I'm super-delighted to welcome Sue Moorcroft onto my blog today on the day that her latest book The Wedding Proposal is available as a paperback (8 September). This book is also available now as an ebook. Sue is an incredible author and I've loved every book of hers that I've ever read. She is wonderfully entertaining, she makes you laugh and makes you cry and certainly makes you think.
Without further ado, here's our question and answer session:
Thanks so much for joining me today Sue, I wish you every success with this book.
If you
could be anyone famous, who would you like to be and why?
Lewis
Hamilton, so I could drive a Formula 1 car and win a grand prix. And also hang
out with other Formula 1 drivers.
If you
could do any job, apart from be a writer, what would it be and why?
I’d
quite like to be in some kind of PR role (again, maybe in F1?). I don’t want
the stress that the job seems to bring but fancy the creativity and the feeling
of no two days being alike.
Do you
watch TV? If so, what sort of programmes do you like to watch?
I
really don’t watch that much. I watch every Formula 1 programme that I can; I
love really clever comedies such as The
Big Bang Theory; and I like quite a few documentaries.
Where
is your most favourite place in the world and why?
The
Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta, Malta. I used to live in Malta as a child,
I adore it, and the view from the Upper Barrakka over Grand Harbour is amazing.
What
made you choose Malta as a setting for The Wedding Proposal?
See
above! I like sending characters to Malta for when I can’t be there myself. The
fact that Elle and Lucas are stuck together on a small boat is vital to the
plot and mooring that boat in a country other than the UK made it hard for them
to get away from one another.
Is
there anywhere else in the world that you would like to write a book about?
Wow,
there must be hundreds. I’ll say Singapore because my parents met and married
there and I haven’t yet been.
What
is your favourite book that you wrote?
It’s
really hard to choose but I’ll say Dream a Little
Dream because it was so satisfying. The story itself took off like a
dragon and the research was challenging because of the medical condition of the
hero, Dominic, who suffers from narcolepsy.
Do you
like to listen to music when you write and if so, what do you like to listen
to?
It
depends what stage of the process I’m at. If I’m deep in the writing zone I
like silence or ‘wallpaper’ type classical music, usually piano or guitar. At
other times I like to listen to a wide variety, often that of
singer-songwriters such as Newton Faulkner, Frank Turner or Regina Spektor. But
when ‘in the zone’ I find their words get in the way of my own – hence the
instrumental stuff.
Who is
your favourite band/music artist?
It
depends what mood I’m in. If I had to take the work of only one artist to a
desert island the artist would be David Bowie. But not all of it. He went
through so many changes that some of them don’t call to me in the way that
others do. I love the early albums unreservedly, though.
Who
you do lust after?
I’ve
found it impossible to single out a person so I’m going to say tall, fit, hot
men who do not wear beards (ever) (but a small amount of stubble is OK) and who
have wicked smiles and naughty glints.
Who is
your favourite book character - your own or anyone else's?
I’m
going to say Ratty out of Starting Over
if I’m allowed to choose one of my own. I never quite fell out of love with
Ratty and he’s the hero of mine who has received the most attention. He’s done
interviews and he’s received his own fan mail.
I know
you help aspiring writers in many different ways. What is the one
piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to start writing?
Educate
yourself, persist, learn about publishing as well as how to write, network.
Enjoy!
How
can someone get involved in the many ways you help potential authors?
There’s
information on my website about
having manuscripts appraised or the writer being mentored. I’m currently a
tutor for the London School of Journalism.
On my blog is a list of any events/workshops I’m involved with, including a
residential course in Italy with Arte
Umbria and I hope also to do one for Chez Castillon in France but the
dates haven’t been decided. And groups can book me to run workshops for them.
They can read my ‘how to’ book, Love
Writing, or follow my columns in Writers’
Forum.
What’s
next for Sue Moorcroft?
I’m
writing a new novel, The Twelve Dates of
Christmas, and also a serial for My
Weekly entitled Ms Easily Overlooked,
which is due to run over Christmas and New Year. I’m not sure how I ended up
writing two things about Christmas as I prefer summer. Next year maybe I’ll
write about a holiday. Someone gave me a great idea for the premise …
Sue
Moorcroft writes
romantic novels of dauntless heroines and irresistible heroes. Is this Love?
was nominated for the Readers’ Best Romantic Read Award. Love & Freedom won the Best
Romantic Read Award 2011 and Dream a Little Dream was nominated for
a RoNA in 2013. Sue received three nominations at the Festival of Romance 2012,
and is a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner. She’s a past vice chair of the RNA
and editor of its two anthologies.
Sue also writes
short stories, serials, articles, writing ‘how to’ and is a competition judge
and creative writing tutor.
Twitter
@suemoorcroft
Can a runaway bride stop running?
Elle
Jamieson is an unusually private person, in relationships as well as at work –
and for good reason. But when she’s made redundant, with no ties to hold her,
Elle heads off to a new life in sunny Malta.
Lucas
Rose hates secrets – he prides himself on his ability to lay his cards on the
table and he expects nothing less from others. He’s furious when his summer
working as a divemaster is interrupted by the arrival of Elle, his ex, all
thanks to his Uncle Simon’s misguided attempts at matchmaking.
Forced
to live in close proximity, it’s hard to ignore what they had shared before
Lucas’s wedding proposal ended everything they had. But then an unexpected
phone call from England allows Lucas a rare glimpse of the true Elle. Can he
deal with Elle’s hidden past when it finally comes to light?
1 comment:
Thanks for inviting me onto your blog. :-)
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