Karen Louise Hollis interview

 AUTHOR INTERVIEW

When did your love of books begin?

In childhood. Dad used to read me the Target Doctor Who novels then I got into Enid Blyton and was always reading. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild was my favourite book.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

My parents were journalists so writing was normal, just something I did. Dad would get me to review kids' books for his newspaper. A poem I wrote at school aged ten got picked for some competition and I had to read it at Lincoln Cathedral. So writing is just something I've always done. I studied Russian at Uni and wanted to be a sports journalist, but life had other plans for me.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

Long. I've had two books traditionally published and have self-published 25 or so. I just think if it's something you love, you keep going. I certainly find writing non-fiction much easier than fiction, but finished my first novel this year so hope to submit to to some publishers and see how it goes.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Just write! Write what you love, what you want to write about.

I'd never been able to finish writing a novel before, but did this year. One support was that I'd found a lovely community of like-minded writers and readers at Chick Lit and Prosecco on Facebook and they encouraged me. Secondly, I decided to write 1000 words a day and stuck to it pretty much. Get it out, worry about editing afterwards.

Tell us about your book/books:

So I've self-published lots of books about gymnastics including a series called Gymnasts in Conversation where I interview gymnasts who competed for their countries from the 1950s onwards. This is my dream job! I was a gymnast and still love the sport and every gymnast has a story to tell, whether they didn't quite make the Olympics or they won an Olympic gold medal. 

I've got a couple of poetry collections out, some short stories, a book about becoming a mum in my 40s (after previously having my children in my twenties) and two books about going to Doctor Who conventions. 

My biography of Doctor Who star Anthony Ainley (The Man Behind the Master - he played The Master throughout the 1980s) was published by Fantom Publishing in 2015 and is out in hardback, paperback and audio.

My novella The Abandoned House came out this August.

You can find my books at karenlouisehollis.co.uk 

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

Everyone is really supportive of one another. Authors read each other's books and retweet them, there's a lovely spirit between everyone. I love #BookTwitter especially and have lovely conversations there with authors I admire, as well as other readers and bloggers. 

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Thanks! 🙂 I am always thrilled when people read my books. One Romanian gymnast bought copies of the book her interview was in and gave them to all her sisters. They travelled to meet up in one place and she sent me a gorgeous photo of the four of them holding my book! I was really touched.

Where can people connect with you?

I have a FB author page, I'm on Instagram (karenlouisehollis), I have a blog (iheartbooks.blog) but my natural home is Twitter (KarenLNHollis).