Author Interviews

My favourite creation has to be the character named Jimmy Crikey: the alien orphan born on Earth who overcame the bullies and rose to be the hero of the magical lands of Roombelow. Jimmy is the friend of witches and a Wizard, Lord Oron, who moves around the world in his weather cloud. All my characters need close attention to make them as realistic as possible and as relatable as I can make them for the benefit of the readers. 

One of my short stories from Stories From A Stray is a final farewell to a friend who passed away. I had to give it to someone else to edit. It was far too personal and emotional to do myself. I'm proud of how it came out. It's a fitting tribute to a very special person.

I needed to write this book.  So far, 2 vanity offers from publishers who said "You definitely have a strong voice...! What I didn't have was £4000! So far, only on Amazon.

When a new idea emerges during the process of writing a book, I assess its potential impact on my current projects before deciding on the course of action. Given that I typically have multiple works in progress simultaneously, I have developed a strategy to balance the pursuit of new ideas with the commitment to complete my current projects.My approach is to first document the new idea comprehensively, capturing its essence and the excitement it generates. This documentation might include outlining the concept, sketching characters, or noting the narrative's potential direction. By securing the idea in a tangible form, I am able to return to my ongoing projects without losing the inspiration...

 I have been writing since high school but didn't get serious until my Dad died unexpectedly. I decided life was too short to put off your dreams.  

If you don't finish the current project and put it on the back burner, it may take months or years to get back to it. Great works are born of inspiration, and once it's gone it may never return. By all means, write a synopsis for the new idea and keep it on your desktop, but finist the work at hand.

You can never understand one language until you understand at least two. As an author I feel to be exposed, as it should be. Skill on any field is form of Art: At some point I became a successful Classical writer, and I’m grateful but when I write or when I try to write, I always feel uncomfortable. As such I need to dig, where I don’t feel comfortable. While writing I often ask myself where do I have to get to, what am I trying to leave behind?

You thought right!But all my life my first love - writing - has fought against my second love - professional cello playing. So mine has been a very strange career. I finished my first novel aged 12 and almost immediately lost interest, as I finally had the chance to learn to play cello. (There were no cello teachers in Myanmar in the seventies!) I became a pro cellist, in London, got bored - did I mention I am 100% ADHD?!? - and wrote a novel about the "backstage life of a symphony orchestra". To my amazement, it was picked up by one of London's leading agents, and sold within two weeks to Orion/Hachette. (And no, you couldn't make it up...)My first novel (While the Music Lasts) sold brillia...

Paranormal Investigation

My husband, Dan, and I were sitting in a noisy coffee shop discussing how to kill off a character in Buyers, Liars, Sellers, and Yellers when the room fell silent. All eyes were turned on us, some horror-struck. With a helpful server, we explained we were working on fiction, and we all had a good laugh.To make my characters walk off the pages, I want to experience their feelings. Once I took this approach too far. My character in Hello, my name is Emily, was about to be carried off by the villain in the trunk of his car. So, I climbed into the trunk of Dan’s small Toyota and asked him to shut the lid on me. A neighbour came running and was about to call the police until we explained what w...