Hello everyone!
I am so super-excited to announce that the amazing author of Melly, Fatty and Me has agreed to be interviewed on the Blog of a Bookaholic! Hope you enjoy! :)
1 1.How long have you wanted
to be a writer for?
Trevor and Phineus come and
do building projects while I write. They are also characters in Melly, Fatty
and Me.
The second place I write is at my cottage in Stanford, which is a village near Hermanus. I take a week off from my family and sit and write on the stoep. I like this time away a lot as I don’t have to cook or bath or get out of my pajamas. I eat old Christmas cake and peanut butter and fish sandwiches. When I want to see people I go and buy Ghost Pops and Coke at the cafe and talk to the people walking their dogs.
Thank you so much for interviewing me for your blog.
I am so super-excited to announce that the amazing author of Melly, Fatty and Me has agreed to be interviewed on the Blog of a Bookaholic! Hope you enjoy! :)
1 1.How long have you wanted
to be a writer for?
I never wanted to be a
writer, I wanted to be an airhostess and travel the world. But in the days when
I was young you had to be very tall and very pretty to be an air hostess. I was
neither. I went to university and studied history and politics and got a part
time job as a switchboard operator at a newspaper. But I was useless at it so
they let me write a few stories. I ended up being the political correspondent
for the Sunday Times. But along the way while I was being a journalist I had
three children and one day I decided to stay at home and look after them. I
didn’t know what else to do when they were at school so I decided to write a book
for them. And when no one wanted to publish it, I wrote a few more books. And
then they got published. I never really wanted to be a writer I just wanted to
tell stories to my children to make them laugh. It was my way of connecting
with them.
The first book I wrote for
my children.
2.How did you celebrate when
your first book was published?
When I heard that someone
wanted to publish my book, The Summer of
Toffie and Grummer (published by OUP), which was the second book I wrote, I
didn’t celebrate. I cried. By then I had written four books no one wanted to
publish and I was feeling like a real loser. So I was very relieved. Then all
the others got published so I was even more relieved and did some more crying.
The first book I got
published.
3 3. Who were your favourite
authors as a child?
I read everything I could
lay my hands on and never really took note of who was writing them. I read all
my mother’s and sisters’ library books. I read lots of trashy books and some
good books too. I was a bit of a glutton. But the children’s books I really
liked were written by Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl and Willard Price. I loved Anne
of Green Gables by Lucy Montgomery and I have tried to get my daughters to read
it and they have refused. It breaks my heart. I suppose if I read it now I
wouldn’t like it much but I liked it then. The book gave me a real soft spot
for girls with red hair.
Anne of Green Gables – the
book my daughters refuse to read.
4. If you got a negative
review or comment on one of yours books, how would you deal with it?
In the beginning I used to
care a lot and say things loudly like: that reviewer is an idiot. Then as time
passed I would pretend not to care and would only say very quietly to
myself: that reviewer is an idiot. Now
when I get negative comments about my books I feel a bit gleeful and laugh. I don’t know why I
laugh. Maybe because I am glad that someone bothered to read one of my books
and cared enough to say something about it.
5. 5.Where is your favourite
place to sit and write?
I write in two places. The
first place is at home in Johannesburg at my desk in my sort of study which
leads on to my stoep. I find it easier to write when there is a lot of activity
going on. So when I sit down to write a new book I usually also embark on a new
building project on my house. I love building and Builder’s Warehouse is my
favourite shop. Or I start a new garden project – ripping out old beds and planting
new ones. So when I write I have lots of people coming and going and hammering
and asking me to order sand and bricks which gets me very excited and
energised. I also get to make the builders (Trevor and Phineus) tea and to chat
about life and things.
The view of my garden from
my study in Johannesburg.
The second place I write is at my cottage in Stanford, which is a village near Hermanus. I take a week off from my family and sit and write on the stoep. I like this time away a lot as I don’t have to cook or bath or get out of my pajamas. I eat old Christmas cake and peanut butter and fish sandwiches. When I want to see people I go and buy Ghost Pops and Coke at the cafe and talk to the people walking their dogs.
This is my cottage in
Stanford where I go to get away from my family and write in my pajamas.
7. What advice would you give
to other aspiring authors?
I have a few rules. I love
rules. It makes me feel that my life has some order. The first rule is: read,
read, read and read some more. You can’t write if you don’t read. The second
rule is: keep a diary. It should be about things that make you laugh or cry; people
you meet, the things they say, things that interest you what you experience
every day. It will give you material for your books. I kept a diary for many
years when I was young and when I was pregnant with my first child I trashed
them all because I thought I was going to die in childbirth and I didn’t want
anyone to read them. I regret trashing my diaries a lot. The third rule is: write
every day - in your diary, on facebook
or on a blog. It will help you develop your voice. The fourth rule is: don’t listen to what
people say you should be writing. Write
what you want to write about. They are
your stories and you shouldn’t try and write someone elses story. The last rule
is: respect your readers. Don’t try and
lie to them or cheat them or give them rubbish.
7. Have you got any other novel (s) in the process?
I have lots of ideas for
stories I want to tell. But I haven’t started writing one of them yet. I find
it very hard to write in winter. I also need to love one particular idea more
than the others because writing a book is a bit like running a marathon. It’s
very hard work and the last few miles is the worst. Unless you love writing the
story you have chosen, the last stretch will become unbearable. And who wants
to waste your life doing something you don’t love? So at the moment I am moping
about and hanging out with my daughters and scraping the damp off my walls to
try and stop myself from going mental. And also I am thinking about what book
to write while I scrape and mope.
This is one of the walls I
have been scraping while I think about my next book.
8.Will you think about writing
a third book in the Melly, Fatty and Me series? I hope you do!
I would like to write
another one. April-May February reminds me a lot of my daughter Sophie who is
an original soul who makes my life heaven and hell. I love April- February and she is a character
whose stories I want to continue telling.
My daughter Sophie
Thank you so much for interviewing me for your blog.
It was truly a pleasure to interview you Edyth! You are a fantastic writer and I hope to read more of your books soon! :)