A.      My father always told me I was talented and would become a writer, and I guess I believed him, LOL. Of course, I did not take the straight path, that’s not me. I studied mathematics first, because a computer programmer, moved on to business analysis and project management and building a family.

Still, the writing life found me.

I’m a writer because I love words: I love the way they sound when strung together, I love the way they can be used to create an imaginary world, and I love the way they can be twisted to mislead the reader without lying.

A.     I started with short stories, some of which got published, some won competitions. The best of the best were compiled into collections published by Pipers Ash in England. Then I wrote a couple of murder mystery novels, available from Echelon Press, and am currently experimenting with romance fiction at Red Rose Publishing and The Wild Rose Press.

A.     Another murder mystery set in South Africa.

A.     All my murder mysteries are set in South Africa, but this latest one happens in the 1980s, when apartheid was alive and well, hand in hand with chauvinism and sexual discrimination. 

        Although white women did have the vote, they were considered ornamental and not very brainy extensions of their husbands. They were not allowed into bars or into Toastmasters, they seldom owned property and all their bills (for dentist visits, clothes, etc.) were sent to their husbands... ok, I suppose the last one wasn’t so bad now that I think about it.

A.     No, but I’d love to. One day, when my novels earn enough income....

A.     Sleep, read, socialise with friends, play cards and board games, travel, enjoy my family. What I end up doing, though, more than anything else, is work for a salary.

A.     At least two years from idea to final draft, but I can write a book in a month if I have the time.

A.     People.

People are fascinating. We are a mass of contradictions, bound by rules and ruled by desires. We aspire, we dream, we fall, we lie, we perform heroic deeds, we fight with our spouses by day and make love to them by night.

Every person has a story to tell: a harassed mother, a young executive, a princess, a street child, a fashion model, a factory worker. My friends have learnt the hard way that nothing they ever tell me is sacred because it will end up in my books in one form or another.

A.     The best thing about creative writing is the freedom to write what you want and the lack of boundaries. It is also the worst thing.

A.    For me, it’s the writing voice. I don’t care about elaborate plots or original likeable characters nearly as much as I care about the medium in which they are presented. A skilful writer can tell us about a mundane day in a mundane life of a mundane person in such a way that we just want to keep on reading.

A.      Write lots.

1.   Submit lots.

2.   Learn to take and make use of constructive feedback.

3.   Repeat steps 1- 3.

A.     Name it, I’ve done it: blogs, facebook, twitter, myspace, radio, postcards, bookmarks, car door magnets, speaking at conferences, author days, book launches.

A.     Read the Jincy Willet novel, “The writing class”. Note the atmosphere, the hopeless hopes of the wannabe writers, the dashed dreams of those who’ve made it. Find out, in graphic detail, what happens to pulped books. If you still want to be a writer - congratulations. You’ve got what it takes.

A.      Heaps!

Thank you, Suzanne for having me.