The weekend is near and to see us through the day I am joined by Erin Lawless!
Erin, can you tell us a little about you?
I am a simple creature: writer of quirky romance; blogger of history; wearer of pjs; Instagrammer of selfies; drinker of wine.
Can you tell us about your new book?
I am currently working on Bridesmaids, a series of four seasonal novellas (so about 20-25k words in each instalment) that all together chart the year leading up to the wedding of Nora Dervan through the eyes of her four best friends. It’s full of secrets and champagne and a lot of people are really enjoying it, which is lovely! You have the choice of reading each quarter on release or waiting until the end of the year and reading it all collected as a traditional novel, which is very modern and exciting!
What is your favourite place to write
I do have a notebook for each work-in-progress, and I also use a Chromebook for on-the-go drafting and editing, but I work so much better sat upright on a desk with a PC, and a separate keyboard – I think I’ve had so many office jobs that my brain equates that stance with Serious Work.
Where do you get your character inspiration from?
Whilst I will maintain until my dying day that my characters aren’t just pastiches of my friends, I do file away certain bits and bobs, certain conversations, and over time these bits composite into a (hopefully well-rounded) character! There’s also the theory that all my characters are just facets of myself – something my husband and my editor have said in the past! No comment!!
What are your 3 desert island books?
I’d have to bring Barbara Erskine’s Child of the Phoenix, because it’s one of my all time favourite reads, and Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour for the same reason – both chunky, meaty historical reads which would keep me entertained for a while! Then I’ll have to cheat and say the paperback bind up of the His Dark Materials series – I did my undergraduate dissertation on these books and they never get old for me.
What is your favourite place to read?
I can and do read anywhere – Kindle in one hand whilst stirring a saucepan with the other, walking down the road relying on my peripheral vision so as not to collide with anything. I think my favourite place has got to be in the bath – it’s probably the only time I properly switch off and simply read.
What is your favourite book and why?
I have so many favourite reads, I could talk for a year on the subject, but whenever I am asked this question I always end up going with Barbara Erskine’s Child of the Phoenix. It’s part historical epic, part romance, part ghost story and just bloody great comfort reading.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I wish I had an exciting hobby so that my answer to this question wasn’t so bloody boring! I do a lot of reading, and I love getting stuck into a good video game or a boxset. I spend a lot of time with my husband and our very close group of friends, who we grew up with, and I enjoy flexing my National Trust membership card and going on historical adventures of a weekend! And, of course, there’s my “day job” – I work in trade mark law (oh, the glamour!).
Chocolate or sweets?
I’m not the biggest chocolate fan (although I prefer Galaxy over Dairy Milk, much to my husband’s disdain). I prefer toffee, fudge, honeycomb – that sort of thing!
Is there a book you wished you wrote?
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I’m still trying to work out how I can write a British homage to this bloody brilliant book whilst not actually plagiarising the idea!
You have a free flight and accommodation to anywhere in the world where would you go?
Easy – I would go to Russia. My best friend was deported back there in 2014, inspiring my bestselling second novel Somewhere Only We Know. I’ve only managed to see her for fleeting European city break weekends since then and I miss her stupid amounts. I’d love to get to spend a good, long time with her.
What is your favourite season?
The autumn – September is my favourite month. I love the weather, that “new school year feeling” and the fact that it has two of the best days – the anniversary of my wedding day and Last Night of the Proms, where my friends and I go and sit in Hyde Park and bid farwell to another summer.
Where can we find you?
Twitter: @rinylou
Facebook: erinlawlessauthor
Blog/Website: www.erinlawless.co.uk
Instagram: @rinylou
The One With The Engagement Party by Erin Lawless Also by this author: The One with All the Bridesmaids
Series: Bridesmaids #1
on 10th June 2016
Pages: 78
Goodreads
Amazon Kindle, Audible
Save the Date!
For fans of romantic comedies like Bridesmaids and Four Weddings & a Funeral, and bestselling authors Mhairi McFarlane and Jenny Oliver, this is a hilarious new romantic comedy series of four novellas about one bride and her four best friends.
Nora Dervan is getting married... but her four bridesmaids are more full of secrets than champagne.
Bea has barely gotten past the fact that her two best friends are seeing each other, and now they’re engaged, and Cleo is rather distracted by the hot new colleague she absolutely, definitely must not sleep with. Daisy is dreading the singles’ table, whilst Sarah’s own marriage hasn’t turned out to be all she hoped it would be...
Follow Nora from proposal to altar starting with THE ONE WITH THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY, coming 10 June 2016.
Leave a Reply