Romancing September Across the World – Day 18 E. L. Lindley

Welcome to Day 18 of the 2^nd Annual Romancing September Across The World Blog Tour. I’ve teamed up with Rosie Amber again this year. We’re promoting 30 awesome romance authors in 30 days. Help us out by cross promoting when you can and check out these authors.

Don’t forget to go over to Rosie Amber’s page and check out her page too.

Today my guest author is E.L. Lindley and I want to thank her for blogging with me today. Here is a little about her and her book Dare To Lose.

• What inspired you to write this book?

Just before I started on Dare To Lose, I read somewhere that writers were being discouraged from creating leading female characters over the age of 32. Apparently that is considered the cut-off point for what readers are willing to accept. It really annoyed me because, as a middle-aged woman, I want to read about people my own age with issues that I can identify with. I determined that my heroine, therefore, was going to be middle-aged and have just as many adventures as any young whippersnapper might have. I think I pulled it off because Dare To Lose is the book that women contact me about most, saying how much they enjoy the fact that Nicola is pushing 50 but still manages to give the bad guys a run for their money. As a society, I fear we place far too much emphasis on youth and it’s especially detrimental to women. We only have to look at the rise in the number of people opting for cosmetic surgery to see how ageing is perceived as a bad thing. The strange thing is, as a reader, I often feel that writers make their characters young but then give them personalities that seem much older.

• What’s your favourite part of this book and why?

My favourite parts of the book are probably the scenes with Nicola and her mother, Valerie. Valerie is not a bad person but she’s very self obsessed and wasn’t a particularly good mother. Nicola’s childhood was chaotic but now that Valerie is in her 70s, Nicola finds herself in the parent role. Her mother has frittered away her pension and consequently has had to move in with Nicola. The dynamic between them is a combination of sad, funny and infuriating and I think lots of women who have a complex relationship with their own mother will identify with it. Nicola also has a best friend, Lizzie, who is quite similar in personality to Valerie and I really enjoyed writing the scene showing their friendship. My women friends are extremely important to me and strong women characters feature in all of my novels.

• What is your philosophy on writing and life? 

For me, writing is something that makes me happy so it is a force of good in my life. I think it’s important that we all embrace things that make us feel fulfilled, be that writing, cooking, sport or whatever. There are always people who will try and convince us that we’re not good enough or we’re wasting our time but, if something makes us feel good, then how can it possibly be a waste of time? Of course I hope that readers will enjoy my books but, primarily, I write because I love doing it.

• Name your three favourite books that you’ve written — feel free to list buy links 

Business As Usual will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first book I ever wrote. It also introduces the character of Georgie Connelly, who is my protagonist in the Georgie Connelly series.  viewBook.at/B005UGSFH4

I also like Dare To Lose because I think I’ve done a good job of creating a heroine who appeals to women of all ages. viewBook.at/B006HSEMCQ

Don’t Look Back, is another favourite as I have tried to create a heroine who starts off as someone who readers might not like very much but, hopefully, completely redeems herself in the course of the story.  viewBook.at/B006XXVHUU

• What are your goals for this year? 

In terms of writing, I’m currently working on the fifth Georgie Connelly novel and I also have a standalone novel that I’m about 75% of the way through. I’m hoping to have them both published before Christmas. In terms of life in general, I hope to carry on doing the things that are a source of joy in my life and encourage other people to do likewise. Life can be a hard journey and I don’t think it’s possible to ever have too many friends or enough joy in our lives.

• If you had to give one piece of advice what would it be?

I would say follow your dreams and pursue whatever it is you need in order to feel happy and fulfilled.

If readers want find out more they can visit my website at  ellindley.weebly.com  where there‘s lots of information about all of my books and I also have a blog.

All of my books are available on Amazon where I have an author page http://www.amazon.co.uk/E.L-Lindley/e/B006S2GRCE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1407160410&sr=1-1 (for UK readers)

And  http://www.amazon.com/E.L.-Lindley/e/B006S2GRCE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1369223835&sr=1-2-ent (for US readers)

I’m also on Twitter @LindleyE

and Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/pages/EL-Lindley/205011402903349?ref_type=bookmark

DARE TO LOSE BOOK DESCRIPTION

For Nicola Mills, approaching middle age doesn’t seem so bad as she enjoys the settled, ordered life she has always dreamed of. Cracks start to appear, however, with the arrival of her mother, whose chaotic life threatens to overshadow Nicola’s routine. Life becomes even more uncertain when she loses her job but, encouraged by her friend Lizzie, Nicola embraces the opportunity to follow her dream and opens a seafront cafe. Fate it seems has other ideas though and, when one of her of her employees goes missing, Nicola is thrown into a dangerous world of crime and murder, which leaves her dreams in tatters.
Dare To Lose, is a novel about friendship, loyalty and strength in the face of adversity. By losing everything, will Nicola finally be able to live?

Amazon Link viewBook.at/B006HSEMCQ

Thanks so much for joining us on this grand adventure we call Romancing September Across the World 2014 Blog Tour.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…