Hosting Patsy Collins - Escape to the Country blog tour!

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Patsy whose novel, Escape to the Country (isn't the cover great?  I love her tights!) is released on 30th March.  You can read the first chapter here to whet your appetite!

It's going to be available in bookshops and from Amazon or Waterstones online shops and there will also be an e-book version.  Personally, I can't wait to read it as Patsy has had some cracking short stories published and I'm sure her novel will be just as enjoyable!

Without further ado, let's get down to business...

Hi Patsy!  You've had a lot of short stories published - was writing a novel a challenge in terms of keeping up the momentum and not tying up the ends of the story too soon?

It was a challenge in that there's a lot more of it than in a short story so it's harder to keep track of everything and be consistent throughout. In a way, although it's all told from Leah's pov, Escape to the Country is several stories - there's the crime story, the romance, the development of Leah's agricultural skills, then there's the story of Jayne and Jim. I think weaving all those together helped me keep the momentum going.

Tying it all together at the end seemed to come naturally with this one. That's not always the case.

Everyone seems to have their own way of writing - did you have a meticulously drawn up plan for Escape to the Country?

No! I knew how I expected it to end and had thought out a few key scenes, but I worked out how to get from one to another as I went along. That's what works for me as if I get an interesting idea halfway through I can incorporate it without messing anything up.

 

When did you first start writing and what was the first thing you had published?

I started writing seriously (or at any rate as serious as I'm likely to get) ten years ago. My first published and paid for story was a 60 worder in Chat magazine in 2003. My first short story publication was to The Lady in 2005.

 

When you meet people for the first time, do you tell them you're a writer?

I haven't done, but that's not because I hadn't previously considered myself a writer. I am a writer - maybe it's time I started telling people so?

 

It definitely is!  Did you mull over the plot of Escape to the Country for a long time before writing it, or did it all come spurting out suddenly in a spontaneous fountain of creativity?

 

I thought a bit, spurted a bit, thought some more, spurted some more ...

Do you have a favourite word?

I like almost all words when they're well used.

And finally, how do you feel right now?

I'm still feeling a bit like this - http://youtu.be/0CS2eQoYTdk

 

So would I be!  Congratulations Patsy!