Veronica Bell

Average Rating:

Contemporary

Veronica Bell lives outside of Rome, Italy, with her handsome husband and wonderful pets. She has way too many university degrees, far too powerful a sweet tooth, too limited a wardrobe and too few bookshelves. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she has camped in the Himalayas, attended a spiritual retreat in South Korea, gone on a bike tour of Germany’s Ruhr Valley, and a wine-tasting tour of France’s Alsace region. She cannot cook all that well but she is a mean seamstress and an even meaner housekeeper. Amore and Pinot Grigio is her first romance for BookStrand. She hopes to write more.

Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/veronic93398537

Q: How much do you draw on your own life when writing fiction?

A: Surprisingly, very little. I say "surprisingly" because I think it is natural to use your own life as a blueprint of sorts, and I am not a particularly creative person, either, so stealing from my own life would seem the natural course of events. However, I am fairly private so tried to avoid that path. I do have a handsome, Euro-husband and I am indeed an animal-lover, and both of those things definitely show up in Amore and Pinot Grigio. But most of the rest is extrapolation or what I call my ‘parallel-universe’ life. I’d love to be as gutsy and independent as my heroine, not to mention as beautiful, but alas, ‘tis not the case.

Q: What made you want to write a romance novel?

A: I have done an awful lot of academic writing in my life, and one day, when I complained to a friend about how tedious it was, he suggested I try my hand at fiction. At first I balked, but then I realized that as counterintuitive as it seemed, it could also suit me. At the risk of sounding hideously corny, I believe in love, and at the risk of sounding mercenary, I love travel. I thought writing a story set in a magnificent European capital would be fun for me and entertaining for readers. And if readers like it I can perhaps write a sequel, which would give me an excuse to travel some more, for research purposes, of course!

Q: What is a typical writing day for you?

A: Well, first of all, there is one. I am a creature of habit and I like as close to a nine-to-five day as I can manage, though mine is more like seven-to-three. I have pets and they don’t let me loll about in bed all morning. And once I’m up for them I stay up for me. I work pretty steadily but never past about four p.m. or so. I keep evenings for my husband. I never want to be one of those writers who stays up till three a.m., though admittedly, on deadline, that has been known to happen.

Q: Is there anything different or new you hope you can bring to the contemporary romance genre?

A: I would not be presumptuous enough to say I can bring anything new to such stories, but I do hope my heroine in Amore and Pinot Grigio isn’t silly. And that goes for any future books I may write. I do get tired of female characters never appearing to have much intellect. I don’t mean they aren’t smart in the "common sense" sense. I mean often they don’t seem to talk about politics or history or books or the world around them. That bothers me. All of my female friends are terrifically engaged and I don’t think they are representative of some odd minority.

Q: What’s next for you?

A: A glass of wine, right now.

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Popular Titles

Amore and Pinot Grigio - a Guido la Vespa Christmas Tale (MF)

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Passion in Perugia: A Guido la Vespa Chocolate Affair (MF)

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