Author Spotlight - Lorraine Wilson

Tell our readers a little bit about yourself.

I’m Lorraine Minx, otherwise known as Lorraine Wilson and I’m really excited to be completing my first Minxy spotlight J I’m the author of the Chalet Girl series and write for Harper Impulse, the new Harper Collins imprint. I live in Wiltshire with my husband and three mad terriers.

What number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!) ‘Secrets of a Chalet Girl’, out today, is my second book but I’m currently working on my fourth, something I find hard to compute!

Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

Deadlines – the fear of not making them is a helpful factor!

What is your top promo tip for other authors? Try and find readers and reading groups on Facebook and Twitter rather than just connecting with other writers. I’ve made some really nice connections with readers on Facebook who I’d never otherwise have ‘met’.

How does writing fit into your day? Or does your day fit in around your writing? Suffering from chronic pain and fatigue, and the cognitive problems with my brain injury means I can only write when I’m well enough. I have to pace rigorously and prioritise all my good health energy for writing.

In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be? I thought the angsting would stop once I got the call but I didn’t realise you just get a different set of worries – Will readers like my book? Can I write another book they’ll like? How much promo should I be doing? etc.

What was the most fun part of writing this book? The research. I was lucky enough to be writing this book while staying in Switzerland and did a lot of field trip research!

Just for fun: a year from the end of the book, where would your couple go on holiday? I see them in a campervan, touring Europe and generally having fun.

Could you be friends with any of your heroines? Yes, all of them. I don’t think I could write a heroine I didn’t like.

Do you have any tips, tricks or sacrificial rituals you do when you hit a story roadblock? Either Skype the other Minxes or invite fellow Harper Impulse author Charlotte Phillips over for a coffee. I find brainstorming with other writers always works.

‘Secrets of a Chalet Girl’ is the follow-up novella to ‘Confessions of a Chalet Girl’ and is published TODAY. The Chalet Girl series is set in Verbier, the winter playground of the rich and famous and home to the seasonnaire-set. A sexy game of truth or dare leads to secrets being revealed. Can Chalet Girl Flora trust Swiss snowboarder Zac or does he have secrets of his own?

"Playful, hot and made me smile...I couldn't put it down." 5 * review Sienna Logan, Lost to Books.

Read the first chapter of ‘Secrets of a Chalet Girl’ for free here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/174703577/Lorraine-Wilson-Secrets-of-a-Chalet-Girl

& buy here: http://smarturl.it/secretchalet  

You can also pre-order Revenge of a Chalet Girl here: http://smarturl.it/chaletrevenge

To keep up to date with Chalet Girl Series news check out my author page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LorraineWilsonWriter

Riding the Rollercoaster

Anyone under the misconception that men don't cry have obviously never watched the X Factor. My initial response watching all the tears over the weekend was irritation, until I remembered how I'd cried myself when I'd received a publisher rejection. 
And cried when I failed to place in a writing competition. Not to mention the tears of frustration trying to overcome brain injury symptoms in order to write...
If you care that much about something tears are sometimes inevitable. And you have to care that much to withstand the inevitable lows of your journey as a writer. 
The highs are fantastic- getting your first full request, the call, your first five star review, the nice email from a reader, watching your rankings rise...
But whether you're published or unpublished you will know about the lows - the rejections, not placing in a competition, a horrible review, an annoying comment from an Internet troll that you have to ignore, watching your rankings fall...

When you're hurtling down that roller coaster you just have to grit your teeth, accept you're never going to please all the people all the time and know that as quickly as you're falling you'll be rising again soon.

I came across this fabulous list on Buzfeed. It lists the number of times famous authors have been knocked back: http://www.buzzfeed.com/stmartinspress/20-brilliant-authors-whose-work-was-initially-reje-7rut
Read it, hold your head high and ride that roller coaster 
:-)
And if you want an example of how quickly fortunes can be reversed read my call story: http://minxesofromance.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/sub-to-sale-in-24-hours-my-call-story.html

Lorraine Wilson is currently completing her third Chalet Girl book for Harper Impulse.

http://smarturl.it/confessionskin

http://smarturl.it/secretchalet