Constance looks like an exciting romance story. Can you tell us a little about Connie Dalton?
Connie comes from a family where her father was an abuser. When she turned 18, she left home and joined the Australian Arny where she rose to the rank of Warrant Officer. She was in the Middle East as part of an Australian Peace-keeping Force during what became known as the Reprisals. A global holocaust. Country against country. Family against family.
When the Reprisals finally ended in 2036, and Connie
had completed 20 years service all she
wanted to do was read books about women like herself. BBW. When she couldn't
find any she followed her Army training. If you can't find what you want, build
it yourself. And so her bookstore, The Bookcase came into being.
How long did it take
you to write Constance?
It's only a fairly short story. It only took about a week to actually write the story. But the planning and creation or visualisation of the Reprisals and what caused them plus doing the same for the concept of (land) Resumes by the Government and Wannon Rise Resune by a friend and fellow writer took months.
I will be ever grateful that my friend allowed me to base my
stories in his creation. It took me
quite a while to get my head around what my friend had visualised then plan my
own stories to fit into that fictional landscape.
What inspired you when writing Constance?
It was my writer friend's creation actually. He started creating the fictional world almost a year before most of Australia was locked down when Covid arrived in early 2020.
There was a lot of global unrest beginning at the same time.
So for my friend it was an association of ideas. The recent events in
Afghanistan has made the concept of the Reprisals more real, I think.
You have an expansive
collection of books. When did you decide
to become a writer?
I started reading when I was a young girl. My father was an Engineer who worked on the Australian Snowy Mountains Hydro Electricity Scheme. Radio reception at that time was patchy where I lived and it was years before TV came to Australia.
When Covid came in 2020,
going to work was impossible so I retired. Because I was an avid reader
I joined a small online group to talk about books over virtual coffees. Out of
those chats one of us suggested we try writing our own stories. Some us did.
What motivated you to become a writer?
I love to read. Romances mostly. But anything really. Being locked down due to Covid was hard. I looked for something to keep my mind active. I'm not young. Playing active competitive sport was out of the question. We were only allowed out for an hour a day for exercise so running marathons wasn't an option either. Ha! Me running marathons? Don't make me laugh.
When our online virtual coffee book discussions brought up writing my own stories, I thought why not?
Did anything stick out as particularly challenging when writing Constance?
Yes. The length of the books. And writing books in series. Writing my own books started out as a bit of a giggle. Something to do. While I enjoy reading novels, I didn't want to write long books.
When my friend said that I could use his fictional world he told me he was going to stick to writing shorter stories. Novellas probably. He wanted to write lots of books and leave them behind as his legacy.
I liked his idea. So I decided to write shorter stories myself.
As for series, what better place to start than using a
bookstore as it's focus.
What do you like to do when not writing?
I like to dabble as a painter. Before Covid I went to art
classes. That ended with Covid, but when I can and want to switch off from the
world, I do some work on my latest project. Usually landscapes. I did try
painting portraits but I need my painting tutor looking over my shoulder for
that.
Where can readers find out more about your work?
My books are available on Amazon Kindle and through Draft2Digital to booksellers like Kobo and Barnes & Noble among many. There are even a few libraries that have them.
I do offer a free
copy of my first book in my Tales From the Bookcase series on my website:
I also send out short
emails telling my subscribers about my books and what I'm thinking of writing
next.