Day: July 11, 2018

Blog Tour: An Artisan Lovestyle: A Conversation with Kiltie Jackson

Today I am one of the stops on the blog tour for An Artisan Lovestyle by Kiltie Jackson. I interviewed her and there is also an awesome international giveaway for an Amazon gift-card!  If you win then you should buy a copy of An Artisan Lovestyle! This is one I personally hope to read soon.

Book Description:

Are you ‘living’ your life or just living your life?

Elsa Clairmont was widowed barely five years after marrying her childhood sweetheart. She has struggled to come to terms with the loss and, six years later, has almost ceased to live herself. She does just enough to get by.

Danny Delaney is the ultimate ‘Mr Nice Guy’. He’s kind, caring and sweet. A talented artist in his teens, his abusive mother ruined his career in art and he turned his back on his exceptional gift. Now, he does just enough to get by.

On New Year’s Eve, both Danny and Elsa die in unrelated accidents.

Thanks to some poker playing shenanigans, Elsa’s husband Harry, and Danny’s old Art teacher, William, manage to orchestrate a deal with Death that allows Danny and Elsa to live for one more year on the condition they both agree
to complete three tasks.

They have until the last chime of Big Ben on the 31st December to fulfil their quests.

If they succeed, they stay in the world of the living.

If they should fail however…

‘An Artisan Lovestyle’ is a story of personal growth and self-discovery as two people find themselves forced to make overdue changes in their lives, changes in other people’s lives, and all with the added challenge of
finding true love before their time runs out.

Will they do it?
Can they do it?

After all, it’s a matter of Life or Death…

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK


JRR (Jessica’s Reading Room): Did you always want to become an author?

It wasn’t something I had ever given conscious thought to and it was only when I was at a career low-point that I realised this was something I wanted to do. As soon as I made the decision to put some serious effort into the part-time dabbling I had been doing up to that point, I knew with a deep certainty that I had finally made a good call on my future.

JRR: And now you have two completed books for us to read!  Who was the most influential author you read when you were growing up?  Did his/her writings influence you to want to become an author?

I mostly read Enid Blyton as a child and then moved into Catherine Cookson and Jackie Collins (I know – you couldn’t get two authors more far apart in writing styles!) when I got into my teens. I wouldn’t say that any of them inspired me to pick up a pen and write. I think I can blame my own over active imagination for that.

JRR:  Who is your favorite author as an adult? Who inspires you?

I have several favourite authors – Susanna Gregory, Erica James & Karen Swan come immediately to mind. I would like to think my writing style is similar to Erica James as her books are multi-layered with the storyline wrapping itself around a number of different characters. This adds a depth to the story which I like and I have found the same trait coming through in my own work.

JRR:  What inspires you to write? 

Probably escapism! I have a day job which I stopped enjoying a long time ago but bills need to be paid. My writing is my release from the frustration of that. When I write, I feel I have achieved something, that I’m finally doing something I truly enjoy. As soon as I sit down at my writing desk, I feel all the stress of the day just ebb away. Some people de-stress by going to the gym, I do it with writing.

JRR: I understand about bills needed to be paid!  What does your writing process consist of? Do you research or just ‘go with the flow’, Handwrite or type,  do you have music playing or silence?

I mostly go with the flow and research as I go along. When I sit down to begin a new novel, I will have the bones of an idea. I always know how it begins, what happens in the middle and how it will end. For these bits, I will research in advance if it is required. All the stuff in-between, which joins the story up, I will research when the ideas come to me. I ALWAYS type because my handwriting is abysmal, my fingers are rubbish at spelling and it is so much easier for making changes when it comes to editing. Finally, I work in silence. I tried having music on but found it mostly distracting. To compensate, I do have a cat – Princess Moo Moo – who often jumps up on the desk and purrs down my ear. She is doing exactly that as I am typing this. 🙂

JRR: I have two fur-babies as well: They are Sage and Curry. And they love to invade my personal space! What made you choose the Women’s Fiction genre?

I didn’t make a conscious choice to write Women’s Fiction – I just write my stories and then pop them into the categories where I think they fit best.

JRR: Where did you get the idea for An Artisan Lovestyle? Did you base Elsa and Danny off anyone you know? If this were to happen to you, do you think you would be able to complete your tasks?

The idea came from a dream. When I woke up, I realised the concept seemed quite unusual, so I quickly scribbled it down. I was working on my first novel at the time – A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle – so let this one germinate at the back of my mind. By the time I was ready to write it, most of the storyline had been worked out. Elsa first appeared in my debut novel as Sukie McClaren’s best friend. She was the obvious choice for An Artisan Lovestyle as I wanted to write a series. Danny is a completely new character and neither of them are based on anyone I know. They are my own creations in every way.

If I had to perform these tasks myself, I think I would struggle with the falling in love bit – I didn’t get married until I was over forty so that tells you that falling in love was not something I did easily.

JRR: This is a reason to read BOTH of your novels!!!  I also got married older, not quite  your age: I met my husband at 30 and married at almost 33.

 If you could have dinner with three people(living or dead) who would they be and why?

Stephen Fry because the man is just a god! I love everything he does and would love the opportunity to be in his presence.Dr. Brian Cox because he opens up the universe in the most interesting way and he would work well alongside Stephen Fry.Susan Calman because she is hilariously funny and loves cats so wouldn’t object if she found a cat hair or two in her soup!

JRR:  Which book have you always meant to get around to reading, but still not read?

Too many to mention!

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and most Charles Dickens spring to mind.

JRR: I know this feeling: Too many books and not enough time! What’s the best advice you have ever received?

Never Wait For a Date! If you arrive at the designated meeting place and he’s not already there waiting for you, then you leave. For, if you were important to him, he would make a point of arriving early. Now you know why I was over forty before I got married!

JRR: Ha! Good advice. Is there anything else you would like to share?

I took my driving test three times. My nerves crippled me on my first 2 attempts. Several years later, I was stopped for speeding. The policeman very kindly told me that whilst I was in the wrong for going so fast, the quality of my driving was absolutely excellent and could not, in any way, be faulted. Apart from the speed of course…!

The reason for sharing this is because it has a moral which is never give up! You may not succeed the first time, or even the second time, but these failures simply help to make you better and, one day, you will become excellent!

JRR: ROTF! That is great!  Thank you for your time with this interview Kiltie!


About the Author:

Kiltie grew up in Glasgow in Scotland; This is a very unique city with a very unique way of looking at life.

When she was old enough to do so, she moved to London and then, after several years of obtaining interesting experiences -which are finding their way into her writing – she moved up to the Midlands.

Kiltie currently lives in Staffordshire with five cats and one grumpy husband. Her little home is known as Moggy Towers, even though despite having plenty of moggies, there are no towers! The cats kindly allow her and Mr Mogs to share their house on the
condition they keep paying the mortgage!

She loves reading, watching movies, and visiting old castles. She really dislikes going to the gym!

Her biggest desire is that one day she can give up the day job and write her stories for a living.

Kiltie’s debut novel, ‘A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle‘, was released in September 2017 and won a “Chill With A Book – Reader Award” in December 2017.

She first began writing her debut novel eleven years before it was released but shelved it as she didn’t think it was very good.

In November 2016 when, having read more on a best-selling author who had begun her own career as a self-published author, she was inspired to revisit the unfinished manuscript and finally finish what she had started.

Since beginning to write again, the ideas have not stopped flowing. ‘An Artisan Lovestyle’ is the second book in the Lovestyle Series.

Work is due to begin on book three (not yet titled but also part of the Lovestyle Series) in the Summer of 2018.

She currently has a further ten plots and ideas stored in her file (it’s costing a fortune in USB drives as each story has its own memory stick!) and the ideas still keep on coming.

Kiltie now lives her life around the following three quotes:
“I love having weird dreams, they’re great fodder for book plots!”
“Why wait for your ship to come in when you can swim out to meet it?”
“Old enough to know better, young enough not to care!”

Contact Kiltie:
Website
Facebook
Twitter – https://twitter.com/KiltieJackson


**INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY**

 Win a £40/$40 Amazon giftcard! This is such a generous giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box above.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.