Changing Gear
1. What can you tell our readers about your new book Changing Gear?
This book is about a cycle ride my husband and I did from Britain to Bulgaria in 2006. Our son Matt, our middle child had died in 2003 and we’d tried to live normally and found we couldn’t. So we decided to do something different. It was an amazing journey on all sorts of levels. I was compelled to write the book. One of the things parents who have lost a child feel is an overwhelming need to ensure their child is not forgotten. My book, I hope is in honour of Matt and the 26 years we had with him. I also hope it is fun in parts. Matt was a witty guy and would have hated a sombre book.
I self published this book in May this year. I had 2 offers from publishers, one national publisher who wanted to give me a very small percentage and they had no marketing plan. The other from a local publisher who wanted to publish later in the year. I had finished the book and felt it was complete and decided to take things into my own hands and publish it how and when I wanted to and to do my own marketing too. The book so far is available on the Kindle but in a few weeks (I hope!) I will have understood Amazon’s CreateSpace tool and I will be in a position to offer print books on demand and through Amazon.
2. It has been said that the book is worthy of a film adaptation, how do you feel about this?
I was really pleased to see this suggestion in the reviews. I’d love someone to make a film of it. If they do I hope someone glam will play my part!
3. The story is written and inspired by the death of your son, so how, with such a sad reason behind the creation of this book, did you still manage to capture humour within it?
I have to say that the relationship my husband and I have has been a great source of strength and one of the attributes of our relationship is, we can make each other laugh. I think it’s one of the things our children like about us.
4. Who are your favourite reads?
I was inspired by ‘A Bike Ride’ by Anne Mustoe. I like any travel books, books about people living in other countries and currently I’m reading ‘Turner’ by Peter Ackroyd- so I guess I like all sorts of books.
5. The book is about travel, but how did you manage to shy away from becoming too descriptive and informative like so many other travel books?
I find descriptions boring. As a reader plot and pace are important to me. I went to a writing class where I was taught to ‘stay in the moment’ as a writer. In other words ensure that I looked around and smelled the smells, noticed the light, heard the sounds etc of a place. This was a helpful piece of advice to me and I hope now that I don’t dash too fast through description but at the same time I hope I don’t get boringly bogged down when I write.
6. Why did you decide to go to Bulgaria, what attracted you to that part of the world to take your bike ride to?
Before Matt died we’d bought a derelict house in Bulgaria. It was to be a fun thing to renovate during the 10 years to our retirement. After his death the renovation became a project for me to manage. So our house was ready by the time we cycled there. Also at that time it was a place where Matt had never been and their was a certain relief in not looking for him all the time which is something we did all the time at home in Newcastle. It was exhausting and distressing.
7. What is your writing background?
My background is business. I have an MBA and worked in higher education. So my writing style was really report-like. During my working life I wrote academic papers and co wrote a couple of text books. So my style was informative and dry! In 2004 my niece and I started going to a writing class and I have continued to do so over the past 9 years. During that time I’ve learnt so much, one of the most useful things was how to write dialogue. I also like writing poetry and had 2 poems published last year.
8. Which experience while you were on your journey has stayed with you the most?
Probably the one in Serbia where we cycled through the mountains through 15 pitch black tunnels and I had a close encounter with a lorry and a thunderstorm….
9. What is next for you and your writing?
I’m currently writing about the straw bale house we built in Bulgaria in 2008. It was the first one in Bulgaria and so attracted some attention. One of our daughters and her partner lived with us for a year and we built the house together along with volunteers from all over the world. It was a magical year. I am sitting in the straw house at the moment typing this. I have 15,000 words at the mo but to coin a phrase they are not necessarily in the right order!
10. In times of tragedy, how did it feel to write?
It’s hard. It’s emotional and sometimes you just want to run away and be with people and stop doing it. But when you get it right, when the words come and they say exactly what you mean you feel a connection. For me it’s a connection with Matt and that’s all I want.
Female First Lucy Walton