Guest Blogger Wednesdays! Author Wendy Jones in the hotseat!

Good morning everyone

Well in 24 hours time my book Beyond Graces Rainbow will be published with HarperCollins.  

It feels like I’ve waited forever for this moment and it’s probably a good thing that its Guest Blogger Wednesday as it’s something to distract me from tomorrows excitement!  Don’t forget that there will be giveaways all day at my online facebook party and everyone is welcome, so please do come along and say hi and help me celebrate virtually!

 

Today, we have a lovely new friend of mine, fellow HarperImpulse author Wendy Jones whose debut novel The Songbird and The Soldier has been rocking the bestsellers charts for the past few days!

How’s did that feel btw Wendy?  Becoming a bestselling author?

I couldn’t believe it; there was my book charging up the bestsellers list. It’s tremendously exciting. I hope people like it!

Don’t worry, they will most certainly like it, I loved it! So Wendy, introduce yourself! 

So Me? – Well I’m 42 – a very good age – it’s the answer to life, the universe and everything! I live in a little village in the heart of England, surrounded by countryside. I worked as a doctor before I had kids and now I’m a stay at home mum. I have 2 boys, 9 and 12, both of whom are very messy and a husband who’s a GP (and also pretty messy!).

 

42 is an excellent age, totally agree.  And you don’t look your age in the slightest, so all that country air must be doing you good! 😉 So when did you start writing then? Quite a transition from a doctor to an author, impressive! 

Writing? – I started writing about 5 years ago, after a dream captured my imagination. I’ve written about 1 story a year since then and ‘The Songbird and the Soldier’ is my first to be published. I write romance, not too spicy, more the serious side of life really, but always about true love.

 

Is there any of Wendy in your characters?

I’m not sure any of them are truly like me, but I guess they all have a piece of me in them, one way or another.

I think so too, its impossible not to have little bits of ourselves in the big characters I think.  So tell me about your WIP?

 I’ve just finished my next book –  a medical romance told to a sad girl at a funeral – and now I’m reworking two of my earlier works, as I’m keen to do the third one which will complete the set and then see how that flies.

 That really sounds intruiging!  Looking forward to reading that one Wendy.  So how do you feel about selfpublishing? There are so many aspiring authors out there trying to get a break, I’m always interested to hear what other published authors feel about this route to market. 

Would I consider self-publishing? – Yes… and no. No, I never thought I would consider it, but after years of rejections I finally got up the courage to ask a professional editor to critique my work and after a little reworking, he really liked it and so after several more rejections I thought – what the hell, what have I got to lose? (apart from the cost of doing it, of course!) Maybe if I sell, someone will notice me? So I self-published my ebook in January and the paperback a few months later and then within weeks of it all being up and running I was amazed to hear back from Harper Impulse and had to shut it all down again!

 

That must have been a big moment when you got that call Wendy!  So best self and worst self, SPILL!

Best self? – Eek – Patient, dependable and caring.

Worst self? – Critical, stubborn and brutally honest. This last one was offered up by my husband, who was sadly able to come up with a staggering amount for this one.  Ouch.

 And what are you reading now? 

I’ve just finished Prohibited Passion, by Rae Summers

 

If you weren’t writing what job would you choose?

Perfect job? – Forensic pathology. Did a month of this in Vancouver while I was training – A mixture of police detective work and medicine – loved it. Why didn’t I do it? – Life.

 

Quickfire round Wendy, lets get to know you a little better!

Beer or Cocktails – Cocktails!  Dress or Jeans – Jeans, Snow or Sun – Sun (neither would be better), Sea or Pool – Pool, Cats or Dogs – Dogs, Theatre or Cinema – Cinema,  Pink or green? – Neither!, Night in or out? -night-in,  Paperback or eBook – if I had better eyes? Paperback, Lobster or steak – Steak!

Don’t talk to me about eyes!  (Does that come with being 42?)

Before you go Wendy, please share a little excerpt from The Songbird and the Soldier.  I have read this book and it is a beautifully written, emotive love story.  Highly recommend! 

 

Dearest Sam,

You obviously still have no idea how many times I read your letters.  Can I just say that your turn of phrase is destroying me?  How is a guy supposed to concentrate on killing all the bad guys when the words ‘lick to death’, ‘hot’ and ‘pillow’ are swimming around in his brain?  What are you trying to do to me?!  And if you think you’re going to get away without sending me a picture of you, you’ve got another thing coming.  Gargoyle, indeed!  You’re beautiful.  I have met you, remember.  If you can manage to look at a picture of my ugly mug and still put pen to paper, I’m sure I can look at you.  And no, a description will not do.  Unless it is in the style of a hot Mills and Boon novel, of course?  Ahhh!  Bagpipes!  No, I couldn’t take it!!!  Nuns.  Nuns.  Okay.

I take it this is a pushbike you ride every day? You’re not a Hell’s Angel, are you?  The park sounds wonderful.  What I wouldn’t give to walk barefoot around the soft green grass in that park right now.

 

So thank you Wendy for stopping by MrsH’s blog.  It’s been fun getting to know you a little better and I can’t wait for book 2! 

Find Wendy on Facebook Twitter

See you all at the facebook party tomorrow, 

Chat soon, 

Carmel x