Meet the Author:
Elizabeth first started writing fiction when she was eight, encouraged to do so by her Head Teacher father, who needed something to keep her quiet during school holidays. Her favorite topics were mermaids, ghosts, Norman knights and quests, and she illustrated and decorated her own books. She emerged from the world of her imagination to read History at the University of London, after which she spent many years working as an archaeologist and artifact illustrator. She then became a primary school teacher, after which she moved to museum education work, and display and collections management.
Elizabeth has been involved in Medieval, Tudor, and English Civil War re-enactment and has enjoyed sword-play and traditional archery, excelling in neither. She lived for seven years on a Knights Templar estate in Essex where she pursued her interest in historical textiles, cookery and medicine. She loves anything to do with the past, and still looks down holes in the ground to see if there’s anything archaeological in them. There generally isn’t.
She has written fifteen historical romances since moving to the West of England in 1997, the landscape and history of which have inspired the “Wayward in Wessex” series. Book #1 in the series, “Distracting the Duke”, has recently been published by Entangled Publishing.
About the Book:
Devastated by the disappearance of his sister, the Earl of Stranraer has gone to extraordinary lengths to find the notorious rake responsible, and enters his household incognito to wreak his vengeance. But his enemy has an unexpected protector—the innocent but headstrong Miss Cassandra Blythe.
Cassie is determined to learn the art of seduction. But she is blindsided by her body's thrilling response to the wrong man—a mysterious servant who shows up at the most inauspicious moments to spoil her lessons in love with warnings of her imminent ruin. When she learns the handsome servant's identity and the reason for his deception, she resolves to help Stranraer, but only if he abandons his vow to destroy his enemy.
The earl is sorely tempted to give the meddlesome beauty a lesson in seduction she’ll never forget. But she turns the tables, and he gets his own lesson in forgiveness…and love.
Sea's Fire – Interview
* Did you use any of your own experience as inspiration?
I have done, actually, yes, but just snapshots really. Little incidents from my own life inspire both the action and the backdrops of my books. For example, I once found just the sleeve and half of a Regency bodice in a museum collection, and through wondering what had happened to the rest of the garment, I came up with a First Meet scene for the hero and heroine of a Regency romance.
* On average, how long does the writing process take?
Forever. It never stops. Especially when you start doing it professionally. Honestly though, it varies enormously. I have written first drafts in a month, as part of the NaNoWriMo challenge, and produced a second draft in 9 days, but only when pushed! Yet it can also take me 6 months to write the first draft of a fresh book, due to having other commitments.
* When did you realize you wanted a career in writing?
Embarrassed cough. I've been wanting to be an author since the age of about 8, but life, work, and the distraction of all my other hobbies got in the way. I've been making a much more determined effort over the last 17 years or so, and last year, when I was made redundant from the day job, I just went for it, all-out!
* If you weren't an author, what other career paths would you have taken?
I've already taken them. I'm too much of a wreck to do anything other than writing now! But my previous careers have included archaeology, teaching (particularly children with Special Educational Needs) and museums work. If I'd done better in Biology than Latin at school, I might have gone into psychology. When I left university with a History degree, I was either going to do a Ph.D. on medieval saints' lives, or go into the police force. Eccentric choices, I know. As it was, I knelt in the mud on an Anglo-Saxon site in the English Midlands and became hooked on archaeology for the next 9 years!
* Out of the characters that you created, who is your favorite?
I love James, Viscount Tidworth, from my Wattpad novel, Handsome is as Handsome does. That's because the main character is based on a real person, so I can live vicariously through my heroine during the course of the book. It is due out in 2018 with Entangled Select Historical and may have the word "Viscount" in the title. If you want to find out more about this book and its hero, it's a good idea to hook up to my Facebook page.
* What advice would you give to someone looking to be a writer?
1. Never give up
2. Let other people read your work and give you feedback. Free book sites like Wattpad are excellent for this.
3. Get yourself some writer friends who are in the same situation as you. There is so much we can learn from each other (yes, I'm talking about you, Anna Albo and Shelley Inon!).
4. Submit your book to a range of different publishers in your genre. I stuck with just the one until last year. It was a mistake.
5. Enter writing competitions. It's a good way to get your name out there, and get others reading your work. I was "discovered" through a Twitter Pitch contest, so it's definitely worth doing.
* What kind of research (if any) was required for any of your books?
I've been involved in history and heritage most of my life, and have my own personal reference library, which includes a lot of primary sources. If I'm in any doubt about the detail I know where to check it up! I've also done authentic re-enactment, so the "feel" of an historical period comes naturally to me. Like me, my partner has spent his life involved in archaeology and heritage, so if I'm feeling really lazy, I just ask him!
*How long after you finish a book do you start another one?
There is always a book on the go, at some level or other. It's like a kind of virtual juggling act. Currently I'm writing the final chapters of a book featuring the relationship between a mysterious gypsy healer and a very proper Regency lady who has a vivid imagination. At the same time I'm about to delve into the edits for book #3 in the "Wayward in Wessex" series and the revisions for my first Select Historical book. I also find myself dreaming up new plots which I have to write down before they float off again into the ether from whence they came. I suppose what I'm basically saying is that there is NO time gap between finishing one book and starting the next—when you start writing professionally, it becomes your life.
Thank you so much for interviewing me, and providing such interesting and thought-provoking questions!
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