I’m thrilled to be introducing you to a very talented author who has just released her debut novel, Oh! What a Pavlova. Find out more about this delicious novel by Isabella May and grab your copy today!
Book blurb:
Kate Clothier is leading a double life: a successful jet-setting businesswoman to the outside world, but behind closed doors, life with Daniel and his volcanic temper is anything but rosy.
Some days – heck, make that EVERY day – cake is her only salvation.
Slowly but surely, the cities she visits – and the men she meets – help her to realise there IS a better future.
And the ley lines of Glastonbury are certainly doing their best to impart their mystical wisdom…
But will she escape before it’s too late?
About the author:
Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalucia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the sea and the mountains. When she isn’t having her cake and eating it, sampling a new cocktail on the beach, or ferrying her children to and from after school activities, she can usually be found writing.
As a Co-founder and a former contributing writer for the popular online women’s magazine, The Glass House Girls – www.theglasshousegirls.com – she has also been lucky enough to subject the digital world to her other favourite pastimes, travel, the Law of Attraction, and Prince (The Purple One).
She has recently become a Book Fairy, and is having lots of fun with her imaginative ‘drops’!
Oh! What a Pavlova is her debut novel… and her second novel, The Cocktail Bar, will also be published by Crooked Cat Books in early 2018.
Tell me about your current book.
Several years ago I decided I’d like to pen a novel which offered up a very unique perception of domestic violence, with cake, travel, spirituality and the crazy world of publishing as a backdrop. The seed that became ‘Oh! What a Pavlova’ was planted…
When was the moment you realised you were an author? Was there a Eureka moment?
I’m a bit of a Law of Attraction ‘junkie’, so I spent a lot of time ‘acting as if’ I already was an author… eventually, after much visualisation and a complete turnaround of my self-deprecating thoughts, ‘Pavlova’ was snapped up by Crooked Cat Books. Of course, that was a surreal moment, yet it also felt like the next logical step as I had mentally rehearsed things for quite a few months. It’s a technique I really recommend!
What are common traps for aspiring writers? Did you fall into any writing this book?
Well, I’m quite possibly the worst person to ask because I break many of the Writing Rules. Not intentionally, I guess I just have an innate rebellious streak when it comes to doing things in the prescribed way. We’re told to do this, to avoid that, never to polish our chapters up as we go along… but none of those things work for me. So I would say: learn the rules, but learn them to break them in case they don’t feel right. Never let them stifle your creative streak. Often, being a little maverick is the quickest route to finding your unique voice. In a crowded literary world, that’s an important asset.
Are you a plotter or a pantster?
Ha ha, question three has probably answered question four. I am a complete pantser. Show me a spread sheet and I will run a mile. I’m a scribbler of notes on the back of envelopes in a cafe. I’m a sporadic writer of chapters who then sews them up, somehow making turning them into a quilt. I’m a Pinterest collating nightmare!
What inspires your writing?
Anything and everything. A foodie smell, a taste, an overheard conversation, capturing the essence of a city in a snapshot in time, quirky human characteristics, comedic scenarios, what ifs…
What was the most recent job you had before you became an author?
I co-founded a really exciting and quite groundbreaking magazine, The Glass House, along with two of my writer friends. I was also Book Club Editor and Chief Proofreader – all of which proved an excellent grounding for my author career, and I shall eternally be grateful for it.
How many hours a day do you write for?
Honestly? Between two and three hours during any week day. The children finish school at 2pm here in Spain and the holidays are so long. Summer vacation is a whopping 11 weeks. I find short sharp bursts of creativity work best for me though. I could spend longer at my desk but I am sure the only thing I’d produce is a lot of waffle.
How do you decide on character names for your stories?
I try to use names that depict the era and generation of the character in question. Nothing too new age, and if possible, I set out to avoid characters having the same letters at the beginning of their names. If there’s once thing that confuses me quickly as a reader it’s when a chapter introduces a John and a Jim… or a Hannah and a Helen within a couple of pages of each other.
What do you believe is the magic ingredient for a great book cover?
An unforgettable image and font. It’s one of the trickiest things to find, but you will know when you do!
What are you working on next?
My second novel, The Cocktail Bar, will be released with Crooked Cat on February 13th.
Book blurb:
Rock star, River Jackson is back in his hometown of Glastonbury to open a cocktail bar… and the locals aren’t impressed.
Seductress Georgina is proving too hot to handle, band mate Angelic Alice is messing with his heart and his head, his mum is a hippie-dippy liability, his school friends have resorted to violence – oh, and his band manager, Lennie AND the media are on his trail.
But River is armed with a magical Mexican elixir which will change the lives of the Three Chosen Ones. Once the Mexican wave of joy takes a hold of the town, he’s glad he didn’t lose his proverbial bottle.
Pity he hasn’t taken better care of the real one…
Do you have any other secret talents?
I’m a Level 1 Pranic Healer, and about to start my Level 2 course. But actually, this is a gift we all innately possess! I’m an excellent cake and cocktail critic. I also speak four languages, although my two of those need a lot of buffing up!
Does writing invigorate or exhaust you?
It mostly invigorates, unless I am writing a dark scene, in which case it is usually quite cathartic to transfer those ideas and emotions out of my head and onto paper. On the whole though, I look back in wonder at some of the words I have made into sentences, paragraphs and chapters, knowing there just has to be some kind of divine whisper leading the way…
You can follow Isabella May on her website and social media here:
www.isabellamayauthor.com
Twitter – @IsabellaMayBks
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaMayAuthor/
Instagram – @isabella_may_author
myBook.to/pavlova
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Interesting interview! Glad to meet you Isabella!