Welcome to another weekend of interviews with fabulous chick lit authors in honour of International Chick Lit Month as well as delving into the secret lives of chick lit authors! Are they are sexy and jetset as we believe?
Today we have the British chick lit author Lindsey Kelk–who now lives in New York. (Chick lit authors seem to have no qualms about moving to different countries–have you noticed?) Lindsey, as well as writing a plethora of great chick lit reads, is also a beauty blogger. Chick lit authors are SO sexy! Or are they? Maybe I am just messing with you… read on to find out!
Interview with Chick Lit Author Lindsey Kelk
Jean/The Lovebug Blog: When did you first fall in love with chick lit?
Lindsey Kelk: In all honesty, I was never really a massive reader of the genre as a genre, I was one of those kids who read everything I could get my hands on – for every Sweet Dreams romance I read as a teenager, I read two Point Horrors. I do remember stealing my mum’s copy of Watermelon by Marian Keyes on holiday when I was another massive influence on me, I thought it was so funny. So funny that I nicked my step-mother’s book and still have it now, it’s the original paperback cover with the silhouette of the woman smoking. I never really sat down and thought ‘I’m going to write chick lit’ I just sat down and thought ‘I’m going to write’ and I Heart New York came out. I’m pretty happy about that.
Jean: What is the sexiest thing about being a chick lit author?
Lindsey: Ha! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed more at a question. Amazing. Thank you. Um, being able to stay in bed until nine am most days? Right now I am sat on my sofa in a ratty sweatshirt with two day dirty hair in a topknot, looking at a load of washing that needs to go to the laundrette, writing chapter eight of I Heart Christmas. It is the least sexy scene in the world.
Jean: Have you ever had a hero (or heroine) misbehave on you and totally change the course of one of your stories? If so, what did you do about it?
Lindsey: It happens. I only really start with a very vague outline, point A to point B and how I get from the beginning to the end is a mystery. I didn’t know James Jacobs (a recurring character from the I Heart books) would ever be seen again after I Heart Hollywood but he keeps popping up. I sort of love him. Jenny and Louisa are being real minxes in I Heart Christmas right now… I can’t say anymore! Starting a new series with About A Girl has been amazing – I have no idea what anyone is going to do because they’re all strangers. The I Heart gang are so familiar, I’m always pretty certain of what they’re going to do.
Jean: Have real life tidbits from your life (i.e. career dramas, boyfriends (or a friend’s boyfriend), and other capers) ever snuck their way into one of your stories?
Lindsey: Oh absolutely although the weirdest thing is that Angela seems to go through things before I do! There are definitely a few escapades that slipped through, more random adventures than major life events, thank god. I’d never cope with what my characters go through.
Jean: What is the most daring thing you have ever done?
Lindsey: Probably moving to New York. I’ve also done a lot of long distance travelling for boys that weren’t worth it but at the time, it felt terribly brave. I would like to bill them for all the airfares/car hires/years taken off my life for braving a coach from Doncaster to London on a snowy, icy Boxing Day though… love costs so much money sometimes.
Jean: What are you working on now/What would you like readers to know about you and your books, etc?
Lindsey: It’s a busy year! My new book, About A Girl, is out on July 4th and that’s the first in a new series. I’ll be over in the UK to promote that over the summer (hopefully) which should be lots of fun. Then I Heart Christmas is coming out in November, I’m writing that right now, and then I’m off to Italy in September to research the sequel to About a Girl which is out next summer! And then I’m having a sit down because it will be March 2014 and I’ll be knackered. All the info and my online meltdowns are well documented at www.lindseykelk.com. (Note from Jean: If you are a Sex in the City fan you TOTALLY have to check out Lindsey’s blog where she’s answering the questions posed by the character Carrie.)
A big warm thank you to Lindsey. Man, could you imagine having to go to Italy for research? Bliss!
Question for readers! If you could travel anywhere in the world for, er, ‘research’ where would you go? Anywhere at all! Let us know in the comment section.
Thanks for reading!
Great interview ladies!! I love that while Lindsey knows point A & B at the beginning, the journey is a mystery! Gives me hope for my own writing style! 🙂
There are SO many (disparate) places I’d love to travel … for research of course! Hong Kong, the Serengeti, Italy, France, Australia, Ireland, Greece, Egypt, Japan… sigh. One of these days! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Jemi! Whatever method gets the job done, right?
That’s a fun collection of places to travel to. I can be convinced to travel just about anywhere! I recently discovered there are some real places called Blueberry Springs and I may just have to go visit them before I write more books in the Blueberry Springs series! I think one is a spa. I’ve never been to a spa before and I’m sure it would be a real hardship going there for research, but you know, sometimes you have to make sacrifices for your work. 😉