Hi Ros! Welcome to my blog - I love having fellow Romantic Novelist Association members join me here so I can get to know them better! Wishing you much sales and success with your work - let's get started with my questions...
1.
What
did you want to be when you grew up?
As
long as I can remember I wanted to be a teacher which is odd because at infant
school, as it was then, I was truly unhappy. On my first day I was smacked with
a ruler for asking the boy next to me where I should put mine at the end of the
lesson. That was not a good experience! The next day I clung to my mum at the
door and the teacher tried to pull me away. I had the distinct impression my
arms were coming off and I was very frightened. Those were the days. It’s
changed now. I remember, as a head teacher, phoning many a parent to say their
child was happily playing when the parent had gone home after a cup of tea, but
still distraught.
2.
Coffee
tea or hot chocolate.
Definitely
tea, and plenty of it.
3.
What
genre do you typically read? Why?
I’ll
read most types of books except biographies. Not so interested in those. I’ve
always read. The majority of my reads are either romance or detective
thrillers. It’s good to escape into a great romance story and there are so many
of those. Many also inspire for my writing, not for ideas but more, for
interpretation of those, especially if I’m stuck. I have some ‘goto’ books
where I’ve marked particular pages or passages. I can guarantee these will
ensure I pause and think something through. With thrillers, I love the
anticipation and guessing of who dunnit.
4.
Share
a favourite childhood memory.
I
had some very special holidays as a child. My Christmases were spent with six
cousins at an ancient mill house in Gloucestershire. We were like Dylan Thomas’
‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’, throwing snowballs at the local children, when
we were slightly older. I bet they hated us. One particular time I awoke on
Christmas morning and, kneeling on the ottoman in front of the window, I peeped
through the curtains and it was snowing. I remember thinking it was snowing
because it was Christmas day so I must have been quite young.
5.
Do
you have any shameless addictions i.e. tea, books, shoes, clothes
I’ve
had to soul search about this. I do have pairs of shoes I’ve hardly worn. I do
have a lot of books and many on my TBR pile. I think my worst addiction is
Haribo sweets and milk bottles, in particular. When I’m writing I often have a
packet and can scoff my way through them without realising. My husband is
diabetic and so I eat them on my own in my workroom; a secret Haribo scoffer!
There are worse things, right?
6.
What
do you think is the biggest challenge of writing a new book?
The
title and the first line or paragraph are most important to me. I’m almost more influenced by a title than the
front cover when choosing a book so I ponder over mine for ages. There’s the
old adage about hooking a reader so I consider the beginning really carefully.
Successfully? I don’t know.
7.
Do
you aim for a set number of words/pages a day?
I’m
positively hopeless about a routine for writing. My husband is out supporting
various charities since we retired and so those are the days I do most. He
doesn’t mind me writing at all, but I’m easily distracted by the suggestion of
going out, if he’s around. I’m better working to a deadline and before I
retired, I was in a clearer routine. I only really started writing seriously
when we both took early retirement and moved permanently to France. There was
much less to do there, so I wrote every day. Now it’s interrupted by ballroom
dancing lesson, WI, the creative writing group I run, committee meetings for
the Deepings Literary festival in May, and visiting family etc. etc.
8.
What
are your thoughts on writing a book series?
I
am writing a series as well as my romance books. For that, I have two novels
and a novella published and a third novel is on the way. Each book is a
stand-alone, but the characters are related – literally. It’s three sisters and
three periods of major twentieth century conflict. So far, I have completed
’Flowers of Flanders’, ‘Flowers of Resistance’ and I’ve started ‘Flowers that
Shattered Stones’ which is set before and during the Cold War. These have been
award-winning. I like to read a series too. Emma Davies and Sarah Bennett have
written some good ones.
Author
Bio:
Having worked as a head teacher, Ros has been used to writing policy
documents, essays and stories to which young children enjoyed listening. Now
she has taken up the much greater challenge of writing fiction for adults. She
writes both historical sagas and contemporary romance; perfect for lying by a
warm summer pool or curling up with on a cosy sofa
Ros is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Historical Novelists' Society.
She has lived in France for ten years but has moved back to the UK with her husband and dogs. While there, she gained much information which has been of use in her books. They are thoroughly and accurately researched.
Ros is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Historical Novelists' Society.
She has lived in France for ten years but has moved back to the UK with her husband and dogs. While there, she gained much information which has been of use in her books. They are thoroughly and accurately researched.
Ros has two daughters and four
grand-daughters with whom she shares many heart-warming activities.
Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Ros+rendle
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