Author Interview: Milly Johnson

Milly was lovely enough to send us some fab answers to our questions, including her opinions on her own books, and what she likes best about being an author.

1. How did you get started writing books? Were you writing for long before you became published?

I’ve been writing books for as long as I can remember!  I was always making my own with paper and staples and writing stories.  I realised I wanted to make it my career when at University doing drama – (it shifted from being a hobby to a passion).  Trouble was – I hadn’t gained enough life experience at 22 to write the sorts of books I do and my early attempts were doomed to failure.  But all that ‘practice writing’ I did just helped me hone my craft, albeit that happened unconsciously.  It took me 15 years from taking it seriously to getting published – but on and off, because sometimes I would abandon all attempts at trying to get published, only to resurrect my ambitions again later. 40 was the perfect age for me to get a book deal – my writing had matured and I had a lot of perspective of life – and had done a lot of living to write about.  It sounds a long time, but it was worth the perseverance, I can tell you!

2. You've said that Lou Winter in your latest book "A Spring Affair" is loosely based on yourself. How did you feel about putting in a character that was so much like you into your book?

Characters have a habit of starting off quite closely based on a real person and then becoming their own people.  Lou was a character that stayed quite close to me and I liked that because I could write about what happened to her with total conviction.  The clutter-clearing adventure I had, which changed my life, inspired the book and so I could counter anyone that might say that what happened to Lou was nonsense (although no one has yet!)  I didn’t mind exposing myself so much in her because both Lou and I are typical women, always moaning about our bum-size, but loving her food too much to diet and an awful lot of women out there relate to that, and that’s a big reason why my books sell.  Lou is a decent, kind woman and it was a joy to write her the happy ending she deserved.  I’m hoping she’ll leap out of the book and write one for me.

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