Good
Afternoon everybody. I am so excited to welcome a guest to my blog today – the
very talented Heidi Swain. I met Heidi at the Creative Writing Masterclass I attended last November at Books in the City. Since then we have become firm friends sharing a love of books and writing. Her debut novel The Cherry Tree Café is due to be
published by Simon & Schuster on July 16th, 2015.
I
have put some questions together to ask Heidi and if you have any you would
like to ask please write them in the comments box below and I’m sure she will
endeavour to answer them.
So
Heidi – welcome. Firstly congratulations on your publishing deal, you must be
very excited.
Hello my lovely. Thank you so much for asking me to feature on
your blog. Yes, I’m ridiculously excited and probably driving everyone in the
house to distraction already. I can’t imagine what I’ll be like by the time we
get to July!
First
question then. What was the inspiration behind The Cherry Tree Café?
My motives were purely selfish really. I wanted to write a novel
where I could combine two of my favourite things, cakes and crafts. Luckily for
me, baking and stitching, not forgetting a sprinkling of romance, seems to be rather
popular at the moment so The Cherry Tree Café has been the perfect outlet for
my sweet teeth and sewing inclinations!
Are
any of the characters based on people you know?
No, I never base characters on anyone I actually know. To be
honest, I think I would be stifled by all the things I already know about them.
I prefer to create my own cast however, if I see someone who encapsulates the
look of a character I’m working with then I’ll take a mental snapshot of them,
their clothes, how they walk, talk and so on.
How
do you like to write? I use pen and paper and curl up on the sofa, but I know a
lot of writers use laptop or PC.
It depends on where I’m at with my writing. Planning happens
both on paper and on my trusty netbook. Quite often I’ll print off my plans and
scribble all over them. Kindle sticky notes and scraps of paper are always to
hand when I’m out and about so I can make notes or jot down ideas as and when.
When it comes to seriously upping the word count I’m back on the netbook,
although if necessary I will write longhand during my lunch hour at work and
type up and continue in the evenings.
Do
you ever suffer from the dreaded writers block and if so what do you do to
combat it?
I haven’t yet. Obviously I can’t say it will never happen but
I’m strict about keeping it at bay. I never finish a writing session without
knowing what I‘m going to write next (sometimes I even write down the next
sentence, idea or chapter opening so I can hit the ground running), and I’m
always planning the next project and sometimes even the one after that.
A
tough question now. Who is your favourite author (apart from Dame Milly of
course!)?
Seriously? And just when I thought we
were getting along so well! That is a ridiculously difficult question to answer,
impossible really. Of course Dame Milly is right up there but so are at least a
dozen other names! I’m going to skirt around answering this one and give you
the name of the author who has the most books sitting on my fit to burst
bookshelves and that is the inimitable Miss Read.
Although I can now single out one book as
my all-time favourite read. Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey is without doubt
the most beautiful and touching book I have ever read... and I've read a lot!
No spoilers here, but if you only read one book this year (as well as The
Cherry Tree Cafe of course), then make sure it is this.
What
do you do for a day job and do you set aside specific times for your writing?
For three days of the working week I’m a teaching assistant in a
local junior school and for the other two I’m an ‘interrupt me if you dare’
author. The weekends are a mash-up of mum, wife, daughter and author although my
family would probably argue that my loyalties are not always in that order!
What
advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Here I fall headlong into cliché…
Write what you love because you’ll love what you write. If you
are in it for the long haul then the love affair with your work simply has to
last a lifetime
Read, read, and then read some more
Network online and, if you can, attend any events that come your
way
Never ever give up. I’m living proof that you know what is just
around the corner!
Right
now a quick-fire round!
·
Chocolate
or Fruit
Chocolate…big slabs of
Galaxy
·
Book
or Kindle (or other brand)
Both
·
Comedy
or Horror
Comedy
·
Drunken
night out or Cosy night in
Cosy night in
·
Autumn
or Spring
Spring
·
Cats
or Dogs
Cats
·
Sunset
or Sunrise
Sunrise
Lastly
you are on a desert island what 5 items would you take with you?
A trunk full of books (the kindle would be useless without a
charger)
My bed
Mascara
Notebook (with pen/pencil attached so counts as one choice)
Ray Mears (or similar)
Thank-you
so much for joining me on my blog Heidi and I wish you every success with your
book.
Thank you for having me!
You
can find Heidi on Facebook at The Writer Files on Twitter
@Heidi_Swain and read her blogs at http://www.heidiswain.blogspot.co.uk/
You can also pre-order The Cherry Tree Café here:
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