Five on Friday with T A Williams @TAWilliamsBooks

Today I’m delighted to feature best selling author Trevor Williams who writes romantic comedies as TA Williams (his original editor felt it would be a good idea to keep his gender opaque). Trevor’s early books were thrillers and historical novels and his move to romantic fiction is something he still finds hard to explain. He thinks it probably lies in his need to do his best to provide something to cheer his readers up, especially in the face of the many horrors in today’s world. His books certainly provide escapism to some gorgeous locations, even if travel to them is currently difficult.

Over to Trevor :

I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I did languages at university a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to Italy for eight years as a teacher of English. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long-since grown up) where I ran an English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only eight years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract.

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

Joe Cocker – With a Little Help From My Friends. I was at Nottingham University in the late sixties (I am very old) and one of my friends was social secretary. A few of us used to get roped in to look after the artists who were booked to perform on Saturday nights. Joe Cocker was a very nice but he had a serious drink problem and after two triple spirits (rum, vodka and gin mixed as I remember) he threw up all over me and then passed out. We carried him up to the Great Hall, poured gallons of coffee down him until he was able to crawl (nb still not able to walk) onto stage. I always remember seeing him gradually come alive as the intro started playing and by the time he had started singing he was upright and he sang non stop for an hour and a half. Some things you never forget.

Jacques Brel – Ne Me Quitte Pas. I did French and German at university and spent a year trying to teach English to teenagers in a little town in eastern France as part of the course. While I was there, I developed a taste for Jacques Brel (even though he was Belgian), along with red wine and French girls (well, actually, all girls really). Listening to it again now, I can still remember all the words – and yet half the time I walk into a room nowadays I can’t remember why I’m there… Funny thing the human brain.

Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine. One of my lasting regrets is that I only discovered how to enjoy dancing in later life. When I was younger, dancing was a means to an end (meeting girls) and I was so shy I needed four or five pints inside me before I could pluck up the courage to ask one to dance with me. Needless to say, after all that booze, my breath was probably toxic and most of them used to disappear into the Ladies, never to return. Is there a rear exit to those places? If not, there must have been quite a crush in there. Anyway, this song still manages to get me up and swaying about. I love it.

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody. I used to run a big English Language School and part of my job was travelling abroad (all over the world) promoting the place. I remember sitting in my car at Portsmouth docks waiting for the Brittany Ferries boat to France and listening to this track on the cassette (I told you I was old, didn’t I?) – all 12 minutes of it – and I was hooked. I played it over and over again all the way down the autoroute to Spain. It still takes me back to those interminable drives with a boot full of brochures on the way out and bottles of wine on the way back.

Pavarotti, Carreras, Domingo – Nessun Dorma. As I spent eight years of my life in Italy, I feel I need to include something in Italian although Italian “pop” never did it for me. I will always remember watching the outdoor concert by the “Three Tenors” at Rome’s Terme di Caracalla and even now, listening to it again, I get a shiver up and down my spine.

What five things (apart from family and friends) would you find it hard to live without.

It grieves me to say it, but a computer. I struggled for many years against what I still see as a creeping plague, ultimately leading to the robots taking over the world, but now I give in. I need my computer to write on, to get information from and to do everyday things like banking and booking doctor’s appointments. I can’t do without it now.

A pair of trainers/boots. I have the good fortune to live in a little village in Devon with open countryside almost right outside my door. I spend hours every week walking through the fields and on the common and – particularly in these troubled times – I find it relaxing, refreshing and hopefully it might keep me from putting on too much weight.

My bike. I used to do a lot of long distance cycling (all over Europe) and although my long distance days have been curtailed by various health issues (not least a bent coccyx after going into a massive pothole in the road last year), I still love getting out on the bike. Cycling, like walking, gives me a chance to let my mind roam and really helps with planning my books.

My garden. I do not have green fingers but, fortunately, my wife does. I mow the lawn and do the heavy digging but I leave the creative stuff to her. We made an interesting discovery last year – we have a pair of owls living in one of the trees.

Do you know? I can’t really think of anything else so vital I couldn’t live without it. I’m not fussed about clothes, I drive an 8 year old car and I rarely listen to music. All I watch on TV is the rugby and a few cheesy sitcoms for inspiration but I could happily do without. Maybe I’m too easily pleased, but nothing springs to mind.

Give five pieces of advice to your younger self?

I can’t stress this one too highly – LEARN TO TOUCH TYPE. I have 22 books published so far and at an average of 80,000 words each that makes almost two million words I have laboriously typed with two fingers (if I’m lucky). If only I could type. Sigh…

Girls don’t like boys who have been drinking too much beer (see above).

I wish I had asked my dad about his experiences in the war but he didn’t talk about it and I was too self-absorbed to ask. So my advice would be: talk to your parents while you’ve got them. They aren’t just an embarrassment all the time.

Do not smoke. It isn’t cool and it does you no end of harm.

If you are lucky enough to have an old banger (I had a wonderful old VW Beetle which cost £200), hang onto it. By the time you’re my age it will be worth a fortune.

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

I met and married my wife, Mariangela, in Italy and we still speak Italian at home all the time even though we’ve been back in the UK for over forty years. At least it meant our daughter became bilingual without moving a muscle and I’m counting on the mental activity to stave off the onset of Alzheimers.

I wrote my first book when I was in my twenties but I only got picked up by a publisher when I was in my sixties. Rejection letters? I’ve got a file the thickness of a phone book.

I love DIY. I really enjoy mending stuff, painting stuff, fiddling with stuff. I always did. Interestingly my brother can’t change a light bulb.

A few years ago I cycled the Camino di Santiago. I went the whole hog and started from here, cycled all the way down through France and over the Pyrenees. It took three weeks and came to 1,900 kms. Since then I have been back to the Camino on several occasions and find it fascinating. You can walk over a hill in the middle of nowhere and find yourself confronted by a whopping great basilica surrounded by open fields. It is one of those things I think people should all try to do.

In spite of writing romance, I am not a romantic person. My wife and I forget birthdays, we both forgot our 40^th wedding anniversary and I can’t remember the last time we gave each other presents. Maybe writing romance is some sort of escape mechanism.

Tell us five things you’d still like to do or achieve.

Having cycled it, I would really like to walk at least some of the Camino but I now have dodgy knees so that may not be possible.

Of course I would love to have a number one bestseller or see one of my books turned into a movie but to be honest I’m just very happy to know that several hundred thousand people all over the world have read my stuff and only a relatively small number of them hated it.

When the virus has been banished, I would like to spend a few weeks in Sicily. I have been there (on business) twice but barely for 24 hours each time. It is a wonderful island with a fascinating history and I would like to make it the setting for one of my books.

I wish I could influence the way people (and governments) think about the future of the planet. As far as I can see, short term expediency and selfishness mean that we are screwing things up for our children and their children. My next book, Secrets on the Italian Island (coming out in July), deals with the subjects of conservation and pollution but I wish I could do more.

I wish I could get another dog. Our old dog, Merlin, was the most wonderful dog in the whole history of the world (all right, I admit I may be a little biased) and when he died my wife was so upset she refused to get another. That’s why I put a black Labrador in all my books as a homage to Merlin.

Thanks so much for joining me today Trevor, I loved this. Being of an older vintage myself, the music choices brought up their own memories for me. I heard it Through the Grapevine has a dancing link for me too – it was a record I remember from an ill fated few weeks at a dance class. Can’t remember what ‘dance’ was associated with it but I’m always back in 1968 when I hear it. Bohemian Rhapsody always takes me back to Sixth Form and as a football fan Nessun Dorma will always be associated with Italia ’90, and more personally hearing Russell Watson sing it at Old Trafford in front of a stunned 57,000 fans at the close of the 1999 season.

I’m pleased your happy with only four essentials, it’s a sign of a contented man. Happy also to see the Camino de Santiago appearing, you have my utmost respect for having cycled your Camino, from home to Santiago. I managed to walk the Camino Ingles in 2012, which was a much shorter, but more do-able distance for an out of practice walker. I have a fascination with the Camino and I’m currently cycling it ‘virtually’, sadly only on an exercise bike, but I’m trying to immerse myself fully into what I would have experienced. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to walk a section of it again. It also guaranteed I bought Chasing Shadows to add to my ‘Camino’ collection. Here’s hoping your dodgy knees also hold up for a return one day.

Wishing you all the best wish your future hopes and never say never about your dog. Sometimes life works in mysterious ways. It’s a lovely way of paying homage to Merlin to have him in your books though.

Books by TA Williams

Escape to Tuscany Series

Secrets on the Italian Island (Escape to Tuscany Book 3) Kindle Edition

Secrets on the Italian Island (Book 3) – Published 8 July and available to pre-orderHer work has got in the way of relationships before – but never like this

Anna’s job as a geologist takes her all over the world, including to the beautiful island of Elba, where she’s sent to look for precious metals. And the island isn’t the only thing that’s gorgeous – she can’t believe her luck when she meets windsurfer Marco and sparks fly.

But Anna must keep her role on Elba a secret to avoid upsetting the locals, which means lying to Marco even as they grow closer. When her old friend Toby visits, Anna suddenly finds herself torn between the attentions of the two men. However, Anna’s not the only one keeping secrets.

Is Marco being entirely honest with her? And why did Toby really come to visit?

Five on Friday with T A Williams @TAWilliamsBooks

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

What five things (apart from family and friends) would you find it hard to live without.

Give five pieces of advice to your younger self?

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

Tell us five things you’d still like to do or achieve.

Books by TA Williams

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