Author Q & A...

Just a quick post, because I had a lovely email last night from Free eBooks Daily.  They'd found Wildflowers and asked if I'd do a brief Q & A for their readers.  Of course, I said I'd love to!  Here it is:

Author Q&A

Why do you think your readers are going to enjoy your book?

Readers tell me it's made them laugh and made them cry. I did both while I was writing it! The story starts in a light-hearted kind of way, but fairly quickly you get the sense that there's more.

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

My day job for the last twelve years has been as a wedding florist. I've done hundreds! It's wonderful and challenging and every wedding is different. I think Wildflowers has been building up quietly for years!
I'm also a volunteer in a hospice, where I meet many extraordinary people.

How long did it take you to put this book together?

I think, less than a year. I wrote it, started submitting it to agents, got nowhere and put it away.
A few months later, I read through it again and decided it was worth persevering with. I did more work on it, which it needed, attempted to refine my submission and this time when I sent it out, I had five requests for the full manuscript.
I'm still without an agent, though one lovely lady was kind enough to give me some feedback, so I did more work and self published and it's made the top 10 free ebooks!

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

The value of putting a finished book away before you re-read, make any changes and start submitting. When you've been pouring heart and soul into your keyboard for months on end, perspective is shall we say, slightly skewed. Distance is good. It clears the head.
I also learned the importance of choosing the right cover. When I first self-published, wildflowers had a pretty photo of flowers on it! A lovely photo, just wrong, because as a kind friend pointed out, along with the title, it looked as though it was a text book about wild flowers!
This one, thanks to my daughter Georgie, is much better. When you consider your valued reader skimming the many pages of Amazon, there's a split-second of opportunity in which to grab them - and it's visual.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

I don't want to give too much away, but it was the saddest part of the book. It was a challenge - and a very emotional one - to write with both feeling and sensitivity.

Is there a message in your book that you want readers to grasp?

I didn't set out with a message in mind. I think what comes over is, life's about people. We should treasure them.

And here's a link to the website:

http://www.freeebooksdaily.com/2013/05/wildflowers-by-debbie-howells.html