Today I am delighted to welcome Miriam
Drori who is here to tell us about her writing life.
What genre would you say your novels fall
into, or do they defy classification?
Hello Lorraine,
and thanks for having me on your blog. Each of my books falls into a different
genre. The first is a romance; the second, which was co-written, is historical
fiction; the third is non-fiction; the fourth is uplit. As the first two are
currently unavailable, I have listed the links to the other two, below.
What made you choose that genre?
I wrote the
romance following an excellent online workshop facilitated by Sally Quilford.
The historical fiction was suggested by fellow author, Emma Rose Millar. The
non-fiction book is on a topic I’m passionate about. My latest novel involves a
character I had to write about; the genre chose itself.
How long does it take you to write a book?
A long time. The
latest one took the longest. I began it for NaNoWriMo 2013. I put it aside and
wrote other books in the meantime. I returned to it more than once. It was
finally published this year.
What is your work schedule like when you're
writing?
During the month
of NaNoWriMo, I write every day, all day, and wonder how other writers manage
to write alongside full-time jobs. The rest of the year, I try to write five
days a week, but often life gets in the way. Mornings are the best time for me
to write. Afternoons often find me in the kitchen and evenings outside the
house.
Tell me something about yourself your
readers might not know.
I won a bicycle
when I was twelve. My parents would never have bought one for me because they
thought it was too dangerous. (I’d learnt to ride on the bike of a friend’s
little brother. It was so low to the ground that I wasn’t afraid of falling
off.)
When did you write your first book and how
old were you?
That would be the
non-fiction book that was eventually published in 2017. I wrote the first draft
in 2004-5, when I was 51.
What do you like to do when you're not
writing?
Folk dancing,
hiking, touring and reading.
What was one of the most surprising things
you learned in creating your books?
I learned that
I’m a creative person! When I started to write fiction, I stuck to real events
and characters that were an amalgam of real people. Gradually, I discovered an
ability to make up stories and characters that had lain dormant since
childhood.
How many books have you written?
Four finished and
published. A few others, started and abandoned. Two drafts I plan to return to.
Do you Google yourself? What did you find
that affected you most (good or bad)?
I don’t often
Google myself, but I did to answer this question. I saw (in this order) Amazon
bio, latest blog post, Facebook profile, LinkedIn profile, Crooked Cat bio,
Goodreads bio, review of my latest novel, guest blog post, two videos of me
reading my poetry, guest post, Pinterest profile, extract from my latest novel,
guest post, interview, someone selling my debut novel second-hand for roughly
the price when it was new, various images of me and my books, two guest posts,
Amazon page, review, quote from review on Twitter, guest post… But I didn’t
discover anything. I phewed a sigh of relief tinged with a slight whiff of
disappointment.
As a child, what did you want to do when you
grew up?
I didn’t know
what I wanted to be, but I knew what I didn’t want to be. My father, a teacher,
warned me off teaching. My mother’s jobs as secretary and housewife didn’t seem
very interesting. As I wasn’t any of those (I do as little housework as
possible), I can say I fulfilled my ambitions!
How many unpublished and half-finished books
do you have on your computer?
I counted eleven,
but some of those are only ideas and some have been discarded, while others are
included in plans for the future.
Bio
Miriam Drori has decided she’s
in the fifth and best stage of her life, and she’s hoping it’ll last for ever.
It’s the one in which she’s happiest and most settled and finally free to do
what she wants.
Miriam lives in a delightful
house and garden in Jerusalem with her lovely husband and one of three
children. She enjoys frequent trips around the world. She dances, hikes, reads
and listens to music. And she’s realised that social anxiety is here to stay,
so she might as well make friends with it.
On top of that, she has moved
away from computer programming and technical writing (although both of those
provided interest in previous stages) and now spends most of her time editing
and writing fiction. Neither Here Nor There, a romance with a difference
set in Jerusalem, was published in 2014. The Women Friends: Selina,
co-written with Emma Rose Millar, is the first of a series of novellas based on
the famous painting by Gustav Klimt. Social Anxiety Revealed
(non-fiction) provides a comprehensive description of social anxiety from many
different viewpoints. Cultivating a Fuji tells the story of a guy who’s
different.
Miriam Drori can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads,
Pinterest, Instagram, Wattpad and on her website/blog and social anxiety blog.
Amazon page: Author.to/MiriamDroriAtAmazon.
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