Tess, I would love to begin by asking, what made you want to write your first book? Was it an easy process for you? How did you overcome any writers block?It wasn’t so much wanting to write a book than needing to! My characters came to me and their voices were so loud in my head telling their stories that either I wrote a book about these people or went completely insane! Writing the first draft was incredibly easy, it just flowed out. It was the years of rewrites and editing that were really difficult. I overcame writer’s block by writing anyway. If I committed to write on a certain day, I wrote, whether I was inspired or not. It didn’t matter if what I wrote was rubbish, I wrote it anyway just to keep writing and then went in and fixed it up later. I read a great quote that said “the only thing that can’t be fixed is a blank page.”
If Love At First Flight could be made into a movie, who would you cast to play the roles?
I have two Aussies picked for Mel and Adam – Rose Byrne and Hugh Jackman and even though he isn’t Australian, I can’t think of a better Matt than Orlando Bloom.
I see your next book, Flat White With One, is in the works, can you give your readers some insight into what it may be about?
I’d love to give you a little insight! Flat White With One is about Nick Harding, who in Love at First Flight is Mel’s teenage son. Nick is now twenty-two years old, the most popular Australian footballer, a hero to millions fans across the whole country and a celebrated playboy. But he has a secret powerful enough to destroy his career. Nick is holding onto this secret when he meets Anna Hayati, a young, innocent Egyptian immigrant from a very religious and conservative family in a café where she serves him coffee. (A-ha! The title of the story!) Anna also has deep dark secrets from her tragic past. Together, Nick and Anna fall deeply in love. Anna is anything but the typical footballer’s glamorous-gossip-column-worthy girlfriend and the famous womaniser Nick is not exactly what Anna’s traditional family had in mind for her either. Flat White With One explores what happens with two people who are clearly not meant to be are also meant to be.
I’m very excited to be creating a brand new story and although I have some idea where the story will go, it has already taken some unexpected twists and turns so who knows where it will end up! I’ve fallen madly in love with Nick and Anna and I hope when you read about them next year, you will too!
When your writing, do you have any specific mind set you need to be in? A special place that you like to write that really gets you in the zone?
Yes, I need to be winding down at the end of the day with nothing else left to do in order to be able to focus on my writing. My favorite spot is snuggled up in bed. I’ve tried to be bohemian and trendy and take my laptop to hipster cafes to write, but I am just too distractable and get nothing done. I need to be tucked up in bed, late at night, hubby snoring peacefully next to me and that’s where I do my best work.
Lastly, when you are not writing, what do you enjoy doing? Traveling? Shopping?
Yes and yes! We travel a lot as a family. In fact as I write this, we are on holiday in beautiful Tasmania, a place that has inspired me to write about it! We have twice pulled our children out of school for three months and then two months to travel. First we toured around Australia with them and last year we toured Europe. We figure that the school work they have missed, they have more than made up for in seeing the world! And yes I LOVE to shop! I need an intervention!! My other hobbies are knitting, gardening and my biggest love is reading.
Tess, THANK YOU so much for visiting One Book At A Time this morning! I had an amazing time catching up with you and helping your readers learn more about the woman behind the book! I look forward to hearing more details about your next book when we chat more! You will have to stop by and fill my readers in as well!!
You can find Tess at the following links:
Blog
Amazon
HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK FRIENDS!
Bethany
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