I’m very excited to welcome Rosie Travers to my blog today to talk about writing motivations. I’m a huge fan of Rosie’s writing, and am in the middle of her current novel now (actually it was quite difficult tearing myself away for this blog…)
Why I Write
I grew up in a house surrounded by books, and I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have some sort of story spinning around in my head, either the one I was reading, or the one I was making up.
As the youngest of three children, I was often left to my own devices. If scribbling in notebooks kept me quiet and out of the way, my family were happy to humour me. I can remember penning a couple of editions of a local newspaper at a very young age, so local it just featured events in our road, although not actual events, just ones I invented – Mrs Williams suspected of harbouring escaped prisoner in her garden shed, buried treasure found beneath the rhubarb on Mr Skinner’s allotment etc. I had a very fertile imagination and was heavily influenced by whatever I was reading at the time (usually Enid Blyton’s Famous Five). I later progressed onto producing editions of teen magazines such as Jackie and My Guy – I’d do everything myself from the illustrations for the story boards to the problem page. It was inevitable this would progress into writing novels.
When I left school I didn’t really have a clue about what I wanted to do for a career, so went to secretarial college so I’d have “something to fall back on”. The really wonderful thing about attending secretarial college was that I learnt to touch type, and very quickly. An invaluable skill for a writer! Those novels in long-hand notebooks soon transposed onto reams of A4 paper, splattered with Tipp-Ex. I may have been quick, but I didn’t say I was accurate!
Then came the threes M, Mortgage, Marriage & Motherhood. Any dreams of becoming a writer evaporated as I juggled maintaining a home, working in local government, and making sure the kids were always where they needed to be at the right time. Back in those days, the 1990s, there was no such thing as “me time” – ask me a question about anything that happened in the 90s and I can’t tell you apart from the Spice Girls. I’m in awe of the young women I see on social media today who seem to have the energy to write novels while working full-time and bringing up children. My imagination was frazzled, and it didn’t unfrazzled itself until my kids were well into their teens.
I hadn’t lost my love of books, I still read as much as I could, but the spark that re-ignited my desire to write only came when I gave up my day job, moved abroad and was left to my own devices again. I finally had the means – my own desk-top PC, the opportunity – an empty quiet house with no social life, and a motive – I wanted to see if I really could write that novel.
It’s exactly ten years since I sat down and completed my first full-length manuscript. It was seven years after that before I had my first book published, and I’ve just self-published my third. As you can see, I’m hardly prolific. Writing has to fit in around everything else, but it has become a huge part of my life.
So why do I do it? Because I enjoy it. Because I’m creative. I’m a nosey parker. When I see or overhear something which catches my attention, I ask questions and I speculate. I ask myself what if… I could sit and stare into space, daydreaming about potential scenarios (I do do a lot of that) but it seems a far more productive use of my time to write my ideas down so they can be enjoyed by other people. When I used to make up those stories and mock-newspapers as a child, my aim was to amuse and entertain, mostly myself but I was always more than happy to share. Today my aim is the same.
Rosie Travers Bio
Rosie Travers grew up in Southampton on the south coast of England. She spent many years working in local government before moving to California in 2009. With time on her hands, she started a blog about life as an ex-pat wife which rekindled a teenage desire to become a writer. Now back in the UK, Rosie lives with her husband Neil and cat Ed on the edge of the New Forest.
Her debut novel The Theatre of Dreams was published in August 2018 and her second, Your Secret’s Safe With Me, followed in February 2019. She has just published the first in a series of humorous cosy mysteries set in the Isle of Wight featuring sassy amateur sleuth Eliza Kane, a whisky loving ex-pro golfer.
Website: www.rosietravers.com
Twitter: @RosieTravers
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosietraversauthor/
Instagram: rosietraversauthor
Amazon page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosie-Travers/e/B07CVZ2CQ5/
A Crisis at Clifftops Blurb
When Lilian Hathaway is named as the chief suspect in a murder enquiry, her granddaughter Eliza drops everything to rush to her side. After a string of crushing defeats, professional golfer Eliza is facing a career crisis of her own. She seizes the opportunity to hide away with Lilian at Clifftops Hotel, the family’s home on the Isle of Wight, determined to defend her beloved nanna’s innocence.
But just how innocent is Lilian?
As the evidence starts to mount up, Eliza turns amateur sleuth in a race to uncover the truth. Family loyalty is stretched to the limits when she discovers a series of events in her grandmother’s past which could have far-reaching consequences, not just for Lilian but also for Clifftops, and Eliza’s own future.
Buying links
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0975WTWPK/
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0975WTWPK/
