Thursday 10 December 2015

My Writing Life... Mary-Anne Lewis

Welcome to the very last post in the My Writing Life series! Before I introduce my final guest I would like to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to all the wonderful authors who have taken part and shared such wonderful and insightful posts. Your participation has been most appreciated and thank you also to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment.

Today I am absolutely delighted to welcome Mary-Anne Lewis to the blog to talk about her writing life! Mary-Anne and I met at a Books and The City event in London last year and have been firm friends ever since!

My Writing Life

Mary's Writing Page

My name is Mary Lewis and I am a writer! Or at least I want to be the best writer I can and hopefully be published one day.

I started to write a novel in November 2014 after attending a Creative Masterclass at the publishing house Simon and Schuster. I had such a great time and it was fabulous to meet other people who were serious about writing books. Often I would tell people I wanted to be a writer and they would proceed to tell me a/ How difficult it would be or b/ How they were writers too! I quickly learnt to keep quiet and realised that few people would take me seriously and would look at my writing as a “hobby”. Recently though I have made it crystal clear that my writing is also my work and that disturbing me is done at your own peril!

I am currently in the process of writing 2 separate novels. Both are Women’s Fiction and both contain a little romance, comedy and real life traumas. The first is set in London at a PR company where our heroine Bethany is head over heels with the “Hot Chef” who manages the restaurant in the building. The second was another idea that popped into my head that wouldn’t fit in to my first novel and involves Adam, a young widower with a 10 month old baby who is coming to terms with his wives death. Several characters are linked and we learn those links and how they impact on each other’s lives as the story progresses.

Alongside writing I have just completed 2 creative writing classes at my local adult education centre which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I met some lovely people there and my tutor was a great inspiration. I have also taken part in an Open University course on fiction writing, which involved writing some short stories and developing character sketches.

A little about me!

I am 42 and married to Dylan. We met 22 years ago and finally married in 2007 in Florence, Italy. We have a 21 year old son Glen and an 18 year old cat called Darcy (named after Jim Dale’s character in Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head). I work for a large well known supermarket when I am not writing. Unfortunately I had Cervical Cancer a few years ago which left me with many health problems and I have quite a few days when I am too poorly to anything. On these days I read. I have always loved reading. I am a firm believer that in order to be a good writer you should read. However I can’t abide “Book snobs” who profess to read obscure works by Latvian authors no one else has heard of! I read anything, romance, thrillers, comedies, auto biographies, non-fiction, and articles in fact anything. My Grandparents used to joke that I would read the back of the cereal packet if there was nothing else to read. I would be found lying on my belly, eating my cereal reading my copy of Bunty most mornings!

I hope to be at the editing stage of at least one of my novels by Easter of 2016 and then I shall be on the lookout for submission dates from publishers etc. I also aim to become a member of the New Writers Scheme with the Romantic Novelists Association in the New Year. My dream is to see my book in print and to know that I have brought a little enjoyment into people’s lives.

Links:

Mary Lewis Writer's Blog
Mary Lewis Writer's Page Facebook
Mary Lewis Writer Twitter



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