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| photos courtesy of publisher |
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| Just look at that gorgeous cover! |
Thank you Trisha for taking the time to answer my questions, I know you have been.very busy with work and home.
1) Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in West Lancashire , though I now live in North Wales . I’m a quarter Welsh, so the area is very familiar to me. I can’t remember not writing, or wanting to be a novelist, and I finished my first book at eighteen, though it was deservedly rejected. I think it took me about ten years to get published the first time, but I was learning my craft – and also earning my living and starting a family, too. There were lots of obstacles to overcome before I achieved both the family (I have a son) and becoming published, but I never stopped writing – I couldn’t. If you are a writer, you write – what else would I have been doing? Being published is the icing on the cake.
For years now I have sent out a quarterly newsletter called Skint Old Northern Woman after the magazine set up by Charlie, the heroine of one of my earlier novels, Every Woman for Herself. It keeps my readers up to date with what I’m doing and writing – and also what my pesky Muse and the neurotic dog foisted onto me by my son are doing, too!
2) Your seasonal novel for this year is The Magic of Christmas.
Oh, I had such fun with this! The Magic of Christmas is based on an earlier novel called Sweet Nothings, and I always felt that I would like to expand it hugely – the characters had much more they wanted to say and, once I gave them free rein, the novel took off in unexpected directions. It’s set in the same area of Lancashire as several other of my books, in a village called Middlemoss. The heroine, Lizzy, has a philandering husband and cooks up a defensive storm of comfort food all the time – especially puddings and cakes! My Lancashire novels are all stand-alone books, but with some interlinking of characters, and one or two of those from The Magic of Christmas make an appearance in the book I am just finishing writing , Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues.
3) What makes Christmas magical for you?
I have fond memories of childhood Christmases, many of them revolving around home-made food! There had to be a turkey, mincepies and trifle and proper tangerines with loose skin in tissue paper wrappers…
I like to give the house a specially thorough Christmas clean before putting up the decorations (many of them very old) and the tree. And there’s a special smell to Christmas too, made up of Christmas baking, pine needles, satsumas, scented candles and excitement…
I especially love that feeling on Christmas Eve when the kitchen is full of food and drink, there are carols on the radio, my son is safely home, and the dog is snoring in front of the fire. Time to unwind with a good film (Love, Actually is a firm favourite) and a glass of bubbly.
4) You have been very busy recently, what are you working on?
I moved house last week, which made a big disruption just when I was trying to finish off the book that will come out next May, Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues. Still, I am back to work now and in the groove, even if the unpacking is half-done…
Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues is set in the village of Sticklepond, also the setting for A Winter’s Tale and Chocolate Wishes, so there are quite a few overlapping themes and characters. I talk about this at length in my latest newsletter, but until the novel is completely finished, I am holding the rest of my cards close to my chest!
Join my newsletter group or post a comment in my guestbook at www.trishaashley.com
or find me on twitter as @trishaashley
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