Author Q & A Sue Moorcroft

‘Effortlessly engaging…a magical must!’ Heat

The #1 bestselling author returns for summer! Grab your sun hat, a cool glass of wine, and the only book you need on holiday…

In theory, nothing could be better than a summer spent basking in the French sun. That is, until you add in three teenagers, two love interests, one divorcing couple, and a very unexpected pregnancy.

Admittedly, this isn’t exactly the relaxing holiday Leah Beaumont was hoping for – but it’s the one she’s got. With her sister Michele’s family falling apart at the seams, it’s up to Leah to pick up the pieces and try to hold them all together.

But with a handsome helicopter pilot staying next door, Leah can’t help but think she might have a few distractions of her own to deal with…

A glorious summer read, for you to devour in one sitting - perfect for fans of Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews and Trisha Ashley.

Title: Just for the Holidays

Author: Sue Moorcroft

Published By: Avon

Publication Date: 18th May 2017

Links: UK: Amazon   US: Amazon

Author Q & A

We are to delighted to welcome Sue to the blog today.

Welcome to Sincerely Book Angels.

Thank you for inviting me over!

What was the inspiration behind this novel?
I had dinner with a friend and she told me about the holiday from hell she’d just been on! I asked if I could use some of her story as a jumping-off point for the book – and she said yes! Just for the Holidays was born.

Did you always want to be a writer?
Pretty much since I realised someone had to create the words that went between the covers of books, yes. I toyed with the idea of journalism at school but when I realised I had to stay and get more qualifications I gave up on the idea. I missed out on another opportunity later, too, but my heart lies with fiction so it was a blessing in disguise.

What other jobs have you had?
My first job out of college was as a secretary in a bank and that was actually my only ever full-time proper job. I’ve worked part-time for Motor Cycle News, a digital pre-press and as a bookkeeper. When I was at school I worked on Saturdays in a butcher’s shop. Being a mum took up a lot of my time.


How did it feel when your first novel was published?
Amazing! Uphill All the Way was published by Transita in 2004 and I went onto their stand at the London Book Fair. They put the first copy in my hands and I welled up. Everyone on the stand signed it for me and I still have that copy on my shelf. By the time I sold that book I’d also sold 87 short stories and a serial but that book was something special.


Please tell us a little about your publishing story.
As I felt I’d missed the boat with journalism I decided that while I was working only part-time while the children were small would be a good time to try and get fiction published. I wrote two novels, which are now in landfill sites somewhere and I’m glad! They were not of a good standard. Then I began a course and decided I’d follow advice in a handbook written by the late Nancy Smith and try and get short stories published to prove to the editors of novels that I could pass quality control. Teaching short story writing just sprang naturally from having sold a lot to magazines and it led to teaching in all kinds of places, including in Italy, France, America and Dubai, and writing the actual courses. I’ve cut hard back on the teaching now in order to fulfil my present two-book-a-year contract. Securing representation from Juliet Pickering of Blake Friedmann was a big turning point. Getting the right agent for you can be crucial.


What other books have you written?
Uphill All the Way, Starting Over, All That Mullarkey, Want to Know a Secret? (Family Matters in hardback), Love Writing, Love & Freedom, Dream a Little Dream, Is This Love?, The Wedding Proposal and The Christmas Promise, plus a novella, Darcie’s Dilemma. There are other ‘books’ out but the began life as magazine serials so they’re really novella-length sweet romance ebooks.


Have you ever had writer's block? If so how did you overcome it?
I can’t really afford writers’ block! Inspiration is an empty bank account, as Mickey Spillane said. If something I’m writing turns to treacle I do some research or I hop on to another scene, write blog posts etc. There’s always something to do. Sometimes I talk the issue over with another writer, my agent or my editor. Then, hopefully, the treacle will thin.


What motivates you to keep writing?
I just feel a compulsion to write. I love it, even when it’s hard work. Also, I don’t want to have to go and get a proper job.


Where is your favourite place to write? (can we please have a picture)
My study, in silence. It’s very messy but I know where everything is …


Do your characters moods ever affect your mood and vice versa?
Yes, I sometimes well up when I’m giving someone a hard time. I don’t think my mood affects theirs, though. I can’t remember that happening.


What three pieces of advice would you give to an aspiring writer?
Persist

Educate yourself in publishing as well as writing

Don’t make enemies


Which authors inspire you?
There are so many! I like to read in roughly the area I write (except for Formula 1 books – they’re an added extra) and sometimes the opposite happens. I don’t get inspired, I just think, gloomily, that X has written something so good I’ll never match it. But I try anyway.


What are you reading at the moment?
Fast Track by Julie Garwood


If your book was made into a film what song would you choose for the opening credits?
I don’t want to change you by Damien Rice

Who would you choose to play your favourite character in the film of your book?
Michael Fassbender would play Ronan. I think he’d quite like to be a helicopter pilot. In actual fact, the picture I had in my head of Ronan was singer-songwriter Frank Turner but without the beard. Who knows? Maybe he can act too?


What is your next book about?
Give Me Till Christmas comes out later this year and is set in ‘my’ village of Middledip. Alexia is project managing the refurbishment of a pub to make it a community café when someone runs off with all the money, which has an impact not just personally but professionally. Ben is just getting divorced and has come to live on the edges of Middledip to recover. They have a bit of an encounter and everything goes downhill from there.

And now think about the books you've read and just give the first one that comes into your head for our quickfire 'Which book round.'
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

Which book has made you:
Laugh out loud?
Magnus Mills’s first book. I’m not absolutely sure of the title but it was black humour.

Cry your heart out?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (but that was a while ago!)

Want to read it again?
Gone too Far by Suzanne Brockmann

Think more?
The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight by Christina Courtenay

Wish it would be made into a film?
Anything by Sue Moorcroft

Shocked?
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Scared?
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty


Thanks again for inviting me onto your lovely blog!

Thanks for joining us Sue and good luck with the book.

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Best-selling author Sue Moorcroft writes contemporary fiction with occasionally unexpected themes. The Christmas Promise rose to #1 in the Amazon Kindle chart; The Wedding Proposal, Dream a Little Dream and Is this Love? were all nominated for Readers’ Best Romantic Read Awards and Darcie’s Dilemma for Readers’ Best Short Romance. Love & Freedom won the Best Romantic Read Award 2011 and Dream a Little Dream was nominated for a RoNA in 2013. Sue’s a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner, a past vice chair of the RNA and editor of its two anthologies.

Sue also writes short stories, serials, articles and writing ‘how to’. 

Sue’s next book: Just for the Holidays

Website: www.suemoorcroft.com.

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