Today I’m delighted to welcome Terry Tyler, an author I first started chatting to on Twitter, so I can confirm she does indeed love it, as she admits too later on.

 

Bio

Terry Tyler is a writer with sixteen books on Amazon. Her latest three are part of her
new post-apocalyptic series; ‘UK2’, the third novel in the trilogy, will be available in the
spring. She is proud to be self-published, and writes many blog posts about writing and
self- or indie publishing in general, as well as being an avid reader and book reviewer;
she is part of Rosie Amber’s reviewing team.
Terry is a recently converted vegan, loves The Walking Dead, Netflix, winter, history,
South Park and the countryside. She lives with her husband in the North East of
England.

 

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

 

‘Freebird’ by Lynryd Skynryd.  It reminds me of the 1970s and being in my teens, the pubs I used to go to (no one asked for ID in 1976!), the bands I saw, when everyone wore denim everything.  It’s one of those songs that makes you want to be hitching down a desert highway at sunset, and has remained a favourite.

‘Hangman Jury’ by Aerosmith.  I was a fully signed-up rock chick during the late 80s and early 90s (!!), and went to see bands all the time, but none were greater than the mighty Aerosmith!  I still love them now ~ this is my all-time favourite track by them, I think, from the 1987 album ‘Permanent Vacation’.  It’s the rock and bluesy side of them that I love the most.

‘The Lark Ascending’ by Vaughan Williams.  I discovered this piece of music when I lived in a lovely house in Northampton, that we called the Enchanted House.  I bought it with my ex-husband in 1999, and we knew as soon as we walked through the front door that we had to have it.  It had an enchanted garden, too.  In the summer, I often had this music on loudly, with the windows open, so we could hear it in the garden, too.  It’s just so beautiful.

The theme tune to The Walking Dead, by Bear McCreary.  Simply because it’s my favourite TV show ever, and if I was far away it would always make me think of being at home watching stuff we love on our stupidly huge telly, which is probably where I am happiest!

‘Nimrod’, Elgar’s 9th Enigma Variation.  Played by the Band of the Royal Marines (CD version) at my father’s funeral in October 2017; he’d said this was the music he wanted.  There were representatives there from the Royal British Legion and Royal Engineers, with standard bearers; it was perfect.

  

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

 

The means to write.  Even a biro and notepad will do.  I’ve always written, from childhood, and not just novels; I’m talking about letters, articles, lists, funny bits and bobs, diaries ~ though I haven’t kept a diary since 1990, when a boyfriend read it, and discovered how madly in love with him I really was.  Six months of playing it cool, all gone in a couple of pages!

Twitter.  Seriously.  I love the site, it’s an endless source of entertainment to me.  Where else can you find links to so many interesting articles, news, etc?  I’ve met people on there who have become real life friends, my sister has built her entire, successful business via it, it’s ever-changing, a place to discover new books, films, art, photography, funny stuff, and a wonderful way to get my books ‘out there’.  When I’m having a self-imposed internet break, I always miss it.

My tablet with its Kindle app.  I read every day, and always on this.  It’s light to hold, convenient, I can download on a whim, store all my books, highlight good bits ~ and have a quick game of backgammon when I need a break from reading.

My hair straighteners.  My hair in its natural state is frizzy corkscrews.  The time it takes to straighten it after every wash is so worth it.  Come the zombie apocalypse, when power fails, I have already decided to have it all braided.  If I can find a hairdresser to do it before The Dead start knocking on the window, that is.

My photographs.  I’ve been snapping away since 1976.  Years ago, friends used to say, ‘oh God, she’s got her camera out again’… now, they’re pleased I captured all those random nights out in 1984, or whatever.  The older I get, the more I treasure pictures of my family, too, especially of those no longer with us.

 

 

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

 

Develop good eating/drinking habits.  What you put inside yourself matters.  Now that I am older and more careful, I wonder how much better I would have felt/looked all my life if I’d always been so.  Also, all those pigeons can come home to roost sooner than you think; I think I stopped treating myself as if I was immortal just in time.  Get rid of any excess weight, and exercise enough.  NOW.  After 30, it’s harder to maintain any sort of reasonable weight without employing methods that are bad for you.  After 40 and 50 it’s REALLY hard.

Appreciate your parents.  Find common ground with them, visit them, understand how much they love you and everything they do for you.  When they are gone, you’ll wish you had.

Listen and learn.  Now, I wish I had enough time to learn about everything, and I simply don’t have enough years.  Read, think, take note.  If you have an interest, develop it.  Your life will be far richer for it.  And travel, if you have any inclination for it.  Because your teens, 20s and early 30s, when you’re young, fit, and have no responsibilities, is the time to make the most of that youth, energy and freedom.  Get on that train, now!

Don’t waste time and emotional energy on rubbish relationships.  The boyfriend who will never love you as you love him, or the one who wants more of you than you can give, who you’re trying to convince yourself you like more than you do … the ‘fair weather’ friends, those who persuade you into activity that doesn’t feel right, the people you don’t really like much but don’t like to say you don’t want to see.  It’s all a waste of time, and when you’re spending valuable hours with them, you’re shutting out the possibility of all the people you could meet, who will add to your life, not detract from it: the radiators, not the drains.

Don’t try to fit a round peg in a square hole.  What your parents and teachers want you to be/do might not be right for YOU.  I spent years and years trying to fit into ‘straight’ jobs, but was happiest when I was self-employed or doing something a bit more fun.  I suspect I’d have been happier going to live in some off-the-grid commune than working in HM Inspector of Taxes (see below!).

 

 

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

 

I am terrifically anti-social.  Mostly, I hate going out and socialising.  Which is weird, because until I was in my late 40s, I loved it.  I went off it at the same time as I went off drinking; I am sure the two are related!  Now, I just want to be at home, and I only go out a few times a year.

In the 1980s, I had a shop.  Gifty stuff.  With my first husband, who was a goldsmith.  I used to make big fluffy mohair jumpers, and sold loads of them.

I am possibly the worst driver in the world.  I had 30 lessons in a gear car, until the instructor said, “I think we’ve gone as far as we can go”, and suggested I try an automatic.  Took me about 70 lessons before I took my test.  I passed it, but haven’t driven since, because I know I am not safe behind the wheel.

I used to be a civil servant.  HM Inspector of Taxes, Unemployment Benefit Office, and JobCentre.  The first was incredibly, horrendously boring.  ‘Have the new paperclips come yet, Enid?’ ‘They’re over there, Mr Mellish’.  (Quote: Monty Python)

Despite my outgoing social media persona, I don’t like talking to people in real life about my writing/books.  The other day, someone I’d only just met said, “X told me you’re a writer, is that true?”  I just said ‘yes’ and changed the subject.  On the same day someone else asked me what sort of thing I write, and I stuttered and mumbled through a vague explanation that probably ensured the person would never buy any of my books.  One of the reasons I dislike talking about it is that at some point, a person will always ask how many I sell, or if I make a living from it, which I find rude.  I always want to reply, ‘I’ll answer that if you’ll tell me how much you earn.’  Or that person, who knows nothing of the 2017 publishing industry, will be sniffy once they discover you are not published by Simon & Schuster.

 

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

 

Can this bucket list be things you would love to do, not things that are actually possible?  If so…

Visit Iceland, Greenland, New Zealand, Bolivia, and so many other countries, but I am sure I will never do any of this, for various reasons I won’t go into.  Should have done all that travelling when I was younger!

Write historical fiction.  I adore history, read loads of historical fiction and would love to write it, but I am wary of doing so because the research will be an enormous task, and I am sure I could never write it as well as my favourites.

I’d love to live in a log cabin, by water, just me and my husband, miles away from the rest of the world.  As long as it had Wi-Fi…!  I keep thinking that it must be possible, somehow…

Time travel.  Wouldn’t that be marvellous?  I’d like to go back, not forwards.  Too frightening.

I don’t have a fifth one.  I think I must, therefore, be pretty contented!

 

Thanks so much for taking part in Five on Friday Terry. Being of a similar vintage I remember being a teenager in the 70’s and indeed it was just as well no-one asked for ID!!  Some great advice for your younger self as well, what a pity we have to wait so long to be wise. Hope you get your log cabin by water, it sounds idyllic. 

  o – 0 – o

Terry’s Books 

Recent works

Tipping Point (Project Renova Book 1)

The year is 2024. A new social networking site bursts onto the scene. Private Life promises total privacy, with freebies and financial incentives for all. Across the world, a record number of users sign up.

A deadly virus is discovered in a little known African province, and it’s spreading—fast. The UK announces a countrywide vaccination programme. Members of underground group Unicorn believe the disease to be man-made, and that the people are being fed lies driven by a vast conspiracy.

Vicky Keating’s boyfriend, Dex, is working for Unicorn over two hundred miles away when the first UK outbreak is detected in her home town of Shipden, on the Norfolk coast. The town is placed under military controlled quarantine and, despite official assurances that there is no need for panic, within days the virus is unstoppable. 

In London, Travis begins to question the nature of the top secret data analysis project he is working on, while in Newcastle there are scores to be settled…

 

Lindisfarne (Project Renova Book 2)

Six months after the viral outbreak, civilised society in the UK has broken down. Vicky and her group travel to the Northumbrian island of Lindisfarne, where they are welcomed by an existing community. 

New relationships are formed, old ones renewed. The lucky survivors adapt, finding strength they didn’t know they possessed, but the honeymoon period does not last long. Some cannot accept that the rules have changed, and, for just a few, the opportunity to seize power is too great to pass up. Egos clash, and the islanders soon discover that there are greater dangers than not having enough to eat.

Meanwhile, in the south, Brian Doyle discovers that rebuilding is taking place in the middle of the devastated countryside. He comes face to face with Alex Verlander from Renova Workforce Liaison, who makes him an offer he can’t refuse. But is UK 2.0 a world in which he will want to live?

 

Patient Zero 

The year is 2024.

A mysterious virus rages around the UK.
Within days, ‘bat fever’ is out of control.

Patient Zero is a collection of nine short stories featuring minor characters from the post apocalyptic Project Renova series. All stories are completely ‘stand alone’.

 

The Devil You Know – See my review here

Every serial killer is someone’s friend, spouse, lover or child….

Young women are being murdered in the Lincolnshire town of Lyndford, where five people fear someone close to them might be the monster the police are searching for.
One of them is right.

Juliet sees an expert’s profile of the average serial killer and realises that her abusive husband, Paul, ticks all the boxes. 

Maisie thinks her mum’s new boyfriend seems too good to be true. Is she the only person who can see through Gary’s friendly, sensitive façade?

Tamsin is besotted with her office crush, Jake. Then love turns to suspicion…

Steve is used to his childhood friend, Dan, being a loud mouthed Lothario with little respect for the truth. But is a new influence in his life leading him down a more sinister path?

Dorothy’s beloved son, Orlando, is keeping a secret from her—a chilling discovery forces her to confront her worst fears.

 

Best Seller

Three women, one dream: to become a successful author.

Eden Taylor has made it—big time. A twenty-three year old with model girl looks and a book deal with a major publisher, she’s outselling the established names in her field and is fast becoming the darling of the media.

Becky Hunter has money problems. Can she earn enough from her light-hearted romance novels to counteract boyfriend Alex’s extravagant spending habits, before their rocky world collapses?

Hard up factory worker Jan Chilver sees writing as an escape from her troubled, lonely life. She is offered a lifeline—but fails to read the small print…

In the competitive world of publishing, success can be merely a matter of who you know—and how ruthless you are prepared to be to get to the top.

 

Older Works

 

Keep up to date with Terry via

Twitter

Her book blog

Her book reviews