Portobello Book Blog

I’m delighted to welcome another #BookConnectors author today – Sue Moorcroft. Sue is the author of 8 novels with her next due out in September as well as over 150 short stories.

First of all, would you tell me a little about yourself?

Being an author’s a way of life, for me, not just my job, and I write full time. I live in Northamptonshire, England, but I was born in Germany, the daughter of two soldiers, and I lived in Malta and Cyprus as a child. I try and get out of my study every day, mostly for classes in Zumba, yoga, FitStep and Piano. I’m a bookaholic and an F1 fanatic.

What inspired you to start writing?

I was a little late to reading and writing but once I found the world of fiction, I ran to it whenever possible. I couldn’t believe that I could get good marks for making things up.

Tell me about your journey to publication?

I kept my writing as a pleasurable hobby until I was about thirty, then I decided to aim for publication. It wasn’t quite as easy as I thought but I sold my first short story to a national magazine in 1996, after failing miserably with a couple of novels and then taking a course, which helped a lot. I’d read that if I sold 20 stories to magazines publishers of novels would take more notice of me. Loosely, this worked, but I’d sold 87 short stories and a serial by the time I got The Call. I’ve continued to write short stories and serials and have also had success with columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses. I’ve had 8 novels published, with 2 more contracted, and sold something over 150 short stories, 5 serials, a novella, 80-100 columns/articles, a ‘how to’ writing book, 3 courses and a supplement.

In a nutshell, what is your next book about?

The second book in my Avon contract is called Just for the Holidays and is set in the Alsace region of France. Leah’s determinedly single and child-free but has ended up looking after her sister’s family while her sister goes off the rails. I’m really enjoying writing the teenagers, Natasha, Jordan and Curtis – particularly Curtis, who is a 13yo Goth. Natasha and Jordan are Leah’s beloved niece and nephew; Curtis is the son of the man in the next door house, Ronan, a grounded helicopter pilot. (I LOVED the helicopter research and now know how quickly you can get down from 2000 feet if the engine cuts out – yet land safely.)

What’s your favourite book you’ve read in the past year? Or favourite three if you really can’t choose!

I’ve just read several of Jodi Thomas’s Harmony series in a row. I think Betting the Rainbow was my favourite. I love her characters.

What are you reading just now? (January 2016)

I’m re-reading Knowing Me, Knowing You, by Mandy Baggot.

Tell me about your reading habits:  book or kindle, bed or bath, morning or evening?

Yep. All of them. Reading is one of my major loves. I don’t watch much TV (apart from everything I can about F1 and the odd programme here and there). I do love my Kindle, because a) it’s light and I can take it easily when I travel and b) it has its own light so I can read in the middle of the night without disturbing anyone. Also, I think ebooks have helped keep authors’ backlists alive, because the books don’t need warehouse space.

How can people follow you or connect with you on social media?

Website: www.suemoorcroft.com. 

Blog: https://suemoorcroft.wordpress.com/ 

Facebook sue.moorcroft.3

Facebook author page https://www.facebook.com/SueMoorcroftAuthor

Twitter @suemoorcroft

Google+: google.com/+Suemoorcroftauthor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suemoorcroft

Instagram: suemoorcroftauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/862993.Sue_Moorcroft

And a new group blog: Take Five Authors at www.takefiveauthors.wordpress.com

And finally, if you could be a character in any book you have read, who would it be and why?

I would be Jean Paget in Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice. This book was probably the first adult book I read (when I was about 9) and began my lifelong love affair with the work of Nevil Shute. My dad had a lot of his books and we used to share. Jean Paget fell in love with an unforgettable hero, Joe Harman, and I always wanted him for myself.