Hi, Rhoda! So great to have you here and the chance to catch up - I don't think we've seen one another since the 2014 RNA conference. Looking forward to hearing all about your latest release, PLEASE RELEASE ME - let's start with my questions...
1.)
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an astronaut. I used to watch Star Trek with
my Dad. Recently, we discovered that the original series was on Netflix, so
Dad, my 8 year old and I sat and watched a few episodes together. It was
lovely!
Somewhere along the line I realised that I was never going
to be physically fit enough to be an astronaut (also, I’m not sure you get
astronauts who are under 5 ft). After that I wanted to be a scientist or a
writer. I do both of those now, so two out of three ain’t bad.
2.)
Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?
Tea. Hah! You thought I was going to say Hot Chocolate
weren’t you? I do like a hot chocolate, but tea is marginally the favourite.
Don’t ever give me coffee. It makes me totally hyper. You do not want to see
that.
3.)
What genre do you typically read? Why?
Right now, I read a lot of contemporary romance because I
can pretend I’m really doing market research. I also like thrillers and
fantasy. Terry Pratchett is my favourite comfort read.
4.)
Share a favourite childhood memory.
5.)
Do you have any shameless addictions? ie. Tea, Books,
Shoes, Clothes?
Chocolate. Also, cake. Chocolate cake is the best of both
worlds. I have to ration myself so that I don’t end up humungous, but I do like
to have a bit of chocolate every day.
6.)
What do you think is the biggest challenge of writing a
new book?
I find heroines’ character arcs really difficult. It takes
me ages to work that out (the hero’s arc usually comes out fairly early in the
‘thinking about a new book’ stage). Once I have the two character arcs sorted,
I can usually figure out the rest while I’m writing.
I tend to write out of sequence and move stuff around at the
editing stage, so I only need a very rough outline. That said, it’s quite hard
to keep going. Who was it that said they didn’t like writing, they liked having
written. That.
7.)
Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages a day?
No. I have kids and a day job, so I write in the evenings.
My only rule is that I have to write at least 5 days in a week. I try to write
an hour every day, but sometimes I have to take an evening off to do stuff like
talking to my husband (who is a very patient man).
8.)
What are your thoughts on writing a book series?
My romantic comedies are a series of sorts. They came about
because there was always a secondary character who was interesting enough that
I wanted to know more about them. The heroine from my latest book Girl Having a
Ball, is the little sister of the hero in Girl On The Run. The book after that
(coming out next year sometime) is the best friend of the hero in this year’s
book. They’re all standalone books. I hate it when a book ends on a cliff
hanger and you have to read another book to find out what happens. There has to
be some sort of conclusion, even if there is an overarching story in the
background. The Harry Potter books do this very well - seven self contained
adventures with an over arching storyline in the series. Amazing.
Blurb:
What if you could only watch as your bright future slipped away from you?
Sally Cummings has had it tougher than most but, if nothing else, it’s taught her to grab opportunity with both hands. And, when she stands looking into the eyes of her new husband Peter on her perfect wedding day, it seems her life is finally on the up.
That is until the car crash that puts her in a coma and throws her entire future into question.
In the following months, a small part of Sally’s consciousness begins to return, allowing her to listen in on the world around her – although she has no way to communicate.
But Sally was never going to let a little thing like a coma get in the way of her happily ever after …
Amazon link:
(very silly) Lego Animoto trailer: https://animoto.com/play/DBE2B
Rhoda Baxter likes to write about people who make her laugh. In real life she studied molecular biology at Oxford, which is why her pen name might sound suspiciously similar to the name of a bacterium.
After trying out life in various places, including the Pacific island of Yap (it’s a real place!), Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Didcot (also a real place), she now lives in East Yorkshire with one husband, two children and no pets or carnivorous plants. She has a day job working in intellectual property and writes contemporary romantic comedies in whatever spare time she can grab.
She can be found wittering on about science, comedy and cake on her website (www.rhodabaxter.com) or on Twitter (@rhodabaxter) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/
Hi Rachel, thank you for having me. I had lots of fun thinking about your questions - especially the one about chocolate and cake.
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