As interesting questions arise – I’ll post them on here.
You can get in touch by emailing me from the Contact Page.
To answer the first of them ‘No, that wasn’t me you saw on the front cover of Vogue last month snogging Hernan Crespo.’ Alas!
Question - Where do you get your ideas from? (Kate Beardsall, Derby)
Answer -The simple answer to that is everything and anything. I've just got one of those brains that seems to absorb and store anything that may be of use later on. Scatty as I may appear, I have a very tuned sense of recall and, though I have notebooks all over the house, my head is like a major scrapbook. It's quite an unconscious process - so much so sometimes, it almost feels as if a good fairy somewhere is helping me out. It's a mix of what I've experienced, what I've heard about and what my imagination weaves. Some things just stand out for me as being great storylines or having a place in a book. Some things I've remembered from years ago, very insignificant things too, and now I'm sure I've remembered them because they would one day fit perfectly into something I'm writing. I don't know how it works for me - I'm just glad it does!
Where did the idea of the Birds and the Bees come from? (Pam S, Sheffield)
I've been a single mum since my sons were very small and battered myself with guilt that I could never give them the full contingency of parents for our 'family.' I think all mothers never feel quite good enough for the job but it's always been a difficult one when to bring a new man into the family (if ever) and what happens when the children get attached and it all ends - will you damage the kids? Of course it happened to me - fell head over heels only to find out Mr Wonderful had the creepiest alter ego I think I've ever come across. I was terrified that the children would be hurt when it ended (they didn't bat an eyelid actually!) but I was so angry that they could have been damaged and writing the story was very cathartic for me. I wanted to write a strong story about a woman experiencing all the pitfalls of a newly single-mum life, reaching the bottom and bouncing back up again. I like stories about women who are great survivors - as I am. I'm hoping an Adam MacLean comes my way too and completes my story!
do you picture famous actors as your characters when you are writing? (Sophia, Newport)
Another Answer - No, to be honest. Although when I was writing the character of Auntie Elsie, the actress Anne Reid kept popping up in my head. Apart from her, if this was ever made into a visual, I can't picture who would play who. Characters have an awful habit of developing into ways you haven't planned for them and even if I had written a hero with Pierce Brosnan in mind, you can bet your bottom dollar he'd have fought out of the strait-jacket and become his own man.
I notice from your blog that you had to deal with your first negative reviews. How do you cope when someone doesn't like what you've created? How do you feel about that now? - Chris D, Barnsley
Answer - That was a toughie I have to admit and I dealt with it quite emotionally at the time - but then I am still a baby in this game and have a lot of growing up to do. I'm a great believer in 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' and that indeed made me grow a suit of armour overnight. I had some fantastic advice from fellow authors - people who had been through this baptism of fire - die-hards like Stephen Booth, Carole Matthews, Sue Welfare... who had all had their Kleenex moments, but it's a fact of life that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. It's a negative age we live in, and people are more inclined to write about something they don't like, rather than praise something they do - so, with that in mind, the positive reviews should be seen as something extra special. And people write negative reviews for different reasons - passionate book-readers who feel disappointed will want to air that... but there's little you can do about the review that is just downright nasty for personal or other reasons - and I've read some horrors on Amazon that sound like old score settlers! (not mine - not yet anyway! But I keep expecting someone I was once at school with and had a fight over a home-made Christmas tree to finally get her revenge!) As a very wise writer said: 'that sort of review tells you a lot more about the reviewer than the book itself.' In short - different things work for different people - and if you're selling well then that's really all the review you need. I daresay it will hurt again when I see a downer, but I think not as much as the nice ones will delight me - and thanks to all those people who HAVE taken the time out to say warm things about the book. No greater feeling to be had!
A comment - Hi Milly, Just wanted to say that I so enjoyed the book, I could not put it down and read it in one and a half days! I wanted to read what happened next but was really sad to have finished it. MORE please!! Diana Francis (email)
Well I hope you'll be pleased to hear that I'm working so hard, there really aren't enough hours in the day. It's so nice when people want to see more! Book 2 will be out in Feb/March 2008 and, no, it's not a sequel - but a very different story (although there will be links between the stories in a 'can you spot it' sort of way, as will become apparent). As for the ladies of the Yorkshire Pudding Club - well, just let me say there are no plans for an out and out sequel, but you will see them again...
Comment -
Hi Milly, I had to write and say what a fantastic book The Yorkshire Pudding Club is. I am a Mexborough girl born and bred and love to read work by local authors. Although I work as a librarian in a school, I rarely get chance to read at all. I saved your book until the evenings and curled up in bed and read into the night, it's been glorious. I've laughed so much that my hubby has been scowling at me until I read out the bits that had me in stitches. I've recommended it to all the 6th form girls at school and am now hunting for a copy to put in the school library, (call me a meany......but I won't part with mine for anything). I liked the idea of putting a snippet of your next work at the end of the book..........until I read it. AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!! I NEED TO READ IT.....NOW. I'm having withdrawal symptoms. I can't wait for it to be published. I love the way you write, it's so "Yorkshire" if you know what i mean. I heard about ' Pudding Club as I was ironing one day and you were on the Roney Robinson show. I rang my husband, who works at Barnsley Tesco and asked him to buy it for me. He came home empty handed as they had sold out so I persuaded him to take me to Tesco's at Wath where I got the last one. Anyway...Enough of my babble. Thanks Milly for a fantastic read, keep them coming. Best wishes Carol Kay
Total diva that I am, Carol, I love getting letters like this. So glad you enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to tell me - I appreciate it more than you could know!
My Three Top Tips for writers
1) Read as much as you can - you'll absorb styles and vocab without even thinking about it
2) Write as much as you can - tone your mind like you'd tone your body at the gym
3) Read Stephen King's 'On Writing' from cover to cover and keep it to read again.
