I love having friends from all over the world - especially if they are fellow writers. It's just so fascinating to learn about their ways of life, their beliefs, their country, and the way all of it influences their writing. Today, I'm happy to present a Q&A with my author friend Amanda Ward from England. *insert round of applause* Thanks for letting me bug you with questions, Manda!
10 questions with Amanda Ward
What do you like most about being a writer? What do you like least?
I really love losing myself in the story I’m typing/writing. I can get so involved that at night, before I fall asleep I try and imagine myself as the character and what she’s experiencing. I hate being interrupted by my brain finding something that I’ve forgotten, and it’s usually something I haven’t done around the house.
As you are interested in history: During which bygone era would you have loved to live?
That’s easy. The Queen Anne era, or the William and Mary which are the years 1650 through to 1714. Lots of intrigue. Heaps of rumours, and of course seeing as this is my fantasy I’d be married to a member of the aristocracy so I could find out all the gossip. The clothes were sumptuous and so flattering for the ‘larger’ woman.
Your English heroine Pann Haggerty went on MisAdventures in America. Is there any other country you’d love to choose as your next setting?
Crikey. Too many. Possibly the highlands of Scotland. I went there last year on holiday and I have never seen such raw beauty before. It’s amazing. I’d love to go back just to write and escape. Hopefully I won’t break my ankle this time, like I did last year.
If you had to summarize British literature in one sentence, what would you say?
Enduring.
Use these 5 words to write a mini-story: time, money, heart, woman, luck.
A 45yr old woman lacking in money and short of time for herself, yet full of love in her heart made her own luck and lived happily ever after! Will that do?
What makes you typically English? A love for tea and biscuits and "Anne of Green Gables"?
I’m very apologetic and polite. Happy to queue for something and yes, the answer to a problem or if someone is upset, put the kettle on! I’m also exceptionally hospitable and usually make too much food if I have friends round for lunch. Psst. I take my tea with milk and 2 sugars :D
Is there a question you have always hoped somebody would ask you? (Feel free to answer it, too.)
How do you juggle a family life, marriage with writing? Easy answer. It’s a juggling act and for the life of me I cannot juggle. I am the most disorganized person and very, very undisciplined. I guess I have to learn to switch off and work and ignore the flim-flam and trivia.
Complete this sentence: A writer’s most important tool is…
Her imagination. Anything can happen there.
Is your personality spring, summer, autumn or winter? Tell us why.
I’m an August baby, and supposed to love the summer and heat. In all honesty I am an autumn woman. I love it when the kids go back to school, life gets back into a routine and slows down a tad, ready for winter. The weather isn’t as hot and draining and there is a freshness on the breeze. The added bonus is that the comforting foods come back into play. Roll on mashed potatoes and casseroles. Can you tell I’m a foodie? If it’s lashing down with the wind and rain while the kids are at school, there is nothing better than curling up under a warm blankie with a fabulous book and a steaming mug of tea.
Please tell us more about your latest book(s) and plans for the future.
Currently I have two projects. One is the second installment of Pann Haggerty, entitled “Viva Pann Vegas”, and I am starting Camp Nano this year to get it done. This is for Secret Cravings Publishing. I am also working on a Christmas 15-20k novella for Books To Go Now, tentatively titled “The Bed & Breakfast Man”.
Plans for the future are hopes that readers will take a chance on my work, like it and rave about it to their friends/family, and that one day I will earn enough from royalties to hire a private villa (with pool and library) in Malta for a month during the summer, together with a nanny for the younger kids. So I can indulge in two of the things I have never done. Skinny dipping in a pool, and the other one is strictly between myself and my husband….wink!
I really love losing myself in the story I’m typing/writing. I can get so involved that at night, before I fall asleep I try and imagine myself as the character and what she’s experiencing. I hate being interrupted by my brain finding something that I’ve forgotten, and it’s usually something I haven’t done around the house.
As you are interested in history: During which bygone era would you have loved to live?
That’s easy. The Queen Anne era, or the William and Mary which are the years 1650 through to 1714. Lots of intrigue. Heaps of rumours, and of course seeing as this is my fantasy I’d be married to a member of the aristocracy so I could find out all the gossip. The clothes were sumptuous and so flattering for the ‘larger’ woman.
Your English heroine Pann Haggerty went on MisAdventures in America. Is there any other country you’d love to choose as your next setting?
Crikey. Too many. Possibly the highlands of Scotland. I went there last year on holiday and I have never seen such raw beauty before. It’s amazing. I’d love to go back just to write and escape. Hopefully I won’t break my ankle this time, like I did last year.
If you had to summarize British literature in one sentence, what would you say?
Enduring.
Use these 5 words to write a mini-story: time, money, heart, woman, luck.
A 45yr old woman lacking in money and short of time for herself, yet full of love in her heart made her own luck and lived happily ever after! Will that do?
What makes you typically English? A love for tea and biscuits and "Anne of Green Gables"?
I’m very apologetic and polite. Happy to queue for something and yes, the answer to a problem or if someone is upset, put the kettle on! I’m also exceptionally hospitable and usually make too much food if I have friends round for lunch. Psst. I take my tea with milk and 2 sugars :D
Is there a question you have always hoped somebody would ask you? (Feel free to answer it, too.)
How do you juggle a family life, marriage with writing? Easy answer. It’s a juggling act and for the life of me I cannot juggle. I am the most disorganized person and very, very undisciplined. I guess I have to learn to switch off and work and ignore the flim-flam and trivia.
Complete this sentence: A writer’s most important tool is…
Her imagination. Anything can happen there.
Is your personality spring, summer, autumn or winter? Tell us why.
I’m an August baby, and supposed to love the summer and heat. In all honesty I am an autumn woman. I love it when the kids go back to school, life gets back into a routine and slows down a tad, ready for winter. The weather isn’t as hot and draining and there is a freshness on the breeze. The added bonus is that the comforting foods come back into play. Roll on mashed potatoes and casseroles. Can you tell I’m a foodie? If it’s lashing down with the wind and rain while the kids are at school, there is nothing better than curling up under a warm blankie with a fabulous book and a steaming mug of tea.
Please tell us more about your latest book(s) and plans for the future.
Currently I have two projects. One is the second installment of Pann Haggerty, entitled “Viva Pann Vegas”, and I am starting Camp Nano this year to get it done. This is for Secret Cravings Publishing. I am also working on a Christmas 15-20k novella for Books To Go Now, tentatively titled “The Bed & Breakfast Man”.
Plans for the future are hopes that readers will take a chance on my work, like it and rave about it to their friends/family, and that one day I will earn enough from royalties to hire a private villa (with pool and library) in Malta for a month during the summer, together with a nanny for the younger kids. So I can indulge in two of the things I have never done. Skinny dipping in a pool, and the other one is strictly between myself and my husband….wink!
Books by Amanda Ward
About the Author
Amanda Ward lives in Bedfordshire, England with her husband, three children and two insane cats. The expression ‘What you see is what you get’, sums her up perfectly.
She is a published author of the novel Without Saying A Word with Books To Go Now and The MisAdventures of Pann Haggerty with Secret Cravings Publishing. She is a member of the Romance Novelists Association (RNA). There is always some moment waiting around the corner to be written into a novel.
Her interests include a passion for history, romance novels, cooking, and science fiction. Of course not forgetting the great and wonderful Doris Day musicals.
A perfect afternoon for Amanda would be a pot of tea, plenty of biscuits with a Doris Day film on the telly. Shared with great friends and her amazingly tolerant mother in law.
Find out more about Amanda and her manic life at www.amandajward.weebly.com
Without Saying a Word - http://amandajward.weebly.com/without-saying-a-word.html
The MisAdventures of Pann Haggerty - http://amandajward.weebly.com/the-misadventures-of-pann-haggerty.html
She is a published author of the novel Without Saying A Word with Books To Go Now and The MisAdventures of Pann Haggerty with Secret Cravings Publishing. She is a member of the Romance Novelists Association (RNA). There is always some moment waiting around the corner to be written into a novel.
Her interests include a passion for history, romance novels, cooking, and science fiction. Of course not forgetting the great and wonderful Doris Day musicals.
A perfect afternoon for Amanda would be a pot of tea, plenty of biscuits with a Doris Day film on the telly. Shared with great friends and her amazingly tolerant mother in law.
Find out more about Amanda and her manic life at www.amandajward.weebly.com
Without Saying a Word - http://amandajward.weebly.com/without-saying-a-word.html
The MisAdventures of Pann Haggerty - http://amandajward.weebly.com/the-misadventures-of-pann-haggerty.html
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