An interview with myself
By Christine Webber
Hello, everyone. I’m delighted that Victoria has given me the chance to ‘chat’ to you in this way. As I’m a journalist by trade, I thought it might be interesting to ask myself the sort of questions I might pose if I were interviewing another author. So, here we go!
This is your first novel for 29 years. What happened to
the first one? Was it such a flop that you crawled away vowing never to repeat
the experience?
In Honour Bound was
published when I was a news presenter for Anglia TV. It actually did quite well – but mostly in
the nine counties of the Anglia region!
What happened to prevent Novel Number 2 was complicated. Mostly,
it was down to me leaving daily television news for print journalism, where I
became an agony aunt for various newspapers and magazines including (at
different times) The Scotsman, Best, TV
Times and BBC Parenting. Gaining
a reputation as an agony aunt led to me being booked as a sex/relationships ‘expert’
on various TV programmes - including BBC
Breakfast and Good Sex Guide… Late . Next, I decided to gain more credibility
by training as a psychotherapist. That led to me starting a small therapy
practice. Soon, publishers began asking me to write self-help books. 12 of
those later, I finally found the time to return to fiction.
Many writers talk about having a burning desire to write.
It doesn’t sound as if that is the case with you. Surely if you had, you would
have got on with this sooner?
Good point! I’m interested in lots of things, I suppose. I
did keep scribbling away at novels, though. But somehow they never saw the
light of day.
Were they awful?
Probably. I think one thing I’ve come to understand is that
to write good fiction you need to read novels. I had read voraciously as a
child, but my grown up life seemed to be all about keeping up with therapy
journals and all the newspapers – so that I was well-informed enough to do my
day job. That has changed. I now read masses
of fiction. Favourite authors include Helen Dunmore, Ian McEwan, Iris Murdoch,
Colm Toibin, Patirick Gale, Kate Atkinson and John le Carré. Also, last year saw a debut novel by Clare
Mackintosh called I Let You Go. It was
my favourite book of 2015 and I can’t wait to read her new one which is out
shortly. I also read books by fellow indie authors and am currently loving An Unknown Woman by Jane Davis.
So, you read more fiction these days, but were there
other reasons for writing a novel now?
In a nutshell, I became increasingly aware that life doesn’t
go on forever! Also, I got a great idea, which arose in a slightly strange way.
I was invited on to BBC Breakfast to discuss
a new trend - which had been given the acronym SWOFTY by the Department for
Work and Pensions. SWOFTY stood for Single Women Over Fifty. I couldn’t help
feeling there was a novel waiting to be written here! Also, at that time, Piatkus had just published
my baby boomers’ guide, Too Young to Get
Old. And all the research I had done for that fed into the novel too.
What’s the novel
about then?
It’s about a woman GP, aged 55, who finds herself
unexpectedly single after almost 30 years of marriage. But the story starts a
year after the event when she discovers what a SWOFTY is and that she is one! And she starts embracing single
life with enthusiasm. However, she quickly discovers that being single in
mid-life is totally different from being single when you’re young – because
you’re dealing with your adult children’s problems, your ageing parents, your
job, your friends having their own ups and downs and so on. Most mid-life
people I know say that they are amazed at how turbulent their lives are – just
at a time when they thought they would be calming down. So that is reflected in
the story. There are very serious issues in it. But it’s also funny – and lots
of people have told me they have laughed out loud as they have read it, which
is gratifying.
Did you publish it independently because you couldn’t
find a publisher?
There was an element of that. All my contacts in publishing
were on the non-fiction side, and there was little reason for them to be
interested in whether or not I could write a decent novel. Also, various
friends who had always been published in the past were changing to Indie publishing.
So they were an inspiration. And I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to
waste time pursuing various publishers, and that I just needed to get the book
out. I have loved the process – especially finding the right editor/proof
reader (Helen Baggott) and the perfect jacket designer (Jane Dixon-Smith). Forming
your own creative team is fun! Also, I have fallen on my feet with my printers,
Clays, who produce really beautiful books.
Are you going to continue writing novels – and publishing
them independently?
That’s the plan.
About Christine Webber
Christine Webber is a writer, broadcaster and psychotherapist. She has just brought out a novel – Who’d Have Thought It? After almost three decades as an author, this particular book signals a change of direction. For a start, it is her first work of fiction for 29 years! And, after decades of being published conventionally, she has gone the Indie route.
Find Christine Webber on her website and on Twitter - @1chriswebber
Who'd Have Thought It
By Christine Webber
Sold by Amazon (published on 10 June 2016)
Publisher's description
A year
after discovering that her husband no longer loves her, Dr Annie Templeton
wakes up with a sudden relish for singledom. However, she soon realises that
being single in your fifties is very different from being single in your
twenties.
How, she
wonders, do people of my age – with careers, adult children doing unwise things
with unwise people, parents going gaga, and friends falling ill, or in or out
of love – ever have the time and energy to find a new partner?
Who’d Have
Thought It? is a romantic comedy, which will make you laugh and cry – often at
the same time.
Buy Who'd Have Thought It? from Amazon here
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