I’ve been tagged by fellow travel writer Olivia Greenway to take part in a writer’s blog hop. I thought “this sounds fun and I’ll be able to write something pretty quickly”. Then I was consumed by an avalanche of deadlines. So, it’s taken rather longer than expected but here goes. The basic premise is that I answer a series of questions about how and what I write, then pass the baton to some more writers-who-blog.

What am I working on?
At the moment, I’m working on a rather bizarre mixture of different things. Over the past week I’ve written a blog post about conservatories, a press release about mind-clearing techniques, some articles on holistic health, a travel piece on Croatia, more press releases about kitchen implements and even managed to do some celebrity stuff. Oh and I’m just about to put together a kids’ page for a magazine. I don’t have any kids so that one should be interesting. But then again I didn’t think I knew much about conservatories. My big passion is travel and I would love to have more time to go to new countries and write about them. I’ve been fortunate enough to do several trips over the past few years and I’m keen to do more. One day I’d love to write more about my solo round-the-world trip, which I nicknamed the Odyssey, and in which I visited 11 countries in three months.

How does my work differ from others in this genre?
That’s a difficult question because I’m writing about so many different things at the moment. But if I was to focus on the travel side, I guess I like to put a lot of myself into my features and try to include plenty of humour and insights into the experience. I try to combine this with historical facts and information about the area. I also like to go off the beaten track and write about places that people don’t know too well.

Why do I write what I do?
Quite simply I’ve always wanted to be a writer. When I was a child I remember a teacher asking my class what we all wanted to do when we grew up and I said “an author.” I haven’t managed to write a book yet (there’s still time) but I feel glad that I ended up doing what I always wanted to do. It may not be the best paid job in the world but I think it’s the most fun and it’s endlessly varied and interesting. I’m constantly learning new things, meeting new people and getting to see new places, which is great for an easily-bored Gemini like me.

How does my writing process work?
I wish I could say that I’m one of those writers who is at her desk by 7am every morning, writing diligently all day in quiet and serene surroundings. I’m more of a night owl so I struggle to get started in the morning, and then really get into my flow about 6pm when the husband and cat start demanding my attention. I like to work with the radio on and I adore BBC 6 music, but it can be quite distracting at times. As I travel around a lot, I often find myself working on trains and buses on a laptop, and sometimes I go into coffee shops to do some work if I fancy a change of scene. It can be a haphazard way of working but it seems to suit me and I’m enjoying the variety.

Anyway, that’s enough of my blatherings. Over to my tagged blog hoppers, Donna Navarro and Rose Sgueglia!