Angela Rigley Author Interview The Writer's Life

The Writer’s Life

Today for the series The Writer’s Life, I am featuring an interview of author Angela Rigley. Angela is a writer of historical fiction and children’s fiction. I am happy she allowed me to interview her on Bookplaces Blog.

Kay-Hello Angela! Tell us about yourself. Where do you live? Where did you grow up and attend school?

Angela-I live in the UK, in a village called Langley Mill on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. When first married, I lived in Hucknall, a town in Nottinghamshire, but was born near Brighton, in Sussex. At 6 months old we moved to Hampshire where we lived on various farms, and I changed schools 7 times until I ended up at Alton Convent at age 10 where I stayed until 18. My parents had moved to Yorkshire by then.

Kay-Are you married or single? Any children or pets?

Angela-I have been married to Don for 55 years and have 5 children – 2 boys and 3 girls, 9 grandchildren, 5 grandsons and 4 granddaughters, and 1 great-granddaughter.

Kay-Are you employed now? Retired? If so, what were your previous occupations?

Angela-In 2007 I retired from the Civil Service where I had worked for 14 years. In 1986 I opened a health food shop with a friend and loved working there, but various factors meant we had to close 3 years later.

Kay-Writers always talk about coffee a lot, even posting memes and cartoons. Are you a coffee drinker? Do you eat any specific food/snacks while writing? Do you listen to music or need silence?

Angela-Tea is my favorite drink. Don’t like coffee. My first drink of the day is a herbal tea, made with thyme, mint, dandelion, nettle, elderberries, and flowers from the garden, and sweetened with manuka honey. I don’t snack whilst writing, just drink tea, and in silence.

Kay-What do you like to do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies?

Angela-Church is where I spend a lot of time. There I belong to the choir, the bereavement group that helps out at funerals, and the reader’s group, I give out Holy Communion, am a flower arranger, and am a member of the fundraising group for Cafod, a Catholic charity, for which we organize coffee mornings and Lenten/harvest lunches. I visit housebound parishioners and also a friend who used to be in my writers’ group where I am the treasurer. Besides that, I play Scrabble, pick up the 2 youngest grandchildren from school, enjoy days out in the lovely county of Derbyshire, as well as meeting up with my daughters and granddaughter for games sessions. I also love editing and have edited various friends’ works, without charging.

Kay-Would you consider yourself a reader? What types of books do you like to read?

Angela-I love to read when I have time. My favorite books are dual timeline, but love Richard Osman’s books, Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear series, Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth series, and Lucinder Riley.

Kay-Have you ever taken any writing courses?

Angela-I half-completed a writing course more than 20 years ago, with The Writers’ Bureau, but gave up when the critiques bore no resemblance to my articles. I gained a lot of good practice though, which I try to pass on to my fellow writing group members.

Kay-Tell us about your books, especially your newest one. Why did you decide to publish it and what was your inspiration?

Angela-My 10 novels are all set in the Victorian era. I started writing the first one, Looking for Jamie, in an old exercise book and then, when I retired, I bought a computer, and wow! How much quicker I found it. Instead of crossings-out and red marks and arrows, I could copy and paste, etc. The inspiration for that came from Goodnight Mister Tom, by Michelle Magorian. Fortunately, one of the members of my writing group decided to start up a publishing company and offered to publish it. 5 years later Jamie had a series of 5 books. They also published Lea Croft, but I did not seem to be making any money through them, so decided to go it alone, took back my books, and self-published them as well as the next 4: Nancie, Harriet of Hare Street, Florence and the Highwayman and the last one, The Perfume Bottle, a dual timeline. I will always be grateful to Bluewood Publishing for giving me a break, as I would never have started otherwise. Then I decided to branch out into children’s books and now have 20, including Dip the Farting Dinosaur.

Kay-Is there anything you’d like to talk about your writing life such as news or announcements?

Angela-At the moment I am in the middle of writing 2 very different stories: the first one inspired by Richard Osman, is about life in a retirement home, and the second is a dual timeline, half set in a workhouse, inspired when we went to look round a local one run by The National Trust, and the alternate chapters are set in modern times, with a link. I’m hoping to finish them this year.

Kay-What type of characters do you enjoy writing about?

Angela-I like writing about honest, sympathetic women/girls, who enjoy life but not at the expense of others, and who reach their goals.

Kay-How do you come up with ideas for your book (s)?

Angela-My granddaughter, who was 5 at the time, asked me to write about a unicorn, a dinosaur, and a knight, so that was how Dip the Farting Dinosaur came about. Harriet of Hare Street is loosely based on my mother, who was born in the East End of London, and some of the events in the book happened to her. Once I start to write, ideas just pop into my head, a sort of word association. One word can trigger a whole new series of events. I don’t plan the plots, so can be as surprised at the endings as, hopefully, my readers are.

Kay-Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Angela-My advice to aspiring writers is to keep going, to write about what they know, and research what they don’t. The internet has opened up such a huge wealth of information that would not have been available to writers of old, so we are so fortunate.

Kay-How do you market your books?

Angela-I am sorry to say I don’t market my books anymore. I’ve tried Facebook ads, and Amazon ads, and gave up as it cost me more to advertise than any money I made.

Kay-Do you have a blog or website?

Angela-I have a WordPress blog, Authoryantics, which needs updating. I’m afraid I have neglected it recently, and my website is nunkynoo.yolasite.com

Kay-What is one surprising thing you would like your readers to know about you?

Angela-I’m nearly 77 and published my first book when I was 64.

Kay-Do you have a quote that has personal meaning for you? This could be from an author, famous person, community or religious leader, or someone close to you.

Angela-That’s a hard one! One of my favorites is by Stephen King: “A story should entertain the writer, too.”

Thank you so much, Angela! I really enjoyed learning more about you and your writing life. You sound like a very busy woman. I hope you’ll return with updates and news about more books.

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