Lookout for Debut Author Christy McKellen

Congratulations Christy on your debut ‘HER NEW WORST ENEMY’ with Crimson Romance. How exciting! Could you tell us a little about your book?


Thanks so much for having me here today. Her New Worst Enemy is my debut novel, which makes me a brand spanking new author – I still get a thrill writing that!

It’s about a woman who’s recently been dumped by her boyfriend and is mentally in a bad place. She feels she’s been robbed of her long-planned-for future and has hit rock bottom. Now it looks as though her best friend is about to be taken advantage of by a gold-digger and Ellie’s determined to save her from what she perceives to be certain doom. Unfortunately for Ellie (or not so unfortunately as it turns out) the only person that can help is her brother’s best friend, playboy extraordinaire, Gideon DeLancy. As I’m sure you can guess, sparks fly between them!

How thrilling it must be to see your first book in print. Would you mind sharing some details about your path to publication? How long had you been writing before receiving the “Call”? Any major challenges along the way? And definitely let us know your “Call” story. We never get enough of those. J

I’ve been writing for pleasure for years, but I started to get serious about wanting to be published after my second child was born. That was about five years ago now and it’s taken me that long to learn my craft and write the right story and send it to the right person at the right time.

I was at the museum with my three children when I got ‘the call’. Only it wasn’t a call, it was an e-mail. I was wandering around the stuffed animal section while the kids did some colouring and decided to quickly check my e-mails before my husband turned up to meet us. I didn’t for one second expect there to be anything interesting in my in-box, my mind was rather distracted by the enormous stuffed gorilla glaring at me – but there it was, a mail from Jennifer Lawler saying she loved Her New Worst Enemy and wanted to offer me a contract for it. I wandered around in a daze until my husband arrived and all I could do was wave my phone in his face and grin. He took us all out for milkshakes to celebrate. That was a good day.

Do you have a specific writing routine? Daily word count goals? Any quirks?

I don’t have a routine because my writing has to fit around everything else in my life, but I try to get some words down each day. I would love to say I manage 1,000 a day, but I rarely do. I often get a bit of time to write at lunchtime once my youngest has gone for a nap. She’s starting to grow out of that now though. I have a feeling it’s going to be late nights and early mornings from here on in!

For you, what is the most challenging part of writing a book? Beginnings? Middles? Ends? How do you conquer these problem areas?

I don’t usually have a problem with beginnings and ends – I tend to know what I want to write for both of those - but those saggy middles give me gyp sometimes. If I’m stuck on a particular scene, I’ll skip on and write the next thing I’m inspired to write about. That often helps me untangle what isn’t working in the previous scene and I can go back to it, unpick it and start again. Knowing what’s going to happen is a big help.

If there was one thing you wished you’d have known before you got published, what would it be?

I never anticipated how much promotion I would need to do. I was aware that publishers don’t have big budgets for book launches, but it didn’t occur to me how much extra writing about the book - and myself - I would need to do to promote it. It’s been great fun though. I feel like I’ve learnt some things about myself in the process J

What’s the title of your next book to hit the shelves? When can we expect it?

The working title is Wanderlust, but I’m pretty sure that’s going to change. It’s about a workaholic and a wanderer stuck together in the South of France. I’ve already written quite a bit of it, but it needs lots more TLC before it can be sent anywhere. Realistically, it’s probably going to be a few months before it’s ready to meet the world.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing with us!

It’s been fun, thanks for having me!


Blurb:

Six months ago Ellie Holdsworthy’s life was all planned out - kids, wedding, happy ever after - until her boyfriend dumped her for another woman. Now her best friend, Penny - an heiress to a small fortune - looks set to run off with a gold-digger, and Ellie is determined to save her from certain doom . Unfortunately, the only person who can help is the one person she’d rather not ask...

Little does Ellie know, persuading her brother’s best friend - commitment phobic, playboy businessman, Gideon DeLancy - to hold an intervention at his beautiful Georgian manor would be the easy part. Keeping her hands off him is a whole other matter. 

Gideon doesn’t intend to fall for his friend's snarky sister, and he sure as hell doesn’t expect their weekend to develop into a full-on sex-fest. When passion takes a strangle-hold, their differences don’t seem to matter. After all, a torrid weekend affair should be the easiest thing in the world to walk away from, so why are they finding it so difficult...?

 

Buy Links:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / itumes

 

About the author:

Formerly a Video and Radio Producer, Christy now spends her time as either a slave to her children or her muse. When she’s not writing spicy romance, she can be found stomping around the South West of England, glomming her to-be-read pile or escaping from real life with her rather delicious husband. 

 

Christy loves to hear from readers.

You can contact her at: 

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