Today on the blog I am delighted to welcome author
Philippa Hawley
Welcome to Jaffareadstoo, Philippa. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as an author.
My name is Philippa Hawley and I am an NHS doctor who retired from General Practice in 2011 (perhaps a little earlier than planned, due to circumstances). I am now a writer as well as being a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a gardener.
My husband retired the year before me and enjoyed exercising his brain with various Natural Science modules with the Open Universary. As my retirement approached, he spotted a module called Start Writing Fiction and recommended it to me. This proved to be a wonderful transition project to wean me away from medicine and into a new and more creative world. It gave me the confidence to join a local writing course at the wonderful Wivenhoe Bookshop and join two active local writing groups.
How To Be Frank Is
your latest novel, without giving too much away, what can you tell us about the
story?
To Be Frank is my fourth novel and although it is a stand-alone, contemporary story, some of the characters (but not Frank) have already appeared in novel number three, Lawn House Blues, published in 2018. Both these books are set not far from home in Suffolk.
Frank is a 62 year old recovering alcoholic who enjoys working at Felixstowe docks. Despite having a roof over his head and food in his belly, he knows something is missing in his life – friends and a family he can call his own. A solicitor’s letter and an unexpected inheritance bring about change, giving him increased confidence and an improved social life. He finds love but also people who can help him solve the mystery of his parentage. He becomes reconciled with his birth mother but finding his father might prove to be more of a challenge.
Whilst you are writing you must live with your characters.
How do you feel about them when the book is finished? Are they who you expected
them to be?
When I am writing my characters become very real to me and I generally grow to love them. I keep the central characters with me for a long time after the writing is finished but probably let go of the nasty or annoying ones. I often think about where my main protagonists might go next and if a reader asks if I’m going to write a follow up story, I do get tempted.
Where do you get your inspiration for your novels, and, as
one book ends, do you already have the idea in place for a new story?
My writing is often inspired by my travels and places I have visited, as well as the people I have met along the way. I avoid using ex-patients as templates however. My first novel, There’s No Sea in Salford (2013) was based in Sri Lanka and refers to the 2004 tsunami. How They Met Themselves (2014) was based in California where I took a road trip with some girlfriends just after retirement. Lawn House Blues (2018) and To Be Frank (2022) are both set in Suffolk, not far from my home in NE Essex, in places we often visit.
Do you write the type of novels you like to read and which
authors have influenced you?
I tend to write quite domestic, contemporary stories about families, relationships and friendship. I often sneek a bit of illness in but try to avoid writing too much in the way of medical topics.
I like to read about realistic people and their relationships. I love Marion Keyes, Maggie O’Farrell, Sally Rooney and Graham Norton; these Irish writers do such great story telling.
I have a broad list of books I have read. I’ll try anything from humour to psychological mystery, crime and feminism. Recently I’ve read a number of American novels addressing both feminism and heritage eg Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche as well as books by Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou.
Tell us about your writing day - are you disciplined,
strictly 9 till 5, or are you more of a have a cup of coffee and think about it
sort of writer?
My writing day rarely starts before the afternoon. In the morning I do my chores, run errands, check emails and attend to some volunteering I’m signed up for. I often do my thinking when pottering in the garden, then settle down to a couple of hours writing after lunch. I write on the desk top computer in my study, with a lovely view over our garden and the woods behind. I usually have a notebook in my bag if I’m travelling or sometimes jot notes and ideas in the back of my diary if I’m just out and about.
Can you tell us if you have another novel planned?
Since the publication of To Be Frank in April 2022, I have been concentrating on short stories with my writing group and having a rest from novel writing. I have played with a couple of new ideas but am unsure whether to proceed and which to focus on. Should it be a novel set in the 1900s in Yorkshire where my parents grew up or a more experimental novel set in 2031, ten years after the Covid pandemic?
Finally for fun π
Tell us four essential things every writer needs!
Four things a writer needs: Ideas, a computer, resilience and an editor P.S. an agent would also be nice!
If your life was a book, what would be its title?
Title of my life in a book; ‘Healing hands’ subtitled, ‘once an doctor always a doctor’.
What books are on your bedside table
Bedside table books at present:
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E Grant
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
Philippa, where can we
follow you on social media?
Philippa Hawley is on Twitter @philippa_hawley, also Instagram and Facebook.
More information can be found on her
website
More about Philippa
Philippa Hawley is a writer, living in NE Essex with her husband and several tortoises. The couple have two grown-up children and a busy young grandchild. Having worked in the NHS for over 30 years, mostly as a family doctor, Philippa has been privileged to observe human behaviour and relationships in close proximity and this comes across in her writing. When not writing or helping look after the grandchild, Philippa likes watching films and reading. She spends time in her garden maintaining a wildlife area which backs onto the local woods, attracting wonderful birds, butterflies and dragonflies.
Huge thanks to Philippa Hawley for being my Author in the Spotlight today.
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