Today it’s the turn of friend and author Glynis Smy, to share her secrets with us. I was lucky to meet Glynis at the Theakston’s Crime Festival in Harrogate, and delighted that we’ve kept in regular touch since.

Author Bio:

I live in the coastal town of Dovercourt, near the port of Harwich, Essex, in England.

I write novels. My historical romance often has a twist to the tale. The Victorian era has always held my interest, and I love taking my imagination back to that period in time. I also enjoy writing crime elements into my stories, medical romance, poetry and short stories.

My latest genre is crime, where I introduce Detective Morag ‘Rags’ Blake. The book, WHITEFOAM, will be available in 2018.

 

So over to Glynis:-

 

Which 5 pieces of music/songs would you include in the soundtrack to your life and why?

 

Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel. I walked down the aisle as Mrs Smy, to that song. The Vicar was very trendy in the ’70’s and allowed me to have my way!

Summertime by Gershwin is the first song my daughter mastered on the clarinet. It was hauntingly beautiful and became my favourite song. As a surprise, she walked down the aisle with her dad to the music and gave me the biggest grin. It was her parting gift to me as she entered into a new life.

Run by Leona Lewis, this song came out when my dad could no longer understand the telephone. Alzheimer’s had tightened its grip. I lived in Cyprus and he was in a nursing home in the UK. He was so confused at times and all I had left was his voice. When he could no longer hold a conversation, we sang our song, She Wears Red Feathers. Run came on the radio the last time I ever held a conversation with him, I knew it was the last time and was heartbroken. The words of the song struck home. I felt they were from him. As I write this it is the fifth anniversary of his death but that song can have him at my side in seconds.

String Bridge by my dear friend in Greece, Jessica Bell. Jessica is an author/songwriter/singer (Keep Shelley in Athens), and book cover designer. The song was the first time I’d heard her sing and I was hooked.

Finally, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, it was my son and daughter-in-law’s first dance. They left the next day for a new life in Canada. They are still there and I miss them terribly but the song transports me to a very special day in my life.

 

Highlight 5 things (apart from family and friends) you’d find it hard to live without.

My mobile ‘phone.

My laptop.

My car.

My specs.

My memory.

However, I’m not a material girl, these just keep me connected with my writing world and that’s a special place in my life!

 

Can you offer 5 pieces of advice you’d give to your younger self?

 

Be bolder, braver and believe in yourself.

Regret nothing, simply learn from mistakes and move on.

Those who hurt you are not worth your tears, step away.

Go follow your dream. Nursing was your vocation and pleased your parents, writing was your dream.

Don’t wait until you are fifty to write your first novel!

 

Tell us 5 things that most people don’t know about you.

 

I danced at the Albert Hall to Lord of the Dance.

I’m addicted to fruit flavoured sweets.

I’ve never read Alice in Wonderland and have a phobia about certain characters.

I’m a Hallowe’en baby, born on the cusp.

I adore primates.

 

What are the first 5 things you’d have on your bucket list?

 

To visit Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and many other counties in the UK. Born here, travelled & lived abroad, but never visited my own country!

To have my children / grandchildren, in the same room at the same time for at least one day.

To have Christmas in Canada.

Canadian Hallowe’en is happening this year for my 60^th, so that is one off the bucket list!

To enjoy a break with my three girlfriends from school. Over fifty years of friendship deserves celebrating.

 

Thanks for sharing with us Glynis, very wise words for your younger self, that I suspect echo what many of us only realise with the wisdom of age and hindsight. So pleased that your 60th trip to Canada was also made more special by the arrival of a freshly minted grandson.

o – 0 – o

Glynis’s Books

 

Maggie’s Child by Glynis Smy

Amazon UK Bestseller 2014 / 2015

Shortlisted – Festival of Romance Fiction New Talent Award 2014

When farmer’s wife, Maggie Sawbury, gives birth to her fifth child, the only one that has lived and the result of an extra-marital affair, she is heartbroken and desperate. Maggie knows her joyless life with a bully of a husband is not one a child should endure, and she leaves the baby at the roadside to be found by passers-by.

Her money-driven husband announces he has found her another job in the village of Redgrave, aside from the many tasks she has on Windtop farm. He is totally unaware the position comes with a secret. One that frightens and yet brings joy to Maggie. She is to become wet-nurse to her abandoned child.

Love, and the possibility of incest, threaten to open old wounds, and Maggie has several decisions to make. However, will they be the right ones? If she tells all she knows, it will bring about the destruction of three families. Equally, her silence could be just as destructive. She shares her secret with another, the result changes her life, and a death brings with it more secrets. Will Maggie stay or will she walk away and find the love she craves?

 

The Ripper Romance/Suspense series featuring Ripper, My Love and Ripped Genes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can keep up to date with Glynis via

HER WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

AMAZON