Welcome Carmel, it's lovely to have you on the blog today :-)
Tell
our readers a little bit about yourself.
First of
all, my manners! Thank you for having me here with you lovely Minxes! OK, what can I tell you about me? I’m Irish, living in a beautiful rural
village in Co. Wexford. I live quite
close to the sea, which I love, no matter the weather. In fact I sometimes prefer walking on the
beach when it’s cold, wet and blustery!
I’m married to Rog and we have two beautiful children, Amelia 3 and Nate
who is almost 2. In between being a stay
at home Mum to my little smallies, I write.
What
number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!)
Beyond
Graces Rainbow is my first book, but I do have a second book completed which is
with my publisher, called Sleep of Dreams and I’ve started book 3which will be
a sequel to Beyond Graces Rainbow.
Everyone
who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days
when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?
The only
shoe shopping I’ve been doing lately is for cute little pairs of converse for
the children! Oh I remember those days of old where I would take off on a
Saturday and spend the day shopping for me.
But to answer your question, there is no doubt about it I have to be
very strict with myself to ensure I meet my writing targets. I aim to write a minimum of 1000 words per
day, but I find once I get lost in my WIP, I can’t stop and will write every
spare second I can, so I’ve no problem meeting a target on those days! I
actually write in my head when I’m not in front of the laptop too, framing the
story and where it’s going next. Does
anyone else do that?
What
is your top promo tip for other authors?
First of all
believe in yourself. If you don’t
believe in yourself no one else will.
Having said that, the promotion that I find most effective is sharing of reviews given and of course
sharing any important milestones that your book has achieved. I switch off when authors tweet the same
thing every day, buy my book, buy my book, buy my book! That is one sure way to make sure that most
won’t buy your book in my opinion!
How
does writing fit into your day? Or does your day fit in around your writing?
As a stay at
home mother, writing has to fit around my children. Now that I have signed my contract with
HarperImpulse, it’s become more important to have some more structure around my
writing. My daughter Amelia starts
preschool on 2nd September 5 mornings a week and we have made the
decision to send Nate into playschool also for 4 mornings a week, so that will
mean I will be able to write during this time.
I’m really
looking forward to that, but I know I’ll also miss the children. But it seems like the perfect combination for
me - Author by morning, Mummy by afternoon.
Superauthormum! (sorry got
carried away there!) I try to be organised
at the weekends, blitzing the housework with my husband and planning dinners
for the week.
If you were
to visit the H’s on a Saturday afternoon, it’s likely you will descend into clean
house. Swing by on a Friday and you may
possibly think the house has been ransacked by burglars ;)
Is
there a book you haven't written yet that you're dying to? What genre?
There are so
many ideas that I have, I honestly think I could write a book every year for
the rest of my life and not run out of ideas.
But I do have this children’s book buzzing around my head, for the 7-10
year old age bracket I think and I have written the opening chapter. It’s called The Black Car. One day, I’d love to try finish that. Maybe before my own children get to that age,
so that gives me 5 years or so more!
Keeping
fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting
at a computer?
I was going
to ignore this question, hanging my head in shame. I am a terrible woman for making promises to
herself to get fit and not fulfilling them.
Does running around after two sometimes wild and extremely fast toddlers
count? If so, I exercise every day for
hours!
In
what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?
It is
everything and more than I thought it would be.
The team at HarperImpulse and my fellow authors there have become
friends already. The welcome and support
has been incredible. Seeing my cover
being revealed was an emotional moment for me, one that I won’t forget for a
long time. I thought that when the news
was out that HarperCollins digital romance imprint HarperImpulse had signed me,
it might interest a few, but the past few weeks have truly surpassed any of my
expectations, as I’ve been doing interviews both on the radio and for
newspapers. I am even booked for an
interview for an Irish TV chat show on 30th August – yes Me!!!! It’s a dream come true seeing Beyond Graces
Rainbow getting noticed at last and I am so happy.
Could
you be friends with any of your heroines?
Absolutely. Grace, Tara and Abby in Beyond Graces Rainbow
are the kind of girlfriends I could very easily have a night out with. They are strong, loyal, fun and very real
women and like me enjoy the odd cocktail ;)
Do
you have any tips, tricks or sacrificial rituals you do when you hit a story
roadblock?
Well, here’s
what you need to sort out a story roadblock – take a spoonful of sugar and a
pinch of salt and walk backwards over a broomstick singing I Will Survive as
loudly as you can, throwing salt and sugar over your shoulder, as you bust a
few moves and all of a sudden, bam, story is fixed! Works every time, but failing that, I would
suggest walking away from the story and leaving it for a day or two. I always find that when I go back to it, the
obvious answer is staring me in the face and whatever it was that was causing
me so much angst is no longer is a problem!
P.s. I take
no responsibility for any authors who trip and fall in their attempts at my
first tip! Maybe safer to take option 2 and sleep on it ;)
About Beyond Grace’s Rainbow :-
A must for fans of Cecelia Ahern.
Beyond Grace’s Rainbow is a poignant story about a young
mother’s battle with cancer. Single mother Grace Devlin faces what will
be the biggest fight of her life and the stakes are high. She cannot
contemplate leaving her adorable little boy Jack all alone in the world.
Unfortunately for Grace her best chance of survival is to receive a bone
marrow transplant, so she embarks on a heart breaking search for her biological
parents, as she was adopted when a small baby. This search will unravel a
web of lies and deceit that has spanned over thirty years.
And just when she thinks life can get no more complicated,
Jack’s father Liam is back in town full of remorse and he’s made it clear that
he’s not leaving until he’s won her back. Liam was the love of Grace’s
life but can she trust him ever again? Helping Grace muddle her way through her
cancer treatment and complicated love life are her friends – Tara, Sean, Abby,
Tom and Gerry. Tara is Grace’s cousin and is happily married to Sean but
they are desperate for a baby of their own; Abby, Grace and Tara’s friend from
college is single and looking for her one true love which is proving
difficult, whilst Tom would be happy if his boyfriend Gerry for once
didn’t max out their credit card! Beyond Grace’s Rainbow will bring the
reader into Graces world where friendship, courage, loyalty, laughter and above
all love are abundant. The story will bring you on an emotional
journey with Grace and her friends that will have the reader both laughing and
crying at the turn of a page.
Beyond
Graces Rainbow is available for pre-order with Amazon.co.uk
&
Amazon.com,
the publish date 12th September.
For more on Carmel :
Follow her here https://twitter.com/happymrsh
2 comments:
Thanks for being Minxy for the day, Carmel, and way to go on all the publicity!
Fab insight, Carmel. Good luck with the book and all your publicity!
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