some great stories to tell.
Herman Koch, a Dutch comic and author of The Dinner (Het Diner), always comes across as an interesting, funny and well-read man in interviews. I expect it would be a stimulating conversation.
Alex Garland, author of The Beach, would also be high on my list. His debut novel blew my mind, and those of many of my generation. Thanks to books like his, I dared to write Down and Out in Kathmandu. I bet we could have fun swapping travel stories.

CATCH UP WITH JENNIFER ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Website: http://www.jennifersalderson.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JSAauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/JennifeSAlderson

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jsaauthor/

JENNIFER’S BOOK LINKS

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-S.-Alderson/e/B019H079RA/

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/nl/en/search?query=Jennifer%20S.%20Alderson&fcsearchfield=Author

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/nl/author/jennifer-s.-alderson/id1071483428?l=en&mt=11

BARNES & NOBLE: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Jennifer%20S.%20Alderson%22?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall

Book Blurb: The Beauty Shop by Suzy Henderson

England, 1942. After three years of WWII, Britain is showing the scars. But in this darkest of days, three lives intertwine, changing their destinies and those of many more.

Dr Archibald McIndoe, a New Zealand plastic surgeon with unorthodox methods, is on a mission to treat and rehabilitate badly burned airmen – their bodies and souls. With the camaraderie and support of the Guinea Pig Club, his boys battle to overcome disfigurement, pain, and prejudice to learn to live again.

John ‘Mac’ Mackenzie of the US Air Force is aware of the odds. He has one chance in five of surviving the war. Flying bombing missions through hell and back, he’s fighting more than the Luftwaffe. Fear and doubt stalk him on the ground and in the air, and he’s torn between his duty and his conscience.

Shy, decent and sensible Stella Charlton’s future seems certain until war breaks out. As a new recruit to the WAAF, she meets an American pilot on New Year’s Eve. After just one dance, she falls head over heels for the handsome airman. But when he survives a crash, she realises her own battle has only just begun.

Based on a true story, “The Beauty Shop” is a moving tale of love, compassion, and determination against a backdrop of wartime tragedy. – see below for an excerpt

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The Beauty Shop by Suzy Henderson – an Excerpt

Target: Saint-Nazaire. November, 1942

What do ten men sound like when they’re burning? Nothing, unless you listen in on the group radio. That’s when you hear it, etched into their yells and cries. Terror.

Lieutenant John ‘Mac’ Mackenzie glanced at the B-17 Flying Fortress on his port side. That had been Bill’s slot a couple of weeks back, waving Mac a thumbs up from the co-pilot’s window. Seconds later, flames had leapt from the engines, danced across the wings, licked the cockpit and engulfed the fuselage. A whole Fort powdered. Their luck ran out when that Focke-Wulf sneaked in from out of the sun’s glare, rolled over and came in head-on, gun ports blinking silver flashes. Then, in an instant, a bright glow and a bloody wound opened as chunks of flaming, twisted metal and tears of flame fell through the sky along with men blown to bits, caught in the slipstream.

Bill had lost his cross and chain that morning before take-off. He’d always worn it when flying missions. Mac’s gloved fingers reached for the St. Christopher around his neck. There. He sucked in a deep breath, exhaling slowly into his mask. The muffled thunderous roar of the four Cyclone engines cut in, the background thrum of four propellers spinning, constant and reassuring. He glanced again at the B-17 on his left. A rookie crew had that slot today. He didn’t know their names. He didn’t want to.

They had taken off from Bassingbourn at dawn, soaring into a veil of cumulus. Mist draped across the Channel, but above the cloud at twenty thousand feet, the blood-orange sun peeked over the horizon, bleeding hues of amber into a cornflower sky. Sure is beautiful, Mac thought. As they approached the French coast at Longues-sur-Mer, the blue void gave way to brown-black puffs of smoke which hung in the air like shrouds. He pulled the oxygen mask off his face for a few seconds and embraced the rush of the cockpit’s icy chill over his nose and mouth. He wondered if he’d ever adjust to the stench of rubber as he wiped beads of sweat from his brow. The mission, their tenth, bombing the U-boat pens at Saint-Nazaire, was hotting up fast.

‘Looks like they’re throwing everything they’ve got at us today.’ Mac glanced at his co-pilot, Dennis Wilson.

‘Can’t see a darn thing down there. It’s all closed in,’ Wilson said as he gazed out of the side window.

A flash of red caught Mac’s eye and their B-17, the Texas Rose, shook as a hail of flak peppered the fuselage. That was just the warm-up. They’d get the full greeting soon enough. He wrestled with the control wheel as he struggled to stay in formation, keeping his eyes focused on the bomber in front. He rapidly sucked in oxygen, and his pulse pounded as the Texas Rose bobbed around like a sailboat on a rough sea, but he held her tight, maintaining their place in the formation. ‘Pilot to crew. Keep sharp out there and remember to check your masks for ice. Spit freezes.’ Anoxia was a silent killer and up here at twenty-seven thousand feet, oxygen was the crew’s lifeline.

As they neared Saint-Nazaire, the brown-black puffs sprung up once more. ‘Pilot to navigator. How long to the IP?’ Mac pictured William Stewart, hunched over his desk down in the nose behind the bombardier, plotting their course.

‘Navigator to pilot. Bomb run in five minutes.’

‘Bogey, nine o’clock!’ Bud, the waist gunner, yelled into the interphone.

The staccato sound of machine-gun fire from Tex, the flight engineer in the top turret, drilled through the cockpit. The flash of a black swastika flicked past their port side, and Mac’s stomach lurched as the Messerschmitt scythed through the group.

‘Tail, you got him?’ Bud’s voice, high with excitement.

‘I got him.’ Birdie’s smooth, laid-back tone.

More machine-gun fire arced across the sky and with a flash of yellow and silver-grey, the Messerschmitt peeled away swift as a minnow, diving through the formation. As they approached the target, a blend of hazy yellow, brown and black smoke stretched out across the sky. Anti-aircraft shells exploded all around, some of it mighty close with a glow of orange. Red flak.

‘Here comes the coffin run.’ Wilson’s tense voice as they reached the bomb run. He eased back on the throttles, and the engines slowed in response. ‘Flak bursts ahead, heavy.’

‘Yeah, it’s flak city all right.’ Mac gripped onto the control wheel. The rookie pilot on his port side drifted a little too close for comfort and was bobbing all over the place, probably riding through prop wash. ‘Get on the ball, rookie. You’ve got to stay in there.’ He gestured to the co-pilot peering back at him and got the thumbs up. Within a minute, the rookies had hauled their Fortress into line and Mac puffed out a breath.

‘Bombardier to pilot – bomb bay doors open,’ Danny drawled.