Good morning, lovely lady & welcome to my blog! It's so great to have you here and take the opportunity to learn a bit more about you and your latest release A WEDDING IN TUSCANY - let's get started with my questions...
1.) Do you use pictures as inspiration at the start of a book?
I set my books, especially those in the Holiday Romance series, in locations I’ve been to and know well enough to write about so I do go back through my photos from when I’ve visited or lived there and I’ll often refer to them when I’m writing so I can accurately depict the setting.
I also ‘cast’ my books as I begin, often leading me down the Google rabbit hole looking for exactly the right heroine or love interest.
2.) What is your favourite period drama?
I love period fiction – novels, films, television series. I was watching a film at the cinema a couple of weeks back and the preview for the new Downton Abbey film came on – I was so giddy I was bouncing in my seat. So, Downton’s definitely a fave. For novels, I love A Room with a View and Jane Eyre.
3.) Are the titles of your books important?
Around half my books have kept the title I submitted them under. The Holiday Romance series all have a particular syntax – article-noun-preposition-location – and my editor and I went back and forth on two of the titles – A Sunset in Sydney and A Sunrise Over Bali – till we landed on exactly the right title. I submitted my next book A Wedding in Tuscany under that title.
I originally called The Dating Game, The Single Girl’s Guide to Hunting, which I thought was catchy and clever, as it is about a reality TV dating show called ‘The Stag’. But that title didn’t land as well with my editor, so we changed it.
4.) If you’re struggling with a scene or difficult character, what methods help you through it?
I have to step away and let it marinade. Quite often it will come to me – plot snag all untangled and ready to get onto the page – within a day or two. In writing the end of The Dating Game, I had written myself into a tight corner. A week after I stepped away, the whole convoluted climax came tumbling out while I was reading in bed. I leapt up, grabbed my author notebook and scribbled furiously till the whole ending was worked out.
5.) Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Definitely an early bird. I still have a fulltime job, so I am at my writer’s desk around 5am – 6am at the latest – and I work for a few hours before I switch into ‘day job’ mode.
6.) Who’s your favourite author? Why?
Just one? I love
Jane Green – I’ve read her for 20+ years and I have loved her evolution from
chicklit to women’s fiction. She is a fabulous storyteller and character is always
at the heart of what she writes. I aspire to having a career like hers.
7.) Do you have a pet peeve?
Again, only one? Just kidding.
I get frustrated when people leave something undone or messy or empty for the next person to have to deal with. Think, leaving the photocopier jammed or the toilet paper dispenser empty or dirty dishes in the sink. Drives. Me. Bananas.
8.)
Can you tell
me a little about your next project?
Well, A Wedding in Tuscany is my next book (out in June) but all my work on that book has wrapped up. I am also wrapping up the initial submission of The May Ladies’ Christmas, a follow up to my 2020 book, The Christmas Swap which is out in October. I will then get back to an edit of a co-written book, a sexy thriller called The Passion Project I’ve written with Fiona Leitch. And then I will start on my next project, a contemporary dramedy called Tilly Finnegan, Begin Again. And after that … I will probably start on my new romcom series, but that won’t likely be till 2023.
There’s always something on the hob!
The Parsons sisters are all loved up.
Sarah is living in Sydney with Josh and their cat,
Domino, but is anxious about her fast-approaching fortieth birthday.
And Cat is still living in London with her
flatmate, Jane, but is in a long-distance relationship with Jean-Luc, her
childhood sweetheart and recently re-discovered love.
One of the sisters
receives a surprise wedding proposal – it’s a yes! – and everyone heads off to
Tuscany for a destination wedding.
Reunite with favourite characters from the Holiday
Romance series in one of the most beautiful locations yet for love, laughter,
wedding vows, and just a smidge of sisterly mayhem.
Out June 2022 (ebook) and September 2022 (print).
Buy links
Amazon
UK | Kobo | Google
Play | iBooks | Nook
Author Bio – Sandy Barker
Sandy is a
writer, traveller and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list, and many of
her travel adventures have found homes in her novels. She’s also an avid
reader, a film buff, a wine lover and a coffee snob.
Sandy lives in
Melbourne Australia with her partner, Ben, who she met while travelling in
Greece. Their real-life love story inspired Sandy’s debut novel One Summer
in Santorini, the first in the five-book Holiday Romance series with One
More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins.
The series continues with romantic travel adventures set in gorgeous locations across the world, with books 4 (Bali) and 5 (Tuscany) out in February and June 2022. Sandy’s novel The Christmas Swap celebrates her favourite time of the year and a follow-up is out October 2022, and her stand-alone The Dating Game is a laugh-out-loud romcom set in the world of Reality TV.
Follow Sandy:
https://twitter.com/sandybarker
https://www.facebook.com/sandybarkerauthor
https://www.instagram.com/sandybarkerauthor/
Tags for social media
Twitter: @sandybarker @0nemorechapter_
Instagram: @sandybarkerauthor
@onemorechapterHC
Facebook: @sandybarker – author @One More
Chapter Books
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