Big drumroll today as we welcome our guest………..SUE WATSON!
Sue enjoyed a very successful career as a journalist with The Sun and The Daily Mail and a TV producer with the BBC. Like many women, she reached a point in her life juggling children, marriage, long hours and high pressure at work and realised that she had to make a change if she was to realise her dream of writing a novel.
Her decision was made for her when one day her daughter Eve, then aged 6 was sent home from school with suspected meningitis and Sue and husband Nick went through what they say was the worst week of their lives. Eve was diagnosed with Henoch-Schonlein Purpura and did not suffer any complications. The whole experience changed Sue and her priority became her family and her writing.
Her first book Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes was published in September 2011 and became a best-seller.
Sue said “I believe in fate – and I also believe you must follow your heart and your dream. Today I have a healthy, happy teenage daughter, a happy marriage, and now a career as a best-selling author, which all started after the worst week of my life.
Love Lies and Lemon Cake, Sue’s latest book, is published by Bookouture and is available from Amazon. Sue is asking that her readers make a ‘living list’ like Faye, the heroine, and tick off the list, however small or crazy those things might be. The message is – anything’s possible, and it’s never too late. Sue would love readers to share how they are achieving their dream through Twitter, FB or her website. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Lies-Lemon-Cake-Watson-ebook/dp/B00LAKWFC0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1405505889&sr=1-1&keywords=sue+watson
Sue’s next novel in the deal will be published in time for Christmas 2014, with the third coming in Summer 2015.
ES: Thanks so much for being with us today, Sue. Where did you spend your last holiday and why did you choose to go there?
SW: Last year we visited Boston, Washington DC and Cape Cod. My husband is a brilliant holiday planner and works out an itinerary, books all the hotels and we all decide on the sights we want to see. He has maps and apps and marches ahead as my daughter and I follow like obedient tourists – we call it ‘Nick’s Tours!’ Most of the time these ‘excursions’ are just fab and we always have fun, but sometimes Nick overestimates how much we can do in a day. In Washington we covered 9 miles in about 6 hours and my daughter complained it was less like a holiday and more like a school trip! We were all glad to arrive in the calm and tranquillity of Cape Cod where the walking was limited to beaches and lobster restaurants.
ES: Hmm! Beaches and lobster! My kind of holiday! But tell us, what’s your favourite type of holiday? And your least favourite?
SW: I love cities, shopping, sights and beaches and we often go to The States because there’s a little of everything there. Our daughter is 15 and along with me loves the shops, the sights and the beaches and my husband loves the baseball – so everyone’s happy.
I have only been camping once when much younger – but it just wasn’t me. Why lie on the possibly wet ground and cook your own food when you can lie in a bed and visit lovely restaurants?
ES: Where did you spend your best ever holiday and what made it so memorable?
SW: Santorini (where much of my book Love, Lies and Lemon Cake is set) was the most beautiful place I have ever visited. I love Greece and have spent many happy holidays there but Santorini had something very special, it has an almost spiritual quality and such a lovely laid back feel. I loved visiting Atlantis books, the wonderful, jam-packed book shop on the island where two of my characters in the book visited when they stayed there. I wasn’t a writer when I visited about 7 years ago but always said one day I would write about Santorini. Now I have I long to go back there and relive it.
ES: Fabulous! I love it when writers include places that mean something to them in their books. Have you ever had any holiday or travel disasters?
SW: About 8 years ago we were in Portugal on holiday and as our daughter Eve was only 7 at the time she was keen to go on a big wheel. All three of us climbed into the big wheel and when we were halfway up I realised I’d left my bag on the ground – it contained all our credit cards, traveller’s cheques, car keys and phones. My husband nearly had a breakdown, it was the longest big wheel ride in the history of big wheel rides as it slowly groaned on, each revolution seemed to take hours and we just wanted to get off and see if the bag was still there. By the time the ride was over we felt sick – the ride had given us the chance to think through the true horror of the holiday without money, phones and car and hotel keys. But as we jumped off the ride we saw it had gone. With little hope we ran to the ticket office and I almost cried with relief – a lovely person had saved our holiday and handed it in!
ES: Phew! What a relief! Tell us about a place you long to visit and the reasons why please, Sue.
SW: I always had a dream to visit California. I think we are so entrenched in US culture and the whole Hollywood thing with TV and films that it feels like a familiar yet exotic place full of glamour and promise. It’s somewhere I always wanted to go and two years ago we did it. We went to San Francisco, drove down through Big Sur and stayed in LA and San Diego – it’s the one place I have always wanted to go and it lived up to all expectations. We saw the Hollywood Hills, Manns Chinese Theatre, The Golden Gate Bridge, Muscle Beach… and so much more – I just want to go back there again.
ES: I think I can guess the answer, but….Who’s your favourite travelling companion(s) or do you prefer your own company?
SW: I love holidaying with my husband and daughter. The three of us laugh such a lot and though we all want different things from a holiday we all compromise and always have a great time.
ES: Have you ever had a holiday romance? Details, please!
SW: I met someone in Spain when I was 19 but sadly there are no details, nothing happened because we only met about 3 days before my friend and I were due to go home. He waved me off at the coach and we wrote and called each other (no FB in those days!) for a while, but I lived in Manchester and he lived in London – geography made us and broke us!
ES: How would you spend your dream twenty-four hours if you could travel to multiple, worldwide destinations with no travel restrictions?
SW: I would go to New York for a pancake and maple syrup breakfast, followed by shopping and coffee with friends. Then I would jump on a plane to The Seychelles and spend the afternoon alone on a beach of pink sand followed by an evening in Hawaii where I would eat a seafood dinner and sip cocktails under the stars.
ES: Sounds fabulous! What tip or piece of advice would you give to holidaymakers and/or travellers?
SW: Never leave anything until the last minute and always add an hour to how long you think you will need. Sadly this is not something I ever do and the above advice is courtesy of my husband (of Nick’s Tours) I am always on the last minute with stuff trailing from my suitcase and my skirt tucked in my pants!
Ha ha! Thank you, Sue. (Do you think she might rent Nick out, Readers?)
