JO LAMBERT

Good morning Jo, thanks so much for inviting me to natter with you this lovely Tuesday morning. Go ahead, ask me whatever you like

Lovely to have you here for a chat Jane. Can I start as I usually do by asking you a little about yourself?

Let’s see, I’ve been married to the same person, a musician (lead guitarist), for the last 45 years and we’ve been together 48. Which to us doesn’t seem possible. Where has all the time gone? We’ve been having way too much fun. We are both still 20 in our heads.  We met when his band came to live near my home. He was over from Jersey (Channel Isles) on tour in support of their first record. It was insanity at first sight. I was still at school and suddenly the most popular girl there once my class mates realised there was a band living next door. Typically it took me a while to register the fact. Actually, once they did appear on my radar, the tall bronzed blonde one took my fancy, but being a good convent girl I viewed them (mostly him) from afar and from under my very long fringe. Little did I know I’d end up with the tall dark haired one, with turquoise eyes. It was touch and go, not that the tall blonde one had a clue. The one with the turquoise eyes only found this out recently – he took it well.  The guitar is still in tune.

We have one son named after Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues. When we got married we didn’t have a fancy wedding as the chosen one had to go off on tour (Switzerland) right after the Registry Office ceremony, which I recall cost me £7.50 – typically the band were broke a lot of the time and I worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to keep him, and a lot of his band – mostly the lead singer – in the manner to which they were rapidly becoming accustomed. We didn’t have any wedding guests – family disapproval – and although it was June, it rained. A school friend was a witness and another friend was our Best Woman, and the taxi driver attempted to take some photos most of which didn’t come out. Oh happy day.

Yes Jo, eventually the long-haired, unwashed, lay-about (family opinion, but rest assured so far from the truth) and I went into business together managing recording artists, record producers, song-writers and the occasional actor…the insanity continued for the majority of our ‘grown-up’ life together, and still does.  Once a musician, always a musician, and with it comes a certain ‘mentality.’ I am sure any of your readers involved with one knows exactly what I mean!

You’ve spent a lot of your life in the music industry which means you’ve probably met a lot of very famous artists. Who was your favourite and why?

I’m always asked about meeting famous people, and who was my favourite, but it is hard to recall them all off the top of my head – there have been so many.  I could write a long list of those not my favourites but most are still upright and breathing and that’s how I’d like to remain for the foreseeable future, so it would be unwise to list any of them.  Let me think. Well, there’s Gloria Estefan, a lovely lady, very professional and polite, but friendly too. One of our artists made an album with David Cassidy and he was a sweetheart and I hate reading about his problems. I think he’s had quite a sad life actually. Alice Cooper was a laugh and such a gentleman – some of our musicians auditioned for his touring band and we got to spend a lot of time with him. Stevie Nicks, was very Stevie Nicks – we did a gig on Alcatraz with her and many others signed to the same record label which was far out.  Actually, there’s no way we could’ve swum back to shore from there.  The Olsen Twins were also there as I recall, already on their way to their billions. Faith Hill was a sweetie. Weird Al Yankowitz was especially kind to a Chinese artist we managed and gave her a signed copy of his hand-written lyrics to ‘Eat it,’ his take on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat it.’  Oh, I spoke to Michael Jackson on the phone one day, does that count?  He rang one of his songwriters with whom we were working, and the phone was handed to me to say ‘hello Michael.’ So I did.  We made some records with Roger Taylor from Queen – my lips are sealed.  We were involved with music for Baywatch and some of our artists appeared in the series so meeting David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson was something we did regularly. I have to admit I did wash where they’d kissed me. There have been so many, I could write a book…

When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer and how did you begin that journey?

I’ve always wanted to write. I used to write little stories as a child, just for me to read. Being the eldest of 6 kids, I was actually very lonely. They are all much younger than I and they related to me as another adult – another mum. And my parents thought I was their Au Pair. Reading was my escape and writing was a way to deal with not actually having friends of my own age. Plus we moved around a lot, living overseas. My father was in the Army so making friends was difficult when we didn’t stay anywhere very long.

I decided that one day when I had time to myself I would write, however, whilst working with our artists touring, recording, and everything else which goes with babysitting the little darlings, it was impossible. I tried it. But it didn’t happen. Once we’d decided to take a backward step from the business, I found time. It was not easy, I didn’t know what to write.  Suddenly all the ideas I thought I had before, had disappeared.  I messed around with ideas and started to put some life events down on paper and during a conversation with a friend, an award-winning writer, who had also been fan-club secretary to my husband’s band as well as a Rock journalist,  she suggested I carry on. She thought I could write.  So for a while she and my husband were the only people to read what I wrote.  Once my confidence had increased I decided to write short stories and eventually full length novels. The short stories have been well received so far.  My novels are still being written, except one which is due out soon.

Wishing on a Star

How would you describe your writing process? Do you plan everything thoroughly or start with an idea and see where it takes you?

Oh Jo, you’d think I could organise a booze-up in a brewery. I can organise musicians and believe me that takes some doing, especially some of the metal and rock bands I’ve managed, but to get myself organised to write, please, I wish!  I supposed I start with an idea garnered from a news headline, something someone says or triggered by a memory of an experience we’ve had or someone we know has had.  A title pops into my head and then the whole story usually comes.  Mind you, it alters as I go along and I believe that the ‘entity’ responsible for writing songs, creating great works of art or whatever, gets into my head and takes over. Where does this stuff come from? You tell me. I walk a lot and often have my camera with me and so something I photograph might set me off with the location for a story or I’ll go out looking for locations where I can set my story, using the photos as visual notes.

I’ll sit down at the computer and then do my best not to have to start writing. I need cups of tea and if I have a supply of liquorice I am happy as a sand boy. I might stretch to making a map or listing the characters names and salient points about them in a notebook, as I often forget what they are called or look like – it’s because my brain is running all over the show and I can’t type fast enough. Sometimes I start early in the day and keep going until I nearly drop off my perch, other times I go at it in fits and starts and don’t get going until quite late. I’m not a creature of habit.

Can you tell us something about your current WIP?

Works in Progress. Ah now, there’s a question.  I have several on the go ranging from a series of ‘observational humour’ stories, based on my experiences staying in a village with ‘she who must be obeyed,’ better known as The Mater. When she was ill I spent a long time with her and waiting for the bus every week, to go shopping, was an education. All her old school mates (she was 80+ at the time) and people she’d known all her life would often wait with us. I soon became an expert on the aches and pains, the bowel habits and digestion challenges for the elderly. It was like listening to an audio copy of the Obits column of the local rag; all the hatch, match and despatches. I quickly learned who had recently popped their clogs, whose medication caused flatulence and various reactions, who couldn’t wait for the bus any longer because they’d fallen, had a stroke or some such. Not to mention who’d had babies during WW2 whilst their husband was in Germany or Japan for the period of the war and still had the village gossips tongue-wagging 75 years after; ooer missus. God’s Waiting Room was born and the antics of Old Ma Hedges, Faney and Cinderella Green, Johnny the Rag and Bone man and others, started to take shape.  I was particularly taken by a certain middle-aged couple who used to ‘misconduct’ themselves in the garden hedge opposite the pub on their way back from a few bevvies, much to the disgust of the doctor’s wife. You get my drift.

I have several crime stories on the go including a series called Ms Birdsong Investigates about a former MI5 officer who is ‘voluntarily’ retired following a messed up mission involving MI6 and her now former lover. She’s living in rural Oxfordshire and is bored out of her skull when she becomes involved in the search for a missing woman. Soon Lavinia Birdsong is back in the world she loves and understands. Russian Oligarch’s with Mafia links, Ukrainian people traffickers and gun-runners – she’s loving it until a certain MI6 officer, Michael Dante, just happens to be running the investigation.  This book started out as a modern day Miss Marple and has taken on a life all of its own ever since I attended a family wedding in 2013 at a grand house, miles from anywhere. I suddenly became aware that the house was not all it appeared to be and made my thoughts known to one of the staff there, who confirmed I was indeed staying in what is commonly known as A Safe House.  The staff all being Foreign and Commonwealth Office employees. I can’t tell you what made me suspect the real purpose of the house – I’d have to kill you. But I was right.   Ping! Ms B had a new identity and I have been rewriting books 1, 2 and 3 since then. I am getting there.

I mentioned co-writing a book with another writer, someone I am so proud to have had the opportunity to write with. Someone who encouraged me and has helped me no end, and has put up with my lack of confidence and belief. Christina Jones and I have long wanted to write together, as I said earlier we go back a long way to our teens when she was my husband’s fan-club secretary, and some time ago we started a book, before I was signed with Accent Press, about life in the late 1960s about two girls in love with the same musician. It’s full of music, fashion, the vibe of the times and world events which shaped our lives back then. It’s called Only One Woman and should be published in the summer. I usually write crime stories so this is a first for me. I really hope everyone will enjoy it. It has been a blast writing it together and has brought us both to tears and laughter along the way.

You have a great passion for photography. How did this come about?

Photography is something I’ve always loved. Thank god for digital cameras. Back in the day the cost of rolls of film and developing them put paid to any idea I had about snapping everything in sight, hence many tours went unrecorded and places we visited are imprinted upon our minds only. But now. Oh boy!  I am as happy as a drunken prawn. I have no idea when I discovered this passion for recording events, countryside, people and the beauty of Planet Earth, I guess it happened just like the passion for recording events in my writing. It came out of the blue a long time ago.

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If you’re invited out to dinner, what would be your ideal food?

Guess what.  I don’t have a favourite food. I eat because I have to, if I’m hungry and feeling light headed.  I suppose I enjoy salads and cheese more than anything, though you’ve got to agree with me surely when I say salads taste of nothing much these days. Now alcohol, that’s another story. I do enjoy a good bottle of wine or champagne and a nice glass of Scotch or JD or Jim Beam…then Twiglets have to be provided.

If you chose to get away from it all and live on a desert island, what four essentials would you take with you and why?

Cripes a desert island. I wouldn’t last five minutes with my fair skin. I can’t take the heat. I have to have AC – can I take that? I’d take a library of books, computer and flash drives with internet connection (I don’t do camping type living), and there would be my husband with his guitar so he could drive me nuts with yet another song he’s written or new rift he’s come up with. I couldn’t leave the poor bugger at home, he’d have peace and quiet and I know he wouldn’t cope without me doing his head in at least once a day.

Well Jo, you did ask. Thanks so much for asking me here today. I do hope you haven’t started another bottle without me. It’s been a blast.  Really. I’ve had fun.

Thank you Jane, a fabulous interview and good luck with your writing.

If you would like to catch up with Jane on social media her links are below:

Accent Press: Accent Press | About Jane Risdon

Jane Risdon  Amazon Author page.

http://wp.me/2dg55  Author blog

https://twitter.com/Jane_Risdon Twitter

http://www.facebook.com/JaneRisdon2  Facebook Author Page.

Good  morning Anne and welcome, can I start by asking you a little bit about yourself?

Where do I start? Difficult this, as I’ve lived a full and varied life and if I was to go into details, we’d be here forever. So, here’s a potted history. Early childhood (the late 1940s/early 1950s – yes, I’m that old!) spent with my parents in domestic service, worked for six years as a weaver in the Lancashire cotton industry, spent a brief time living and working in the United States, lived all over the country, did various secretarial jobs until I ended up in an Admin role at a northern university where I met my third – and the best – husband. We’ll have been married 25 years later this year.

When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer and how did you begin that journey?

I don’t think I ever made a conscious decision that I wanted to be a writer. It just sort of happened. For most of my childhood, I was an only child – my brother came along when I was in my teens – and living in other people’s houses, I didn’t have much opportunity to mix with other children. So I made up imaginary stories with my dolls and cuddly toys. As I grew older and became interested in boys, I’d imagine romantic scenes with whatever boy I fancied at the time being the hero! By the time I was working, I was writing the stories down in exercise books and I certainly never thought about publication. As I reached adulthood, my heroes tended to all look like the British film star, Dirk Bogarde!

I’ve already mentioned living and working in the United States. This was in the early 1960s. So life-changing was the experience that I wove a fictional novel around it and naïvely sent it out to various publishers. With no luck, of course. It was still, I now realise, a long way off publication. By then, I was hooked on the love of writing. In the intervening years, I wrote another two novels, now all gathering dust on the shelf, probably the best place for them. I also got involved in tracing my family history and wrote articles, many of them commissioned, for various journals and national magazines. I really only took my writing seriously after taking early retirement. Last year, I self-published my debut novel, A Suitable Young Man, with some moderate success, I’m pleased to say. You can see details of it here http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OXUYOUA

 How would you describe your writing process?  Do you plan your chapters in detail or sim ply sit and let inspiration wash over you?

My first three novels (the one’s gathering dust on the shelf) were written without any kind of planning whatsoever, which shows how naïve I was about the process of writing. However, now that I’m more experienced, my books tend to be a combination of planning and ‘pantsing.’ The first draft might well be just written as it comes to me but subsequent drafts are juggled with and added to as further ideas occur to me that might develop the story further. After the first draft, I do write a scene list, calculating how many scenes each of my protagonists has and balancing this where necessary. I do admire writers who plan meticulously but, unfortunately, my mind doesn’t seem to work that way. A Suitable Young Man took innumerable drafts and the circumstances of my two main protagonists changed several times before it became what I hoped was publishable. I write in the family/regional saga genre.

Can you tell us something about your current WIP?

When writing A Suitable Young Man, I started wondering what would happen to certain characters who were left in limbo. I included an epilogue in that book, which hinted that the story of one of the more minor characters, would continue. In Bittersweet Flight, it’s 1956 and Sally Simcox is a girl in trouble, at a time when having an illegitimate child is considered shameful. The father, Nick Roberts, had offered to marry her but, knowing he was in love with someone else, she’d told him she’d had a miscarriage. Sally has fled to the anonymity of Blackpool, not knowing what she’s going to do there or how she will cope with her situation. On the day of her arrival in Blackpool, she meets a young RAF serviceman. He seems familiar and it isn’t long before Sally realises that he’s the last person she needs to meet for he is Nick’s younger brother, Phil. And he has no idea who she is. Yet it seems that their paths are destined to cross. I would describe Bittersweet Flight as a nostalgic tale of self-discovery, courage, loss and love.  I’ve no firm plans in mind for a further book. However, the first novel I ever wrote is still very dear to my heart and I may well come back to it now that I’m a more experienced writer.

Bittersweet Flight is now available for pre-order on Amazon:

If money was no object, where in the world would you choose for a special holiday?

Without doubt, it would have to be New Zealand. The country, with the South Island’s snow-capped mountains and the more sub-tropical North Island, has long fascinated me. My first husband and I had even looked into emigrating there in the 1970s but our plan never came to fruition. New Zealand is, because of its geographical isolation, unique in its flora and fauna. And the indigenous Polynesian people, the Maori, with their own language, mythology and distinctive craftwork, only add to the country’s attraction.

And lastly if you could invite four celebrities for dinner, who would they be and why?

Definitely Tom Jones! I’ve always been a fan of his golden voice and, having just read his autobiography ‘Over the Top and Back,’ he comes across as a warm-hearted man. Another favoured guest would be the TV presenter, Simon Reeve. He puts such enthusiasm into whatever subject he is discussing and he’s not afraid to show his emotions, as when he came across refugees in his recent series about Greece. I would have to include the author Jojo Moyes. Her books are always subtly different which I think would be very challenging and I’d love to ask her how she does it. Lastly, I would like to include the opera singer, Dame Tiri Te Kanawa, because I understand she has a Maori background and would be interesting to talk to.

Thanks, Jo, for asking me to participate in your Tuesday Talk. It’s been a pleasure!

Thank you for taking time to talk to me Anne and for some great responses to my questions.

As part of The Song of the Sea Maid’s Book tour I was pleased to be able to catch up with Rebecca Mascull for a chat… about writing, travel, cakes and cuppas…

Hi Becca, can I start by asking you a little about yourself?

Hello Jo! I’m a 44 year old novelist with two books out published by Hodder and Stoughton and a third on the way. I’m also a busy mum and I love reading, cinema and baking (particularly the cake eating part). I live by the sea and feel very lucky to do so.

When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer and how did you begin that journey?

I’ve been writing stories since I was a little girl. My first major work, aged 13, was a western totally ripped off from the back story of Romancing the Stone and my second major work was a hospital drama about a dodgy radiologist also ripped off from St Elsewhere, because I had a crush on the radiologist in that show. Since then, I have tried to be less derivative and come up with some of my own ideas. I decided in 2001 to leave full-time teaching and do a Masters in Writing, because I figured that I’d never make it as a writer if it was always done part-time i.e. if it was always Plan B. So I made it Plan A and took a big pay cut (which I’ve never really recovered from!) and got my Masters. Then followed quite a few years of rejections by agents and publishers until I finally got my first book deal with Hodder in 2012 and my first published novel The Visitors came out in 2014. It’s been a long old journey to get here and, of course, there is still a long way to go and I mean that in a good way! I honestly think I’d go mad if I didn’t write stories, so I hope to keep doing so as long as I live.

Both of the books you have written have been historical novels. Are you staying with this genre or have you any plans to write a contemporary novel?

I don’t have any particular plans to write contemporary novels, largely because I feel so comfortable writing about the past. Part of the joy of writing, for me, is the historical research and all the stuff I learn by doing it. I love the challenge of setting myself the task of trying to understand how it must have been to live through a particular time and particular events, to render those in a way that is faithful to the time and yet also resonates with the present day. However, you never know, and if a story grabs me and it happens to be contemporary, then so be it. Of course, whether you’re writing a contemporary story or an historical one, if it’s about a subject that is new to you, there is going to be some research involved, perhaps a lot. For example, if I wanted to write about a polar bear expert in the Arctic, I’d have a lot of work to do! For me, novels are escapism and that can be either into the past and/or into a very different environment from my own. I couldn’t bear to write a story about a novelist and mum who lives by the sea and likes baking cakes – I’d die of boredom writing the damn thing, even if someone on the other side of the world might find that fascinating! I want to escape to a different life in my writing, even though I’m perfectly happy in my own! Fiction, for me, is about other minds and other places and, yes, perhaps other times too.

Are you a panster or a plotter? What works best for you?

Now, this is interesting – I had to look up the word ‘panster’, as I’d never heard of it! So, thank you for teaching me something new today! I’m still not entirely sure what it means though! I have a feeling it’s about how much planning you do before you write. If so, I am most definitely a plotter. I spend a good year or more researching and then organising my research notes; then comes a detailed synopsis; from that develops detailed chapter plans and only then do I feel able to sit down and start drafting. Once I start the drafting process, it actually doesn’t take that long, because a lot of the legwork has already been done in the planning process. I have a clear story arc already in place, but this always changes in the writing. This suits my brain and also, I think, suits writing historical fiction, for me. Personally, it would annoy me if I were constantly having to look things up that I didn’t know about the setting as I’m going along, having to stop and start the flow of the narrative to get the details right. I still do this to a certain extent, as even a year of research is never enough to find out every tiny thing you need to know, so I leave quite a few gaps in my first draft with phrases typed in capital letters such as CHECK THIS or very specific little messages to myself like EDWARDIAN HAT! Then I go back in the second draft, with my research files open around me, and I fill in all the little gaps. So mostly I’m a plotter, but I am totally open to allowing the characters and the narrative to take over and go their own way and I follow that wholeheartedly, as I know that most of the important work in a novel goes on in the subconscious and, let’s face it, we have little control over that – thank heavens!

Can you tell us something about your current WIP?

I can tell you a little bit about it, though I am always a bit fearful about revealing too much before the book is actually finished. So, I’m not being mysterious on purpose, just paranoid! It’s set in the Edwardian period, beginning in 1909 in Cleethorpes, which is just down the road from me. If all goes to plan, it’ll be out in April 2017, so there’ll be more details on this in the forthcoming months. Suffice to say, it’s about a young woman with an unconventional ambition – my kinda gal!

Are you a beach or city girl? Name a few of your favourite holiday destinations.

Well, I hate really hot weather, so my favourite time of year to walk on the beach is spring or autumn, where I can enjoy the beauty but not have to worry about sun cream or heat stroke! I live a few minutes from Cleethorpes beach and it’s so beautiful at all times of year, just a paradise for me of big blue Lincolnshire skies, soft sand and rolling waves as far as the eye can see. As you can probably tell from Song of the Sea Maid, I adore the sea and I am fascinated by it, so I love visiting English seaside places such as Whitby or down

to Dorset or Devon. If I could choose one place to live in the world, it’d be Cornwall. But I love cities too. I travelled quite a bit in my youth, and visited wonderful cities like Paris, Vienna, Rome, Prague, Berne, Bonn, Madrid, Delhi, New York, Boston, Los Angeles. More recently I’ve visited and really enjoyed Edinburgh, Manchester and, of course, I’ve been to London countless times. I live not too far from Lincoln, a beautiful cathedral city and I also love York. I adore beautiful

buildings, such as cathedrals, like the one in Exeter where I went to university, or other lovely city centres with parks and quaysides or rivers and fascinating shops, like Bristol where I did my teacher training, or Bath or Canterbury or gorgeous old places like Stratford-upon-Avon. I was raised near Oxford and loved wandering through the college sector. So, I have a great affinity with cities and like to be a bit of a flanheur – but most importantly, there must be bookshops and cafés with cake and Earl Grey tea, to make it a perfect city excursion for me. I also love small towns like Horncastle near us, that has brilliant second-hand bookshops (and lovely plum bread!) One thing not included in the beach/city idea is the countryside, which I

adore too: I love walking through woodland or beside fields, watching the birds dip over the corn or the treetops waving in the breeze. I love trees almost more than anything, apart from the sea

And lastly, if you were a castaway on a desert island, what four things couldn’t you possibly live without?

Oh my word, a desert island would be my idea of hell. Firstly, I am not good at being on my own for long periods of time. I love having peace to write but I know from past experience that I would soon go nuts if I were alone all the time. Secondly, I hate the heat and constant full sun, so I’d be really miserable there! However, having written in Song of the Sea Maid about my main character Dawnay Price studying the flora and fauna of the

Berlengas Islands and Fornells on Menorca, I quite like the idea of a brief sojourn in one of those, maybe a writing retreat. I can dream, can’t I?! But the key difference would be that I’d have access to people and civilisation, which is what I’d miss most of all, I think. So, on this desert island, the four things I would need would be: shelter from the sun, books to read, writing materials and facilities to make cake and a cuppa. As a castaway, I suppose I’d have to make do without people, so the books I read would have to serve as my company. They do a pretty good job of that, books…

I love historical fiction and this book’s wonderful cover drew me in even before I had read the back page synopsis.

This is an amazing story about a young eighteenth century Irish woman, Kit Kavanagh, whose husband is taken one night and pressed into army service. Kit has always dreamed of adventure away from the day to day work in her family’s bar so when her Aunt Maura suggests she leaves to find him, Kit has no qualms about setting off on this great journey. She enlists in the army, disguised as a man and is transported to Italy.  On arrival she is chosen to join the Scottish Grey Dragoons.  After training she eventually goes with the regiment to fight in northern Italy.  Captain Ross, the young commander who trained them is everything a good soldier should be; brave, handsome, honest and above all devoted to his men.  Ross looks out for Kit, believing her to be a 16 year old boy and the ‘baby’ of the regiment.  As they travel Kit’s respect for him grows into something far deeper. Pushing aside these feelings, she fixes her mind on finding Richard, her husband.

Kit goes through an amazing array of experiences as she journeys through Italy. Involved in fighting, injured in battle, challenging the regiment’s bully to a duel and being thrown into prison are only some of the things which happen to her.  Then just when she feels her search is  hopeless, someone brings her news of her husband’s whereabouts.  And if you thought this is going to  be the end of the story…well actually there is far more to come.

This story moved with great pace.  Kit’s journey was a roller coaster of events with some heart stopping and quite sad moments. It’s also an amazing chronicle of historical events written with the kind of skill that raises it above many similar novels.  I loved the writing and the story kept me reading right to the end.  In fact was the kind of book I was reluctant to put down and always keen to pick up again.

I thoroughly recommend The Double Life of Mistress Kit Kavanagh  – a very deserving five star read.

I would like to thank Hodder and Stoughton for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.