Wednesday, August 29, 2012

50th party blog guest - Liz Fenwick

I first met Liz Fenwick at an RNA lunch and we got on like a house on fire. She’s another of the effortlessly elegant ones (but is very, very nice with it so you can't be envious). And I’m so proud of her because her very first book came out this year. She’s worked so hard to get published, and deserves every second of her success. Although I bought The Cornish House the day it came out, I saved it to read in Whitby, and really enjoyed it :o)

Anyway, over to Liz:

Kate is amazing. Fifty books and here I am on book one! Maybe it’s because I’m a panster and she’s a plotter….and she’s so much more organized. Kate writes with such passion and it’s the one thing I have tried to emulate on my journey to publication. The Cornish House was the book of my heart and now I’m trying to apply all that passion to book two! I can’t imagine having done fifty or more times!

Kate uses glorious locations in her books and maybe because I spend my life as an expat my books are grounded in Cornwall. Cornwall is the well of my imagination. Each walk or trip to the beach feeds my writing soul. In The Cornish House and in the book I’m writing now the landscape is a character in the book. Each trip home I try and soak up everything I can from colour of the sky at different times of day to the smell of the air when wind blows in from the sea. I wonder what my characters see when they look on the same landscape that I do. Do they notice the subtle colour variation in the agapanthus or for them is it just blue? Do they look at the different pebbles on the beach and see the different stones or are they just pebbles?

I digress…here’s to Kate and her 50th book. Raising a virtual glass of champagne and now to put head back down over the keyboard and finish book two…

Liz is giving away a copy of The Cornish House to one commenter.  Just tell her, where would you like to visit in Cornwall?

You can find out more about Liz Fenwick at her website http://www.lizfenwick.com or on her blog at http://lizfenwick.blogspot.co.uk
Or talk to her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/liz.fenwick.author
Or follow her on Twitter @liz_fenwick

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Huge congrats again...I am in awe and thanks for including me in the celebration!
lx

Carol Hedges said...

Lovely blog, ladies. And Liz- what an impressive record!! I stand in awe- and I love your current cover. Made me think of luscious warm scones laden with strawberry jam and clotted cream.

Unknown said...

Carol - thank you and you've made me very hungry thinking of scones...

lx

bn100 said...

Nice cover. I'd like to visit anywhere in Cornwall.

Julie B. said...

Congrats on the release of your new book, Liz!

I've never been to Cornwall, but as a lifelong fan of Victoria Holt, Daphne du Maurier and Rosamunde Pilcher, I've been there in my imagination loads of times.

If I had to go anywhere, I'd be either Jamaica Inn or Menabily, Daphne Du Maurier's house where she wrote all those wonderful stories.

Janet Gover said...

You capture the essence of the place so well in the book Liz. I really felt I was there. It's been a long time since I was in Cornwall - last time I tried to go there was a huge storm and some flooding and I had to turn back. Reading your back made me realise how much I really want to go back... soon, I hope.

Caroline said...

Congrats on your first book Liz. I've been following your "journey" over on the RNA blog. I have visited Cornwall, but never got to Land's End. Imagine how people must have felt hundreds of years ago thinking that "out there" lay the end of the world! Amazing. Again, massive congrats to you, and the fabulous Kate - one book or 50 it's a great achievement. Caroline x

Unknown said...

Thanks bn100

Hi Julie B. Jamaica Inn is rather spooky but Menabily is rather grand....

Thanks Janet!

Hi Caroline...thanks and Lands end is now an amusement park which I think is sad but....where as Lizard point is all wind swept and bleak and glorious and has lots of tea shops and souvenir stands...however the coastal path saves both locations :-)

lx

LindyLouMac said...

An interesting interview, The Cornish House is on my wishlist. I would love to find myself standing in front of The Cornish House in Cornwall one day, in my dreams.

Deborah Murphy said...

Congratulations on your first book, Liz! I would love to visit Cornwall -maybe next year! - and sample fish and chips from Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant.

Unknown said...

LindyLou - I hope you have the opportunity someday!

Deborah - I can recommend his fish and chips from Falmouth restaurant!

lx

Kate Hardy said...

First name drawn from the hat for 'The Cornish House'- LindyLou. Please contact me kate(dot)hardy(at)btinternet(dot)com with your details, and I'll get everything sorted :o) Thanks for taking part!