Hello Sue, It was good to connect with you through the Romantic Novelists' Association. The RNA is such a great place to meet wonderful authors such as you and, having read your author biography, (see below), an excellent place for support.
But ... before we get to know about your latest release, 'A Summer to Remember', here are a few questions which will hopefully give your readers an insight into some of the things that matter to you.
Arabella: How did you manage to get your first novel published and what did you learn from the experience?
But ... before we get to know about your latest release, 'A Summer to Remember', here are a few questions which will hopefully give your readers an insight into some of the things that matter to you.
Arabella: How did you manage to get your first novel published and what did you learn from the experience?
Sue: I’d long before made the decision to try and build up a CV of short stories to prove to a publisher I could pass quality control and get an audience. The figure suggested to me had been twenty but I’d sold eighty-seven short stories and a serial when I got ‘the call’. My then-agent phoned with the words I’d been waiting to hear for about eight years: ‘I have an offer for you.’ It was a small publisher called Transita, now defunct, the fiction arm of How-to Books. I was guided through the process of edits and copy edits, cover approval, promo and everything for the first time. I enjoyed every moment! I also learnt how it felt to realise a dream as I arrived at the Transita stand at the London Book Fair and a physical copy of my book was put into my hands for the first time. My eyes filled with tears as everyone on the stand signed it for me. Later, I learnt that having a book published is one thing but getting it into shops is another.
Arabella: If you could choose, which would it be: A walk in the woods, a walk along a beach front to dip your toes in the sea, or a day shopping for clothes?
Sue: The beach. I adore the sea. For several years of my childhood I lived in Malta and the sea was somewhere I spent a lot of my time.
Arabella: Who or what inspired you to write your latest release, A Summer to Remember?
Sue: It was seeing a Tweet about a guy getting caught with his pants down on his video conferencing software. I thought not so much about his embarrassment but about whether he had a girlfriend or wife and how she’d be affected. This is the conflict I gave to my heroine, Clancy.
I also once read about an entire village (about forty-seven houses, I think) being for sale. I quite wanted to write about that but it didn’t work when I tried it. It did lead me to writing about Nelson’s Bar, though, a tiny village in north Norfolk with rubbish mobile signal and broadband. It proved a good place for Clancy to run away to.
Arabella: Where do you read? Sofa or bed or ____?
Sue: Everywhere. Armchair, bed, train, waiting room, coffee shop, plane. I listen to audio books while I’m cooking or showering or walking too.
Arabella: Some authors write at first light, others need a mug of coffee or a glass of wine before putting pen to paper. When writing, are there any “essentials” you need to help the words flow?
Sue: Not really. I’m happiest writing in my study where everything is to hand but I’ve written on trains, planes, in hotel rooms, on writing retreats. The most essential thing I need is something I carry with me at all times - my head.
Arabella: You’re halfway through the work-in-progress, you’re about to kill off the hero and there is going to be no happy-ever-after. In other words, you’re stuck! If you had to contact an “author/publisher/editor/friend” for guidance, who would it be?
Sue: I suppose I’d head for my editor first, to be honest, and/or my agent. But I have a couple of great writing buddies, Mark West and Christina Courtenay, and I often talk things over with them too.
Arabella: The T.V. is on and you’re in control of the remote. Which is it to be: A quiz programme…An afternoon of sport…A family soap…A romantic film you always wanted to see but missed when it was shown at the cinema?
Sue: Formula 1. I will watch every test day, practice session, qualifying, pre-show, after-show and race. I don’t watch much TV apart from that.
Arabella: Do you have any great writing, publishing, or marketing tips you’d like to share to “want-to-be” authors starting out on their writing journey?
Sue: i. Educate yourself. There are writing classes, courses, guides, conferences, forums and talks.
ii. Learn about publishing as well as writing.
iii. Persist. It took me twenty years to be an overnight success …
Thanks for inviting me to chat on your wonderful blog, Arabella!
And a huge thank you for joining me on Arabella's Blog and Chit-Chat, Sue.
Having you as a guest was a pleasure and an educational experience. You've whetted my appetite. I'm now keen to delve deeper into the world of publishing to learn more "tricks-of-the-trade" for delivering a book professionally.
Enrollment on a publishing course is certainly on the horizon ...
All the best and happy-ever-after writing.
Arabella Sheen
About the Sue Moorcroft:
Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times and international bestselling author and has reached the coveted #1 spot on Amazon Kindle. She’s won the Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award, the Katie Fforde Bursary and twice been nominated for Romantic Novel of the Year Awards.
Her short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.
LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/suemoorcroft]
A Summer to Remember will be released on 2 May 2019
Blurb:
A Summer to Remember buy links:
