1. I hadn't planned for the male protagonist in Soulmates Saga, Book 1 to be named Jamie. I just couldn't think of the right name for this character when I started writing, so I settled for Jamie “until I came up with something better”. Why Jamie? It seemed to be everywhere I looked! It was the name of a character in a book I read recently, and the previous occupant of the flat I'd just moved into was called Jamie. Letters addressed to him kept flying through my letterbox.
In the end, I couldn't think of a new name for my male lead. Somehow, Jamie seemed like the perfect name for the introverted singer-songwriter, after all. Interestingly, the female character was always going to be named Mukti (it means freedom in Bengali)!
2. Though I can cry very easily—over movies, small arguments, sad anecdotes, deaths of people I've never met, poverty appeal ads on TV—only two authors have actually managed to move me to tears with their writing:
JK Rowling (the Dobby scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and Stephenie Meyer via Breaking Dawn (when Edward says, "Goodbye Jacob, my brother... my son.") and also The Host (Melanie: "Thank you Wanda. My sister. I will never forget you.").
3. I really don't like writing blurbs for my books. Not because I can't, but because I don't like to give anything away about what happens in the story. I want the readers to discover everything at the same time as the characters do. Personally, I prefer not to know anything about the plot of a book before I read it. However, I know many people like to know what they're getting themselves into, so I reluctantly accept the process of writing blurbs as a necessary evil. LOL.
Still, I didn't enjoy composing the blurb for my contemporary wedding romance, If I Say Yes (Love & Alternatives #1)!
4. I get really nervous just before one of my books is about to be released. I convince myself that the book is rubbish and no one will read it, or like it if they do. So you can imagine how I felt when the concluding parts of the Poison Blood Series were released on Halloween 2016. More so, because I had so many readers of the series opener getting in touch with me about how much they were looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Once the book is out however, the nervousness recedes and I feel excited for the readers that will end up reading my books, knowing that I've put my all into every single sentence.
Once the book is out however, the nervousness recedes and I feel excited for the readers that will end up reading my books, knowing that I've put my all into every single sentence.
5. Two years before I underwent neurosurgery, before I even knew I had something wrong with my brain, I had a vision of myself in a hospital bed with a bandage around my head—alluding to brain surgery. Psychic? Who knows... I thought the strange vision was caused by a scene I wrote a few years prior to it for one of my books.
6. When I'm drafting, I sometimes pretend that I'm being interviewed about the book, and end up talking to myself for a while. It helps me organise my thoughts and ideas when I discuss them out loud. My husband always laughs when he hears me do this. I have to sneak off and chatter away in the bathroom LOL.
7. I want to walk everywhere. I don't like getting in a car or taking the underground. Walking helps me think, too, about my books, publishing, and just about everything.
8. I get so many ideas for new books when I'm editing a novel. I think that's because my mind wants to refrain from editing.
9. For any books that I don't finish reading (because I didn't like it enough to continue with it, or it was poorly written/edited/proof-read), I don't rate or review them on Goodreads. I know, I know, some would say that I should at least mention that I didn't finish it, or add it to a 'did-not-finish' shelf, just to help other potential readers of the book, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Sorry.
10. Favourite fruit: apples. Favourite vegetable: carrots. I don't like blueberries but mash them up and mix them with cream cheese and it becomes my favourite type of cheesecake.
6. When I'm drafting, I sometimes pretend that I'm being interviewed about the book, and end up talking to myself for a while. It helps me organise my thoughts and ideas when I discuss them out loud. My husband always laughs when he hears me do this. I have to sneak off and chatter away in the bathroom LOL.
7. I want to walk everywhere. I don't like getting in a car or taking the underground. Walking helps me think, too, about my books, publishing, and just about everything.
8. I get so many ideas for new books when I'm editing a novel. I think that's because my mind wants to refrain from editing.
9. For any books that I don't finish reading (because I didn't like it enough to continue with it, or it was poorly written/edited/proof-read), I don't rate or review them on Goodreads. I know, I know, some would say that I should at least mention that I didn't finish it, or add it to a 'did-not-finish' shelf, just to help other potential readers of the book, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Sorry.
10. Favourite fruit: apples. Favourite vegetable: carrots. I don't like blueberries but mash them up and mix them with cream cheese and it becomes my favourite type of cheesecake.
Thank you for reading this post. If you'd like to check out my books, they’re available to download from all your favourite retailers, including Amazon US
By signing up to my mailing list, you will receive e-mails when I run free or discounted book offers and news on any new/upcoming releases.
