Wednesday 19 February 2020

Colette Kebell #interview #writerslife

My author interview this week is with Colette Kebell.


What genre would you say your novels fall into, or do they defy classification?

My first two are chick-lit/rom-com or rather, contemporary female.  I then turned my hand to a raunchy and a crime thriller… so I guess you could say I am eclectic J  My next two shall be a return to chick-lit though, which is my favourite genre.

What made you choose that genre?

It’s a genre that I enjoy reading, and there are so many variations around that I find it unrestrictive, which I like, hence being self-published.

How long does it take you to write a book?

That depends on how the story flows.  I’m a punster, not a plotter and so one book might take 4-6 months from start to finish (copy editing and cover design included), whereas another might take years. The two WIPs I’m currently working on have been on the back burner, so to speak, for around three years, but have now come to the forefront.

What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

I’m terrible at disciplining myself.  If the story isn’t flowing at any given time, I procrastinate and go off and do something else or look after my dogs or some such J  Thankfully, that doesn’t last that long, but life has been rather hectic of late due to being involved with a couple of rather sizeable multi-author book signing events and so, at this point in time, my first and second round of edits have suffered.  I’m itching to get back to writing again but edits come first of the next two books won’t be launched any time soon.



Tell me something about yourself your readers might not know.

Though I write chick-lit, I was a complete tomboy growing up.  There were no girls my age around where we lived at the time and so I hung around with my brother and his friends playing cricket and football and yes, naughty on occasion, playing games such as like knock down ginger. 

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

My first published book was written in 2014, shortly after having been made redundant.  I was 48 at the time.  I have another which I wrote some 10 years earlier which sits in a drawer collecting dust, which I doubt I shall revisit.


What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I love variety in my life, so I don’t stick to any one thing.  I’m passionate about cooking, sewing, gardening and when it comes to DIY, I can turn my hand to most things, with a little help from my husband, of course.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

How cathartic it is to write.  At the time, I was incredibly angry at having been made redundant but writing that first book expelled that anger and brought out my suppressed creative nature.

How many books have you written?

So far I have published four, though have two WIPs on the go currently.  All four of those have been lovingly translated into Italian by my husband, two have been narrated for audio, with the other two in the process and a number of them have been translated into other languages.  It has been a hectic time as audiobook production is almost as time-consuming as the writing itself, particularly when self-published.




Do you Google yourself? What did you find that affected you most (good or bad)?

I haven’t googled myself for quite some time, due to having found a large number of sites purporting to offer my books for free.  I report each I come across to google and also subscribe to a website that monitors those and has them taken down.  Other than that, most of what turns up on google are either genuine book-related posts or interviews such as this one.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

I never knew what I wanted to do when I grew up but was always creative, whether it was writing, drawing, sewing (my grandmother was a tailoress for Jaeger).  My parents talked me into doing a secretarial course, as something to fall back on, and I got stuck in that rut until I was made redundant and decided I didn’t want to work for someone else any more.  

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have on your computer?

Ouch, that is a question and a half.  I have two that I am currently working towards launching this year, one which is another raunchy which needs some major edits, another crime thriller which hasn’t even reached the halfway mark and a few short stories I would like to build on.  I don’t ever delete, just park ideas until the inspiration takes hold again.


Bio: Colette Kebell is an eclectic author, though a relatively new one and thus far has self-published her books. Her books are light-hearted, fun and quirky and even considered by some to be inspirational.  She publishes mostly for the English speaking market and the Italian one.  Colette Kebell does not stick to just one genre when writing though, as you shall discover from her latest book which launched on 5th April 2019.

As a career, Colette spent her later years as a legal secretary. After a first attempt at writing many years ago (a book that still remains in her drawer) she resumed this passion a few years back, after being made redundant.  After few book signing events and a book talk, which almost caused her to collapse with nerves, Colette now spends her time between her home in the UK and her home in France.

Colette has two adorable dogs and, when not writing and marketing her books, she likes cooking for herself and her husband, gardening or designing various items for their home.  Amongst her other hobbies, she has also experimented with furniture upholstery, and she might, from time to time, have a paintbrush in her hand.

Buy her books here: https://amzn.to/2SUK6sl


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