Please welcome UK writer, Lynda Renham to the blog today. Lynda’s latest book The Valentine Present and Other Diabolical Liberties is an absolute cracker..Definitely one to read if you need a good laugh, and we all need that occasionally, right? As you can see she’s just as funny when being interviewed and she is in her books.

So, let’s start the interrogation … I mean, questions,

When did you start writing?

As soon as they taught me how to do it at school, oh sorry, you mean novels and things don’t you? I think I was about seven.  I remember reading a magazine titled ‘Harold Hare’ Harold was a hare, in case you hadn’t guessed. Anyway cut to the chase, before your readers fall asleep, I decided to write about my own rabbit which I had also called Harold and they published it.

 Bec : Ha ha!

Can you share the blurb for your latest book?

Oh, I’d love to. It is very funny, a real farce with lots of misunderstandings.

‘On arriving home after a friend’s posh wedding, launderette worker Harriet finds her life irrevocably changed as she discovers her flat ransacked and her boyfriend missing. In a matter of hours she is harassed by East End gangsters and upper crust aristocrats. Accepting an offer she can’t refuse, Harriet, against her better judgment becomes the fiancée of the wealthy Hamilton Lancaster, with dire consequences. What she had not bargained on was meeting Doctor Brice Edmunds.

The Valentine Present and Other Diabolical Liberties is Lynda Renham’s funniest novel so far. A cocktail of misunderstandings, three unlikely gangsters, a monkey and a demented cat make this novel a hysterical read. Follow Harriet’s adventure where every attempt to get out of trouble puts her deeper in it.’

How long did it take you to write?

I had a lot of false starts with this novel, so overall it took me nine months.  Fortunately it didn’t come with morning sickness but I did have the food cravings but then I always have those J

 Bec: Surely those calories don’t count?

Where is your favourite place to write? Do you need complete silence? Or what kind of rituals do you follow when writing, if any?

I write anywhere really. In our summer house in the summer, and my little office in the winter. Or I can just plop myself down in the lounge. I use a laptop so I can write wherever I like. I wear headphones and play music really loud, so I guess the answer to the question ‘Do I need silence’ is no. Rituals… Ah, yes, these include visits to the fridge every ten minutes, followed by ten minutes procrastination on Facebook and You Tube, normally followed by another trip to the fridge and then Facebook and so it goes on. I find these rituals are integral to the writing process, when I finally get to it, of course.

 

Who is your favourite author?

I don’t have many favourites as I am discovering new people all the time but Iris Murdoch and Virginia Woolf will always be my ultimate favourite.

 

What genre do you mostly read?

I’m reading a lot of Psychological thrillers at the moment. I’ve just finished Sophie Mckenzie’s, ‘Close My Eyes’ which was very good and kept me gripped on the flight home from Cambodia. I’m looking forward to reading ‘A fine Balance’ which arrived this morning, by Rohinton Mistry which was recommended by my writer friend Rebecca Raisin.

 Bec: I have heard she only reads the best books! 😉

Favourite place to read?

On a plane or in bed. I rarely get to read any other time.

 

Does writing humour come naturally to you?

My life is one big situation comedy. So I basically write about me. I’m the woman who walks into the gent’s loo, not once but several times (and no it is not deliberate) I am also the woman who leaves her handbag in supermarket trolleys and drives home. So I guess every novel is just another volume of my life really. Scary isn’t it? Well scary for my husband.

 Bec: Sounds as though life is NEVER boring!

Any advice for new writers?

Never give up no matter how hopeless things seem. It is hard work but you have to push on in the face of rejection. Don’t let bad reviews bother you. Any reaction to your book is good. At least it has been noticed. Have faith in yourself and don’t take criticism personally.

 Bec: Great advice 🙂

Where can we find you?

Author page (Facebook)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lynda-Renham/170503619694017?fref=ts

Twitter

https://twitter.com/Lyndarenham

Webpage www.renham.co.uk

 Most importantly where can we find your books?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lynda-Renham/e/B004U1PWDU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Thank you so much for taking the time to join us today!

And let me know what you think of ‘A fine balance.’