A Slice of Cake With... Myra Duffy

Today I am delighted to have a slice of cake with author Myra Duffy.

As a child, Myra lived opposite the local library, a perfect location for someone who loved to read. Soon she was inspired to write her own novels. One still survives, though at 900 words might prove too short for today’s market.

At thirteen she won a writing competition organised by a national newspaper. The prize was a puppy – something that wouldn’t be allowed nowadays!

After some time teaching in Madrid and in London, Myra returned to Scotland and a career in educational management.

During this time she continued to write and be published, mostly in non-fiction. But success with short stories encouraged her to return to her first love – fiction. The House at Ettrick Bay is the first in her cosy crime series of eight novels and four novellas set on the Isle of Bute, just off the west coast of Scotland.

Myra Duffy divides her time between Glasgow and the Isle of Bute where her novels are set. She has family connections to the island stretching back several generations.

What kind of books do you write?

Most of my novels are set on the Isle of Bute, just off the West coast of Scotland and feature Alison Cameron, an ordinary woman with a nose for trouble who can’t resist becoming involved in a mystery.

Though small, with around 6,000 residents, the island has a rich historical and geographical diversity which I use as the background to my plots and indeed I incorporate many of these elements in my plots.

Although this is a series, each novel can be read as a standalone.

Can you describe your writing why?

I’ve always written since I was a small child and won a national writing competition when I was thirteen. Most of my adult writing was non-fiction (12 books published) before I returned to my first love – writing fiction.

My first book, When Old Ghosts Meet, is only partly set on Bute and was highly placed in the Crime novel competition at the Scottish Association of Writers Conference several years ago. This was hugely encouraging. The next book, The House at Ettrick Bay, sold well and I decided continuing with a series set on Bute would be a good opportunity to concentrate on a niche market.

But the truth is that I enjoy writing. Usually a first line pops into my head and that takes me on a journey with the characters – I’m never sure where they will end up.

 As well as the Bute books, I’ve written a Romance and a Contemporary novel set in Glasgow. And to date I’ve one Children’s mystery also set on Bute.  I’ve several unfinished novels (non-Bute) and I hope to find time to complete those one day!

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

This extract is from the Prologue to Last Dance at the Rothesay Pavilion. The Pavilion is being closed for renovation and a gala dance is held to mark the temporary closure of the building. Jacky is the compere for the evening.

As the dancers slowly left the hall, laughing and gossiping, the lights dimmed little by little until the hall was in complete darkness.

Jacky tugged at his collar. He would miss this place, not only because of the loss of income. Nowhere else he worked gave him the same feeling of excitement as this Art Deco building that was the Rothesay Pavilion. But there was much to look forward to: once the renovation was finished, the building would be restored to its former glory. In no time at all he’d be back here once again, hosting the grand opening.

But that was before they found the skeleton.

Tell us about your latest project

I’ve just launched the latest in the Bute series - Foul Play at the High Kirk. A theatre company arrives on Bute with their production of Sleeping Beauty but  is soon in difficulty as the first death occurs. And Alison Cameron finds herself once more involved in a troubling mystery.

Having now written ten books and four novellas in the Isle of Bute series, I’ve started on a new series, featuring a journalist , set in Glasgow in the 1990s. I’ve finished the latest draft and am now working with my editor to finalise it. The first in the series is called The Lost of Paradise and the action is sparked when Sarah Norsting, the journalist, catches a glimpse of someone from her past on a station platform.

What is your favourite cake?

My favourite cake is Christmas Cake, or fruit cake of any kind!

You can connect with Myra on her website myraduffywriter.com, on Twitter @duffy_myra or find her on Facebook as Myra Duffy or Myra Duffy Writer.

Join me next week when I will be having a slice of cake with Lynn Johnson. 

If you would like to take part in A Slice of Cake With... please fill in the form found here. I'd be delighted to have you.

You can also support my writing endeavours on Kofi with a small donation towards tea and cake - it's what makes the world go round!

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find out more about her books on her website clairebuss.co.uk. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop. Never miss out on future posts by following me.

A Slice of Cake With... Ann Duggans Robson

This week I am delighted to be having a slice of cake with Ann Duggans Robson.

Ann Duggans Robson has written a series of books collectively called 'The Pinkmouse Gang'. Ann taught English and History in Comprehensive schools for twenty years and now works as an artist and writer of children's books. She has a B.A,(hons) in fine art and has studied literature with the Open University. She is learning French with an adult education class at the moment.

She has four children, nine grandchildren, two dogs and a very helpful and supportive husband.

She writes in verse and paints the pictures then manipulates them in a computer to create the finished book. The process is all her own. She has sculpted full-size models of the main characters and knits the other characters sometimes in enormous sizes for the delight of her young readers at storytelling in schools, bookshops and art galleries.

What kind of stories do you write?

My books are written in rhyme and full of my brightly coloured watercolour paintings of the anthropomorphic mouse characters and their adventures. They usually are based on true events and the family and friends I know-heavily disguised. 

They are about family life, travel, hobbies, adventures and some naughtiness.

I include a DVD where I read the story whilst showing the paintings and little vignettes of me chatting to the audience. I show the knitted characters and sculptures. 

Can you describe your writing why?

I don’t know really –I’ve done it since I could write –it has got me into trouble especially at school! I love the playing with rhyme and rhythm also the need to entertain without making a show of myself. To make something physical out of an abstract. To describe my life and events I think. The need to record feelings and opinion and events in case memory is lost. I love to create a little book. 

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

From Pinkmouse Bliss where they get married

So with help from birds and bees

And friends, some wet, some prickly

They promised to love forever

And when old and broke and sickly.

They settled down to married bliss

For cuddles snoozes and a tickle

But time had come or a change

For ladies can be fickle.

With blue eyes burning bright

Pamela to Percy said

‘The time has come for little mice

So no more time in bed!’

Tell us about your latest project

My latest book is the seventh in the series The Pinkmouse Gang. The children born of Percy and Pamela Pinkmouse need looking after and they are pests! New characters are introduced –twins born to the Scruffs - the residents of the house.

Again there is a DVD but only for windows this time - in the back of the book there is a quiz, colouring and puzzle page.

What is your favourite cake?

Christmas cake.

You can keep up to date with Ann and the Pinkmouse Gang on Facebook and at her website. 

Join me next week when I'm joined by Dodie Hamilton. 

If you would like to take part in A Slice of Cake With... please fill in the form found here. I'd be delighted to have you.

You can also support my writing endeavours and buy me tea & cake - it's what makes the world go round! 

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop. 

A Slice of Cake With... Kathleen Jowitt

This week I am delighted to be having a slice of cake with Kathleen Jowitt.

Kathleen was born in Winchester, UK, and grew up deep in the Welsh Marches and, subsequently, on the Isle of Wight. After completing her undergraduate degree in English Literature at the University of Exeter she moved to Guildford and found herself working for a major trade union. She now lives in Cambridge, works in London, and writes on the train.

Her first novel, Speak Its Name, was the first self-published book ever to be shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize.

What kind of books do you write?

I write books about people finding the way out of their own self-imposed limitations, and about the shortcomings of even the most idealistic institutions. I explore themes of integrity, burnout, and self-discovery.

Can you describe your writing why?

I think I have different motivations for writing different things. Conflict, frustration, challenge? It's partly to get difficult feelings out of my head, and partly to let people know that they're not alone in those feelings. Otherwise, it tends to be answering 'what if...?' questions that get stuck in my head.

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

This is from my first novel, Speak Its Name, which took me eight years from first word to publication. The writing process ranged from 'utter despair' to 'joyous voyage of discovery'. The lows were low, but the highs were very high. Now I know what I'm doing things are slightly less exciting!

She remembered how Colette had told her... my ex-girlfriend... bisexual, actually... How easy it had looked, that take-it-or-leave-it honesty (not, Lydia could admit, entirely innocent of the desire to shock), that stubborn insistence on her identity. Queer Christians. We exist. Do you have a problem with that? A challenge unspoken, and, even now, not fully answered. We exist. And the clear autumn breeze lifting the hem of the curtain, and Peter singing in the garden, and her soul standing on the threshold of its self-made prison, not yet ready to step out, but knowing for the first time that there was a world outside it.

Tell us about your latest project

A Spoke In The Wheel is a story about doping, disability, sports, life in the gig economy, and when to stop pushing. It follows disgraced cyclist Ben Goddard as he tries to reinvent himself – as anything other than a cyclist – in a town where nobody knows him. Unfortunately for his plans, the first people he meets are disabled cycling fan Polly Devine and her friend Vicki Whitaker, a keen cyclist herself...

It's been shortlisted for the Selfies Award and the Exeter Novel Prize.

What is your favourite cake?

A proper moist, fruity, marzipanned Christmas cake. 

I do love a slice of Christmas cake myself - great choice!

You can connect with Kathleen on her website, follow her on Facebook and Twitter. All her books are available on Amazon. 

Join me next week when I'll be having a slice of cake with Zachery Wheeler.

If you would like to take part in A Slice of Cake With... please fill in the form found here. I'd be delighted to have you.

You can also support my writing endeavours and buy me tea & cake - it's what makes the world go round!

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.