Todays Blog Swap is with author, Patsy Collins, who’s blog can be found here

Patsy has recently published her first novel, Escape to the Country which, I’ve read, and thoroughly enjoyed 🙂

How did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I didn’t really. A creative writing class was something I started almost by accident. It wasn’t until the term ended I realised I was hooked and signed on again. That was ten years ago.

What genre do you write in?
I suppose it could be classed as ‘women’s fiction’. I write short stories for magazines and romantic novels. Mostly.

Do you have a writing schedule, your normal writing day?
I don’t have a schedule, but I try to do something writing related every day. I write more in the winter – then it’s most evenings after I get in from the day job. In summer the garden, allotment and campervan are big distractions.

What’s the best writing environment for you – where you write?
At home I have a nice office that I share with Gary (my beloved husband to be). This is my half (specially tidied up for the photo!) Two screens are handy for editing and research, so when Gary decided his wasn’t good enough for his photography, I snaffled it.

Although it’s nice to have the office and comfy leather chair these things don’t improve my writing. It has improved since I started with a biro and stack of paper in the gloomy dining room of my previous home, but that’s because I’ve practised and learned a lot since then, not because I no longer have to get a friend to print out my submissions after I’ve typed them up on the work computer. I’d like to say the availability of a computer and printer has speeded things up, but now I have the internet …

I also do quite a lot of writing in our campervan. There’s far less space there, but once I get into a story I don’t notice my surroundings much. I could, and would, write anywhere.

Who inspires you?
Gary, my family, friends, the author of any piece of writing I’ve enjoyed reading.

If you were to be compared to another author, who’s work would yours most resemble?
I don’t know! My novel writing style has been compared with Katie Fforde – do you think there are similarities? (Vikki – Definitely!)

Tell us about your current WIP/recently published book?
Escape to the Country was published earlier this year after I won a novel writing competition. It’s a romantic crime story, set mostly on a farm in Kent. There’s food, mud, herbal potions, intrigue, bovine midwifery and love.

I’ve had some great feedback as you can see from the Amazon customer reviews I’m doing a series of radio interviews and a book signing to help promote it. Details can be found here

I’ve just finished the edits of A Year and a Day. This is another light hearted romance and I’m currently writing a third. That sounds like I knock out a novel every couple of months – I don’t! I tend to write a draft, leave it and write something else, then edit, then write something else, so there are often several projects on the go at a time.

Dont forget to nip on over to Patsy’s Blog to see what i have to say today. I’ll be talking about my interest in other writers work spaces.

As I said, I’ve read Patsy’s novel and thought it was great….I reviewed it on Amazon. So my question today dear readers, is Do you review books you read on Amazon? I have to say, I don’t review big name authors, but I feel it’s important to support the new authors 🙂