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I am a writer - late developer since I wasn't published until I was 50. I have now written 23 novels, numerous short stories and articles.

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Thursday 12 March 2009
Second on my list of what I’ve been up to was the interview with Jeremy Paxman. A more charming and understanding man it would have been difficult to meet. Not at all a rottweiler. We met at Lanhydrock House in Cornwall. The house was, and is, a total time capsule of the Victorian period. My mother had been in service for the Robartes family and I spent the war years there. It was a comprehensive interview about my mother’s work and the house in general. I ended up on the cutting room floor in favour of a woman who is an expert on corsets and knickers - she was very good so I didn’t mind too much. It was probably for the best since I did look a bit like Queen Victoria in the DVD the BBC sent me. The value of having lived there is immeasurable for me as a writer. When writing those books set in Victorian and Edwardian times then I have turned my mind back to Lanhydrock, the pace of the place, the etiquette, the voices of the Viscount and his sisters, the smell of it, the echoing in the great kitchen. I’ve remembered my mother’s stories; I’ve been so lucky. In many of my books there is often a large and grand house - it is nearly always Lanhydrock. The comments made by Maureen Sisal - on my last entry - encapsulates why I write. To give pleasure, that’s what it’s about. To get feed back and support as she offers me leaves me, for once, lost for words! Thank you. Maureen. I had noticed your crits on Amazon for which I would like to have thanked you, but, as you know it is impossible or rather, I never found out how to do it.

2 comments:

  1. Dear Anita,

    I am SO pleased to hear that you have writing plans. I also hope for "Returns", I have read both "Advances" and "Exiles" - well, I think I have read all your books.
    I simply know we are lots of fans of yours out here only hoping and waiting for new books by you, so please keep at it. How and why you could get "your marching orders" as you call it, I shall never understand. Both "The Daughters of the Granite Land" and "The Cresswells" are favourites of mine.
    Well, put it behind you and go on. We, your fans and admirers, stay put, so just you see to it that your books are published and we shall buy!!!
    I wish you all the best and lots of pleasure with your writing, and look much forward to your next book(s)!
    Kindest regards from
    Sissel Maureen, Norway

    PS) Sissel is an old Norwegian name. I was called Maureen, my grandmother insisted, after the actress Maureen O'Hara. Can you imagine!!!!!! Maureen is a pretty name when you say it in English, but in Norwegian, at school when I was a girl.......

    Well, I have lived both in England and America and then Maureen was very useful and, suddenly, pretty. So there.

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  2. Dear Anita,

    Just wanted to tell you that new positive votes have come for my review of "The Breached Wall". I also see that Amazon has only 1 copy left in stock and have ordered more.
    So there are obviously fans out there continuing to buy your books and eagerly awaiting new ones.

    But I must say I am surprisesd that your previous publishers gave your Cresswell books so little PR. Even the bestest of bestsellers, to put it that way, need lots of PR - and get it - in order to sell. Look at Grisham (who has by the way, got LOTS of bad reviews for his last book, although I liked it, not his best, but entertaining), his publishers really make a big deal of every new book being published.

    So please, dear Anita, write on, get a new publisher and I assure you your books will sell. I know in advance that I shall love your next books, so you will get brilliant reviews from me.

    I am now reviewer No 1052 in the UK, regulated down today, so "top 1000" is getting closer every day. I hope that when I get that under my name, my reviews will be taken a little bit more seriously and thus be read by more people.

    Best of luck to you from

    Sissel

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