To celebrate the release of her new book, What She Saw, we asked author Wendy Clarke to open up a little bit about herself for her readers! Here's what she had to reveal...
1. I am a keen dancer
I was working it out the other day and realised that, since taking up dancing as a hobby in the 90s, I have learnt fifteen different dances, ranging from ballroom and Latin to salsa and tap. When you’re a writer and sit in front of the computer for a lot of the day, exercise is very important, and dancing is a fantastic way to exercise those legs! Dancing also releases endorphins so if my writing isn’t going as well as I’d hoped or another set of edits has arrived in my inbox, it’s a great tonic. Most importantly though, it was through dance that I met my husband!
2. I love the Lake District
If you haven’t ever been to the Lake District, then I thoroughly recommend it. It is a stunningly beautiful part of the country and it’s a place my husband and I try to visit as often as possible. The Lake District is also where my first psychological thriller, What She Saw, is set. For some writers, a novel will start with a plot idea or a character – for me it’s all about the setting. When we visit the area, we stay in a small miner’s cottage in a little village near Ambleside. It was while I was sitting in bed one morning, drinking tea and looking out at the fells, that I knew, with absolute certainty, that I had to write about the place. The area is full of dark tarns, brooding valleys, shadowed peaks and disused slate quarries… the perfect place for a thriller.
3. I have had over 300 short stories published in women's magazines
I know! I can hardly believe it myself. I actually started out writing short stories. That was back in 2012. I’d completed an online writing course and decided I fancied having one of the stories I’d written published in one of the women’s magazines. Back then I was very naïve and thought it was just a case of sending off a couple and waiting for the acceptance. I didn’t realise that fiction editors receive hundreds of stories every week. It’s probably just as well I didn’t know, or I might never have sent them. Surprisingly, three months later, I was lucky enough to have my first acceptance, quickly followed by sales to two other magazines. Of course, I had rejections too, but I’d got the bug. I continued to write and publish stories for the next six years (even when I was writing my novel) and only stopped last year when Bookouture offered me my two-book deal.
4. I'm constantly surprised and delighted by life
That’s because I have this thing where I’m convinced life puts an assault course of hazards in my way before I can reach any goal. I constantly overthink things and am always working out worst case scenarios. For example, if I’m planning a trip to London, my thought process will go like this: What if I miss the train? What if there’s a rail strike? What if I can’t get a seat? What if my ticket won’t let me through the barrier? What if I get lost? I tell you, it’s exhausting! The upside of having these anxieties is that when things are easier or better than I imagine (as they invariably are) and I find that nothing is as bad as my imagination paints it to be, I am constantly delighted by life.
5. I smile a lot
I am a true believer that if you smile the world smiles with you. I live in a rural town and when I’m walking to the shops, I’ll greet people I don’t know with a smile and hello which is always returned. Even when I’m feeling down, I still try to muster up a smile from somewhere and, more often than not, it fools my brain into thinking that I’m happy after all. I had some professional photos taken recently, and because my novel is a psychological thriller, I thought that maybe I should have a few taken with me looking more serious. It would, after all, be more in keeping with the genre. When the proofs came back and I had to make my choice though, it was the ones where I wasn’t smiling that I hated and instantly rejected. I decided not to worry about the genre – why would I want an author photograph that didn’t look like me?
6. I am a good loser and a bad winner
As a child, I was always a good person with whom to play games. Unlike other children, if I lost, I would never sulk, and I’d be the first to congratulate the winner. It didn’t change when I became an adult. When writing for magazines, it was par for the course to have stories rejected but when this happened, I’d get over it and write and submit something else. It was the same when I moved on to writing novels and started submitting to agents. When an email arrived with those hated words, "I’m sorry but we didn’t feel passionately enough…" I’d take it on the chin and make sure I had somewhere else to send it. But, unfortunately, being a good loser comes at a price... I am a terrible winner. If I have good news, I’m compelled to share it with someone straight away – I just can’t help myself! I post it on social media and tell all my friends. When I’ve had a story published in a magazine, I’ve even been known to tell the newsagent as I’m paying for it. Yes, I really am that annoying!
7. I don't always write in one place
Some people have a favourite writing place, a study maybe or a quiet room somewhere at the back of the house. I have my bed, the living room settee, the garden swing chair, the conservatory – you name it, I will write there. When it comes to writing, I am a complete nomad. Upstairs in my house, I have a lovely writing room. It has everything in there: my books, my desk, my printer. The only thing it doesn’t have in there is me!
8. I understand the importance of social media
If anyone had told me, six years ago, that I would have a popular blog, update my status regularly on Facebook, have an Instagram account and over a thousand followers on Twitter, I would never have believed them. Before I started writing, I was dead against all social media, deeming it to be just for kids and a timewaster. Well, I quickly changed my mind. It all began with my blog, Wendy’s Writing Now, which I started to chart my writing journey from first magazine sale to a future I could not predict back then. It was a way to ‘meet’ other writers and to stop myself feeling isolated. Once my blog had gained in popularity, I started to invite guests onto it and realised that without Facebook or Twitter, I’d have no way to advertise it so decided to take the plunge. What I didn’t know when I started was that I would be creating a social media platform from which to promote my forthcoming novel. One thing I haven’t changed my mind about though – social media takes up a lot of time that could be spent writing.
9. I am rubbish at baking
I try, I really do, but I just can’t seem to get the hang of it. In fact, I am probably the only person I know who can’t make flapjacks. It wouldn’t matter, except that I want to be good at baking. I’ve watched Delia, I’ve been on a bread-making course, I even have a recipe book where Mary Berry shows me (with captioned pictures) how to bake the lightest sponge, but nothing works. Whatever I’m making bears no resemblance to the photograph and is always destined for the bin. You’d think I’d learn, wouldn’t you? But I won’t give up. One day I’ll make that Devil’s Food Cake, that looks so delicious in Delia’s book. It might even work… but don’t hold your breath.
10. I try to embrace the days when I find I can't write
There could be all manner of reasons why this could be: I’m feeling under the weather, it’s sunny and I want to be in the garden, I’ve promised to go to the garden centre with my mum, I’m stuck on the particular piece I’m working on… or I just simply don’t feel like it. In the early days, I used to feel really guilty if I wasn’t spending my free time writing and would make myself sit at my computer. I am much kinder to myself now. Unless I have a deadline, if the words won’t flow and there’s something I’d rather be doing, then I do it. I can guarantee my writing will be all the better for it.
What She Saw by Wendy Clarke is out now.