Today I’m joining the blog tour for A Little Christmas Spirit. I’m sharing my Q&A with the author with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and to Susan Buchanan for answering my questions!

Have you always wanted to write?

Not exactly. I loved writing when I was really young and wrote articles for the school newspaper, and I started writing a novel when I was about 13 or 14 – still have it somewhere. But after that, I was in my late twenties, early thirties before I really did any writing again. My focus was more on languages other than English as I have a Masters in French and Hispanic Studies, and I speak Italian, so travelling was my bag for a long time, not writing. Now I write about travelling, whenever I can! 

What were your previous jobs? Have they helped you with your writing process?

My current job helps me with my writing process as I’m a developmental editor, copyeditor and proofreader. And three of my previous jobs involved a lot of European and international travel, so they helped my writing process in that they gave me fodder for my books! I suppose two of those jobs helped me too, plus the current one, as you have to be very disciplined with your writing and particularly as an indie author, you have a lot of other non-writing, publishing elements you’re responsible for, so time management is key, and I had to do a lot of that in my previous jobs as I worked remotely and managed my own international calendar.

What was your inspiration for A Little Christmas Spirit?

Well, it’s the third book in the series. Lara is alluded to in the first book, but we don’t actually meet her there. She’s the main character in A Little Christmas Spirit and through Lara’s interactions with the various characters, life changes for them over the course of the novel. I love Christmas. It’s a huge part of my life and life experience. I truly believe, apart from some isolated examples, Christmas is the season of goodwill and that people are genuinely nicer to each other over the festive period. I wanted to bring together all of those positive elements and have Lara weave them through the lives of those who were struggling for various reasons this year.

How do you construct your characters? Do they have traits of people you know?

Sometimes they come partly formed into my mind. They’re never based wholly on people I know. In fact, they’re rarely based at all on anyone I know. The one exception is Stanley in the novel, who is not exactly based on my late father-in-law, but his lovely nature and his anecdotes came from my father-in-law and the tales of his cronies! Most of my characters will have something that readers will recognise and be able to relate to in their own lives and own life experiences. I do write quite extensive character profiles for them. I do my best to ensure they are all very distinct from each other. I even know their birthdays and their second favourite colour!

What does your writing process look like? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Well, I always thought I was a plotter, but I think I’m what people call a plantser! I like to plot and pants! I find if I follow my plan too closely, I get bored. Also, new, shiny, sometimes better ideas pop into my head all the time, so I want/need to include them! I sometimes don’t write for weeks, but then I’ll write 5-10K several days in a row. I think my largest word-count day was about 17K.

How did you research? Did you enjoy it?

I research each of my books differently, depending on what’s required. If it’s set abroad, then I’ll refer to photos, research or re-research places I’ve been to, to see if/how they’ve changed since I was last there. I like to research the language, the customs, the food, the people, the culture. I find it all fascinating. With Christmas, I try to research traditions that are perhaps not as well known and include them, whilst also including those we expect to see, but perhaps putting a different slant on them. I adore the research! 

Who are your favourite writers? Are you influenced by them?

I have so many now. They’re not all in my genre, so I’m not influenced by those. I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily influenced by other authors nowadays, more that I really appreciate a good turn of phrase, a setting, a well placed word. That said, I did a couple of Jessica Redland’s courses via the Romantic Novelists’ Association and I loved them! And I love Leonie Mack, Victoria Springfield, Sue Moorcroft and Julie Caplin’s books set abroad, as I can tell they enjoy writing about those topics just as much as I do. 

If you could invite three people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be and why?

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, the Spanish writer; Michael Crichton and Maeve Binchy. Sorry, they’re all dead, but I would definitely love to get them all round a table! 

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?

Can I have more than one!?  Jimmy Carr – can’t stand his laugh. OK, I’ll be nice and stop at one! 

Who would play the main character/s in a film version of A Little Christmas Spirit? 

Ooh, interesting. I hadn’t thought of this… Hmm, perhaps for Lara, Alisha Weir of Matilda the Musical, but much sweeter! 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Ahem, what is this spare time of which you speak? I’m kidding, sort of. I don’t really have much spare time. If I’m not writing, I’m writing with my daughter. I do like to go for nice food with friends, and since I’ve been in my writing cave for such a long time this year, I have quite a lot of jaunts planned and had a few recently. I also like reading, catching up with Netflix, and going on holiday. Paris, Devon and maybe somewhere in Scotland next year.

What is next for you?

Well, I’ve already announced the launch of my next book, The Leap Year Proposal, which is a standalone that will be out on 28 Jan 2025. And I have another two books, both with travel themes, coming out in spring/summer 2025. I’d been saving them up over the past couple of years! 

Favourites:

Book? The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Not even a romance book! 

Film? For a long time it was Dirty Dancing, and now, I don’t have a specific one, but all my favourites seem to be new Netflix movies, often involving Christmas.  Anything from The Christmas Chronicles to Last Christmas to Your Christmas or Mine?!

Band/Singer? – Snow Patrol

TV show? – I do like The Lincoln Lawyer, but I loved Lucifer, and I absolutely adore Emily in Paris. Sorry, that’s three!

Colour? – Royal or midnight blue

Place? – Tuscany

Biscuit? – all of them – at the same time! No! Wow! This is a toughie. Ginger snaps for plain and Orange Club for chocolate biscuit!

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A Little Christmas Spirit is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: