Meet my Guest: Dorothy Ewels

Today my guest is another Cape Town debut novelist, Dorothy Ewels.

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.

I am an indie author releasing my debut novel on 22 Feb. I have a permafree shorty-short story available but this is my first full-length novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?

Love At Last was inspired by my work as a criminal court transcriptionist. One case, in particular, sparked off the idea for the first three chapters. The book doesn't follow the case at all but that case got the thought process going and, as they say, the rest is history.

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?

LOL! I didn't choose it, it chose me. When I first started writing again five years ago, I had intentions of writing erotic romance. My writing took on a life of its own and suddenly I found myself writing romantic suspense with steamy scenes instead.

What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning this book?

I have a close personal friend who was a SAPS detective for 15 years and I picked his brain relentlessly for about a year in order to get my facts straight regarding anything to do with police procedures in the book.

How do you select the names of your characters?

I have an evergrowing list of names for women, men, gender neutral and surnames so when I'm looking for character names I browse the list and see what grabs my attention. Although, sometimes a character's name will pop into my head randomly.

How do you like to collect and organise your ideas?

I am a planner so I make notes in a notebook and then I plot and outline on my whiteboard so I can remove, rearrange and add as I go.

How long did it take you to write this book?

The first draft took me about four months to write but I put it away for free months before I started the editing phase.

What's next for you as a writer?

I am currently working on my second book, which I will be releasing in July 2019.

Author Bio 

A proud member of the Romance Writer’s Organization of South Africa (ROSA), Dorothy Ewels developed a love of reading from early on. Her passion for the written word has spanned across decades until she finally put pen to paper and began her path as an indie author where reading and writing remain her first love. Married, with one son and three fur babies, she lives in Cape Town, and while she loves travelling, she cannot see herself living anywhere else. When she’s not weaving stories in her writing cave, she spends her time with family, friends, as well as enjoying crafting.

You can follow Dorothy by clicking on the following links:

http://www.dorothyewels.co.za

https://amazon.com/author/dorothyewels

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18573939.Dorothy_Ewels

https://www.facebook.com/dorothyewels

https://www.twitter.com/DorothyEwels

https://amzn.to/2V0neXG

#romance #RomanceWriter #Romantic #RomanticSuspense, #indieauthors #mustread #kindle 
#BookMarketing #dorothyewels #ROSA #romancesetinSouthAfrica #SouthAfricanromance #inspiration #amwriting #guestblog #blog #francinebeaton

Author Interview: Maureen Shigeno

Introduction- 9/12/18


Q1. Where are you from?

A. "I was born and bred in Pretoria, South Africa. After traveling for a while, we moved back to Pretoria five years ago. Soon we’ll be nomads again, with Scotland our base."

Q2. What genres and sub-genres do you write?

A. "I write contemporary romance. My one series has sports, and particularly, rugby as a theme (Playing for Glory). The other series food and drinks as a theme (Taste for Love), Blue Mountain is a family saga set in the Winelands of South Africa. You’ve probably noticed that I love series/sagas."

Q3. What do you like to do when you are not writing?

A. "I’m also a keen photographer and artist."

Q4. Did you always want to be a writer?

A. "No, I never thought about writing. I’ve blogged, wrote technical stuff, but never remotely I’ll be a fiction writer. I only started writing in July 2016."

Q5. What is your time of year?

A. "I love all seasons for different reasons, but if I have to choose it will be possibly spring and autumn (fall). Spring literally put a spring in my step. It’s probably because, a dreary winter, everything is suddenly bright and vibrant and full of life. I love the northern hemisphere autumns, because of the colors. Here in the southern you don’t have these seasons like you have in the northern hemisphere."

Q6. How many books do you have out currently?

A. "My third book, Obstruction, will be published on 1 September, and my fourth, Making the Right Call, in October. I’m also publishing three novellas between October and November, which will be released as a box set in December in English and Afrikaans. So, to answer your question, currently two—by the end of November 10!"

Q7. Wow! You've been busy. It's amazing how fast your putting them out. It really shows your dedication to your work. What is your favorite song? (video posted above)

A. "Ooh, I have so many favorites, how can I choose? Okay, let me give you one current : Ed Sheeran’s Perfect. I’m actually using it in a new novel as the music for a modern ballet."

Q8. Are you a full-time writer or do you have an outside job?

A. "I’m one of the lucky ones being able to write full-time."

Q9. What is the best part of your day?

A. "Mornings – I’m my most creative early in the mornings. Evenings because that is the time I spend with my family."

Q10. Can you tell me a bit more about yourself that maybe not many fans know?

A. "I have my own romance story. I met my husband on a Saturday, 6 June. I saw him on and the Monday before he had to leave to join his ship – he was in the British Merchant Navy. The next time I saw him was on 30 October the same year, when I him in Scotland. Those days were the beginning of the internet and cell phones. Our contact was sporadic at first, with him at sea and then on a course in Aberdeen. We had to rely on letters while he was at sea, and then later on, when he was in Aberdeen, we could email. We were both 35 when we met and I at that stage, although I had many friends and social life, had given up on finding . And then I met him on a cold, miserable day in Cape Town, and the rest is history."

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Francine's closing words for fans/ followers:

"Thank you for reading my books. No author can exist without the support of our readers, and we love to get feedback from you. Leave a review if you can or, just send me a message. "
​

I had the pleasure of meeting Francine on a Facebook group site a few months ago. It was instant friendship. Whenever we start talking, we just go on and on. She is a wonderful, talented woman that I respect and feel so blessed to have met her. Below are a few of her links where you can find her and all her beautiful romance novels. I personally have read and fell in love with her stories. I know you will too! Until next time!

@Maureen Shigeno

Guest Post: Scribblers's Sojourn

Monday, March 19, 2018

The inspiration behind Eye on the Ballby Francine Beaton

Maybe years of following rugby and the increasing popularity of the game, had been the inspiration behind, or the reason for the series, Playing for Glory, of which Eye on the Ball is the first book to be published.

When you meet a fellow rugby enthusiast on a boat cruise on the Hudson during the Fourth of July celebrations, there had to be a reason why such a meeting made an impression. It was only on the long flight from New York to Johannesburg that the idea of the series started to form. Before then, I never considered writing about my beloved sport, not even romances. For the eight months since that New York trip, I plotted and wrote the first six books in the series and outlines of several other books. None of them was Eye on the Ball.
The first scene of Eye on the Ball came while watching a Six Nation’s Rugby Match on television. I got up, went to my study to type it up. When I was finished, I had the names of the two characters, Jakes and Ange, and I had the first scene of the book, but that was it.

When I plotted the series approximately eight months before, I created a team list. I planned the first six books, and built the team around the characters in those books, which I’ve written in that eight months. The only character that I had on my team list who might have been Jakes was the eighth man, JJ du Plessis, who didn’t have a story. He was just a number in the team. After I wrote that first scene, I thought it was going to be a Christmassy kind of story and called it, Under the Mistletoe.

After writing that first scene, Jakes kept on popping in my head and I spent more time thinking about him than I did the manuscript I’ve been working on. A few days after I’ve written that scene, the rugby world was shocked by the passing away of the Wallaby Dan Vickerman. There were many panel discussions and articles about his passing, but a discussion on a New Zealand talk show about Dan’s death and the struggles of professional sportsmen and women, really caught my attention. One panellist said that it was not uncommon that men in a macho environment don’t talk about their emotions and fears as they don’t want to appear weak. That phrase caught my attention and stuck.

I thought about it constantly. The only research before I continued writing was what could cause men in macho environments to fear that they were weak—or any man for that matter. I had my story in a matter of minutes.The following morning I woke up at four, went to sit at the computer and started writing. It was amazing. It just flowed. The rest of the research I had to do along the way or afterwards. When I finished with the first draft barely a week after I’ve started, I had more than 130000 words.

After writing Eye on the Ball, I realized that this was not going to be the typical sports romance I envisioned when I planned the series. Jakes was the catalyst, I guess. Although Jakes had the looks, the physicality, macho male image, the intelligence and other attributes to make him an alpha male, Jakes wanted to highlight important issues that had nothing to do with his looks. I had no choice other than to comply.

Eye on the Ball is about a man who struggles to keep his focus on what he felt was important—his teammates, his team and their end goal. It is also about a woman who is strong enough to deal with Jakes’ fears and insecurities, although it may not sound like it. It sounds like Jakes’ story and it mostly is but Ange is one of those women who doesn’t need the limelight. It doesn’t make her weak.http://terrirochenski.blogspot.com/2018/03/guest-post-inspiration-behind-eye-on.html