Questions
- How do you get an idea for a book?
- Do you plan out the whole book before you write it?
- Describe a typical writing day.
- What writing rituals do you have?
- What do you do when you have writer's block?
- How do you balance writing and your other full time job?
- Are your books or characters autobiographical?
- What advice can you give to writers starting out?
- How do you go about getting a book published?
- Which living author do you most admire and why?
Answers
How do you go about getting a book published?
I was really lucky, I'm under no illusions about that. The fact that I was a magazine Editor definitely helped me get an agent. The Stepmothers' Support Group is my third novel, but quite different from my first two. I wanted to try something completely different and felt really passionately about the subjects – being a stepmum, but also female friendship. My agent sold it to Harpercollins with 15,000 words, a plot outline and a synopsis. I was lucky that Lynne, my Editor, who's a stepmum too, loved it on sight.