5 Questions of Writing by guest author Rosie Travers

Val Penny ♦ February 20, 2019 ♦ Leave a comment

I am thrilled to have my friend and fellow Crooked Cat author, Rosie Travers, visit my blog today to discuss her writing habits. Rosie’s new novel, Your Secret’s Safe with Me sounds fabulous and is in my TBR pile. (I am so looking forward to reading it, I may have to shuffle the pile!

When I write

Although I generally tend to write first thing in the morning, I’m not a 5000 words a day, or even a two lines a day writer. I’ve learned I can’t force the words to come, and it’s better to wait until the ‘spirit moves me’ rather than to sit staring at a blank screen. I write when I feel inspired, when those light bulb moments occur, and when my characters and their conversations can no longer stay contained in my head. Then I write like a woman possessed.

Why do I write?

I’ve always been an avid reader and have a very vivid imagination. I scribbled my own stories from a very early age. However, it was only after my children had flown the nest and I had a bit of ‘me time’ that I re-discovered my love of writing and decided to take my scribbles to the next level. Now I can’t imagine not writing. When I’m in full flow I become quite anxious if I’m away from my desk for too long!

How I write

In a very haphazard, disorganised manner – great when I wasn’t under any time constraints – not so great now that I am a published author and there is an expectation that another book should always be in the pipeline. Time management is not my forte, and I am a complete pantser. My stories always began with a character, or one line, which then expand into a short story or a chapter. I type straight onto my computer – I’ve an old fashioned desktop PC and I’m a trained touch typist so I enjoy using a ‘proper’ keyboard. I don’t plan in any great detail but I do keep a notebook by my PC and jot down notes all the time as I go along. When the bare bones of the story are there, or half a first draft, I generally become more disciplined and will draw up a potential plot and timeline.

Where I write?

I’m lucky enough to a have room of my own – my lime green study. Sometimes I might take my notebook out into the garden, or sit downstairs at the kitchen table with my laptop for a change of scene, but I generally work best at my desk.

What I write?

Feel-good fiction with a twist is how I describe my style. Basically I want to spread happiness and entertain, but I also want to take my readers on an emotional journey, and I certainly like creating a little mischievous intrigue and several twists and turns along the way. The real world can be depressing and gruesome enough without me adding to it. In my world the good guys, who may not always be squeaky clean good guys because that would just be too boring, should always win in the end.

The Author in her own Words

I grew up on the south coast of England and after initially training as a secretary I juggled a career in local government with raising my family. I moved to Southern California with my husband in 2009 and began a blog about life as an ex-pat wife which re-kindled a teenage desire to become a writer. On my return to the UK I took a part-time course in creative writing and following some success in short story competitions, I joined the Romantic Novelists Association New Writers’ Scheme. My debut novel, The Theatre of Dreams, a romantic comedy about an unlikely trio of characters who concoct an elaborate plot to restore an old seaside theatre, was accepted for publication by Crooked Cat Books and officially launched on in August 2018. My second book, Your Secret’s Safe With Me, is out on 18 February 2019.

Your Secret’s Safe With Me

Blurb

Career Girl Becca Gates’ organised life is thrown into chaos when her mother, romantic novelist Pearl, announces her surprise engagement to Jack, a man she has only just met.

Becca reluctantly follows Pearl to Rivermede, Jack’s home in an affluent sailing community on the south coast of England, where she encounters an unwelcome face from her past. She receives a grim warning that all is not as calm as it seems at picturesque Rivermede and her family are in grave danger. But why should Becca trust the man who has betrayed her before, the man who broke her heart, the man who thinks he knows all her secrets?

Universal buying links:

Mybook.to/theatreofdreams

mybook.to/yoursecretssafewithme

Website: https://www.rosietravers.com

Twitter @RosieTravers

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosietraversauthor

Instagram: rosietraversauthor

RNA Profile:  https://romanticnovelistsassociation.org/rna_author/rosie-travers/