Kirsty Ferry is a regular on the blog, in fact I think she’s probably the most reviewed author here! When you read the first of the #TenThings she is sharing today, you’ll understand why. Her latest book, Holly’s Christmas Secret, is published by ChocLit today and I’ll be reviewing it next month. You find buying options for various ebook retailers on the ChocLit website here: Holly’s Christmas Secret. Read on to find out #TenThings about Kirsty and her writing.
- Holly’s Christmas Secret is the eighteenth book I’ve had published by Choc Lit.
I’ve just worked this out and feel faint! I never thought that would ever happen when my first Choc Lit book got published about six years ago. I’m just so very grateful to the readers who keep buying them, and that makes me want to continue to write them. Thank you everyone.
- There’s a fairytale theme going on in this book…
I love fairytales and did a module on Children’s Literature for my degree. Part of it was studying fairytales and I couldn’t believe how dark these things could be. Holly’s Christmas Secret isn’t dark, because I wanted it to be an uplifting Christmas book, but there is a big nod to fairytales in the storyline.
- …and it’s the third book in the Cornish Secrets series.
I’m writing the fourth book as we speak. It’s frustrating as I really want to get cracking with it, but things like real life get in the way! I’ve often said that I need a clone to do the more mundane things in life so I can do the fun stuff.
- Research is key.
I’ve learned to be pretty shameless with research and I will ask people if I know they’ll know more than me (not looking at you Joanne, at all, for helping me with a query about the Sands of Leith! Thank you again, by the way!). I do have to keep checking-in myself with basic things though – in Holly’s Christmas Secret I mentioned the Queen… however as the book is set in 1906, it should have actually been the King. And I only spotted that in the edits! Eek. This is what happens when you’re so used to writing in a certain era and mix it up a bit!
[Happy to help Kirsty]
- I’ve recently discovered art journalling.
I signed up to do a 30 day art journalling course over the summer with a friend, never thinking that I’d be able to complete it, but I did. It’s a good way to explore your creativity in a ten-minute burst each day, and on the course I did, we got weekends off yay! I quite like dabbling in art but I’m not very good at it, and this was a nice, non-judgmental group and it was fun, which was the most important thing.
- I’ve been book swapping with a friend.
We started dropping books off at one another’s houses during lockdown, and it’s encouraged me to read different genres and discover new authors. I don’t read much crime stuff or ‘literary’ stuff (eg things are listed for prizes!) but it’s been a nice surprise to see what she leaves on my doorstep every so often. We’ve also been incorporating sweets and treats in the packages, which has been an extra-special addition!
[That’s such a lovely idea!]
- I’m preparing for a Pumpkin Trail
Because Trick or Treating won’t be happening this year, our estate has decided to do a Pumpkin Trail for the children – the idea being they can walk around the streets and spot spooky things. We live on a main road, so I hope the fact that we’ll potentially have a gravestone, a human skeleton and a crow’s skeleton on display won’t affect the traffic too much!
- Baskets on Bicycles
I’ve been enjoying going out on my bike over the summer. I’ve had my bike for many years, since I was a teenager, and it has a basket on the front. It’s the sort of bike that Myfanwy rides in the David Essex video of the same name, and even though I’ve got a proper mountain bike, I’m so unfit that I cry when I ride it. My husband mocked me until he tried it and then he admitted it was much heavier than it looked, and indeed heavier even than his mountain bike. That’s now been put in the shed and old faithful has come back out to play. It was very amusing watching my husband ride on my original basket-bike to see how much lighter it is, as it’s a fetching shade of girly lilac with a pretty white wire basket on the front, a tartan canvas basket on the back and a bell that’s got a picture of a squirrel on it.
- The Breakfast Club
This is my favourite film. It’s one I can – and do – watch again and again. One of my best friends and I thoroughly enjoyed a night full of prosecco, pizza and Judd Nelson when restrictions were lifted in our area, and we saw each other for the first time in about six months. I miss doing things like that and it makes me very sad that we can’t at the minute. We’re compiling a list of other classics to binge watch when we can, because I refuse to believe that this horrible time will last forever.
- The next book
So as I’ve already said, I’m working on the fourth Pencradoc book. After that, I’ve got an idea for another story, which is partially handwritten in a notebook. I don’t think it’s a timeslip/dual timeline one, as the way it’s playing out in my head has more of a contemporary rom-com feel. I felt as if I wanted to jot it down first to see how it went. The challenge will be if I can actually read my own handwriting when I come to transcribe it… it’s all good fun!
From the back of the book
Once upon a Cornish Christmas …
It’s almost Christmas at the Pencradoc estate in Cornwall which means that, as usual, tea room owner Sorcha Davies is baking up a festive storm. And this year Sorcha is hoping her mince pies will be going down a treat at ‘The Spirit of Christmas Past’ exhibition being organised at the house by new local antiques dealer, Locryn Dyer.
But as Locryn and Sorcha spend more time together, they begin to uncover a very special story of Christmas past that played out at Pencradoc more than a century before, involving a certain ‘Lady’ Holly Sawyer, a festive dinner party and a magical secret encounter with a handsome author …
Portobello Book Blog 