Friends are wonderful things.  Especially when they believe in you and are prepared to support you with their name.  So, I was very flattered when the award-winning poet-about-town Judi Sutherland tagged me'n'my novel on her blog as a 'next big thing'.  Following that, I tag 5 more people and so it goes...so if you want me to tag your blog next, let me know...

1.       What is the working title of your next first book?

It's called Anchors and it's a novel - approx 80,000 words, but probably still needs some of them swapped around...

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

I read a story about someone finding out they were adopted as a grown adult and wondering how I would react if told the same news.  From there, it grew to include two other characters who lose something fundamental to themselves.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Don't categorise me darlings...I have really struggled with this question.  I was aiming for literary fiction, but think it might be general dark fiction, though definitely no vampires.

4. What actors would you choose to play the characters in a movie rendition?

There are three lead characters: Anna, a thirty year old career woman, who needs to be someone next-doorsy (that's Home Counties next-door, not Hollywood).  Then Christopher, a fifty year old hypocrite - he needs to be tall and thin, like an older version of Mackenzie Crook.  Finally, we need a 'Gent' a forty year old thug, so maybe a younger version of Ray Winstone...

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Three people lose the thing that they believe defines them and must struggle to make sense of their changed world.

6. Is your book represented by an agency?

Not yet...open to offers!

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I wrote bits and pieces over a couple of years, then the second half of the book in a concentrated period of about 6 months.  The editing is more time-consuming that I thought...

8. What other books would you compare this to within your genre?

I really enjoyed 'A Week in December' by Sebastian Faulks for the way he weaves the characters' stories together and connections that were not initially apparent fall seamlessly into place.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I had started it with no particular inspiration, then when my husband was due to be absent for 3 days on a course, I thought that this was a good opportunity to see whether I really wanted to finish it.  In those 3 days, I wrote nearly 10,000 words and was hooked.  Then the characters themselves started telling me their story and all I had to do was write it down.

10. What else about this book might pique the reader’s interest?

It should make you ask yourself how you would cope if these things happened to you...