Q: Did you always want to be a writer?
A: The short answer to that is no. While at Secondary School, I had an interest in sharks, and thought I’d like a career in oceanography. I studied the three sciences - biology, chemistry and physics (as is basic requirement), but soon found that physics didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever. A very large nail in the oceanographer’s coffin as such. The fact I’m not a very good swimmer nailed the coffin shut. After leaving school with a clutch of GCSE’s, most notably typing, I was employed as a receptionist for a year before I applied for a typing job with the Norfolk Constabulary, the local police force. I worked with the police for eighteen years. Ten of those years, I typed crime files for every offense under the sun, the other eight as a tape summarizer, listening to and summarizing interview tapes of offenders, and I can honestly say I enjoyed every single minute. My job was both unique and interesting with never a dull moment, and certainly a job that required an extremely broad mind and a sense of humor.
Q: With three children, how do you find the time to write?
A: I have no idea, but it probably accounts for why I’m so tired! No, when my husband isn’t working, he looks after the kids while mummy writes. And of course, there is always evening time. I can get all three in bed by 7:00pm with no fuss. My husband, on the other hand, and with a lot of fuss, allows them to stay up until 8:30pm.
Q: What inspires you to write the sex scenes?
A: Usually Def Leppard! Or Bon Jovi. Alice Cooper’s ‘Poison’. The soundtrack to ‘Trueblood’. Any music really, as long as it’s loud.
Q: Any vices?
A: Chocolate! Oh, and that highly addictive game on Facebook called Bejeweled Blitz. Drives my husband crazy!
Q: What are your hobbies/interests?
A: I collect all sorts of Titanic memorabilia from books, DVDs, Limited Edition prints, postcards, replica china, glassware and silverware, etc. I have several original pieces, from newspapers from 1912 to china and silverware from the ships of the White Star Line. My favorite piece is an original service bell from the Olympic, the Titanic’s sister ship. At the last count, the number of books I have is over 200. Because of the increasing size of my collection, my husband and I actually had to move to a bigger house to accommodate it all. After the birth of my second child, we had the loft boarded out and stored most items up there. I’m always concerned that the ceiling will collapse under the weight!
Q: Ever been featured in your local newspaper?
A: Yes. Twice. The first was the lonely hearts add I placed in the ‘Partners’ section in 1992 at the tender age of twenty. The second was four years later for ‘Wedding of the Week’. I picked my husband’s reply out of twenty-two received and never was lonely again. We tried for the triple for the first baby of the New Year but my son Adam had other ideas and was born on the 30th of December.
Q: If you could have any job, what would it be?
A: Prime Minister. I’m sure—no, I know, I could do a better job than our current Prime Minister! Sorry David Cameron.
