Today I bring to you a special interview from author Julia Hawkes-Moore! I had the chance to interview her and I hope you will find her just as amazing as I did! :)
1) Have you always wanted to be a writer?
No, I always wanted to be an Architect, since I was 7 and was told that there was a job for people who wanted to build lovely buildings! I have been lucky enough to have a dozen of my designs actually built. Sadly, I never got a house of my own from the process, but I live in hope. The writing was just something extra…
2) When did you first start writing?
I started writing stories as soon as I learned my letters; at school I filled entire exercise books with illustrated stories, instead of doing Maths, which I found a struggle – and still do! Writing has been something at which I have kept practicing ever since.
3) How many books have you written?
I have written many books but most are unfinished. I got bored with them, so I thought readers would lose interest too! But then I had the joyous opportunity of spending quality time with Fay Weldon, Terry Pratchett, Manda Scott, and later Phil Rickman, who became not only my favourite writers but also my friends. I finally felt that I too had something worthwhile to say and write about. All I needed to do was finish those unfinished books…
4) Your first published book was called "Dancing In Circles"; can you tell us a little about the book and your inspiration in writing it?
I got into a conversation with a rather unpleasant man in a pub, who was a Director of a Nuclear Power Station. He told me that sites all over Britain have been bought up as future possibilities for dumping nuclear waste, including secluded valleys in Herefordshire… And so the plot and the baddy was born! Interesting to see that the 'let's dump nuclear waste in our lovely valley' argument is still puttering on 20 years after I wrote about it in 'Dancing in Circles'...
The rest grew from that. I wanted it to be light and funny, fast-paced and optimistic, so I set it in a Folk Festival, over a week in which the characters all grow and change, and enjoy life.
Once I finished it, I sent it off to several publishers. Then an acceptance letter arrived – the same morning I found I was pregnant with my first baby! After that, it was hard to find the time to write with two little ones needing their full-time mother, but that excuse has run out now that they are teenagers…
5) The Chocolate Ghost and Other Tales is a children's book. Do you prefer writing children's books or adult genre?
I wrote the ‘Chocolate Ghost’ in a lesson when I was a Teacher, to encourage the children (10 year olds) to concentrate and write a ghost story of their own. We all wrote good stories, but mine was published again and again, and even translated into Czech! I like writing for young people, but I would like to achieve that rare thing of writing books which people of all ages can read, as with Tolkien and Harry Potter.
6) Are you working on any thing new at the moment? If so, can you tell us a little something about your next book?
I am working on a new novel about a 50 year old woman who is housebound, and suddenly finds herself widowed… Autobiographical yes, but many people have found my story shocking yet encouraging. I feel I need to tell it! I do want to write books which are heartwarming and happy; there is too much misery and murder about!
7) What are some of your other hobbies you like to do besides writing?
I became very ill with M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomleitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) when I was 25. Whatever I do, I become exhausted in 2 hours and have to lie down, Before that I was a bundle of energy, dressmaking, decorating, drawing, writing, woodworking; but I have never recovered. I still love to do all those things but I get too tired to finish them. About 7 years ago I discovered ‘Secondlife.com’ on the internet; I loved that, making beautiful furnishings and buildings, and became a respected designer. It gave me a space where I could recreate the things I loved for other people to enjoy, without having to leave the house.
A little background:
Julia Hawkes-Moore was born near the ruins of Walsingham Abbey in Norfolk, and grew up with a happy childhood in Herefordshire. Both places inspired in her a deep fascination with folk history and myth.
After training as an Architect in Liverpool, she innocently married a young man who announced that he was Gay on their Wedding Night. She went on to run a London restaurant, winning an entry in ‘The Good Food Guide’, before divorcing for non-consummation.
Julia ran away, and did several silly jobs including writing poetry for 8 hours a day and getting paid for it. She retrained as a Teacher, and taught metalwork and woodwork in Suffolk, but kept getting poached to teach English and History.
Julia contracted a serious long-term illness (M.E./CFS) before trustingly marrying again, editing a local newspaper, writing novels and running seven years of folk festivals in Saffron Walden. Surprisingly, she managed all this whilst having two miraculous babies.
Then her cosy world unexpectedly fell apart, when she discovered just what her absent husband had been doing whilst working away from home throughout their 15 year marriage. Julia moved back to her parents in Herefordshire with her two young sons.
She divorced yet again, did a little Property Development, and survived the Internet Dating experience, meeting an Architect with Parkinson’s Disease and building an amazing house with him, which they never got to live in. Engagement, financial disaster, 24/7 caring for a man turning into a monster over 6 years followed. She ran away when he became violent, and was tragically widowed the next day. Serious illness followed. Each low point seemed worse than the last over many years. But Julia always strove to be pleasant and cheerful towards everyone she met.
'Dancing in Circles' was Julia's first novel. Other works include 'The Chocolate Ghost And Other Tales, enriched with Selected Poems', ISBN 978 90 819271 4 7, only available from the publishing on demand printers www.lulu.com/spotlight/JuliaHM
Julia is now putting her life back together in a most satisfactory way... More novels are in process, telling her stories of how she remained cheerful as her life plunged into deeper abyss…
Books:
Dancing In Circles
Connect with Julia on Facebook
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