Author Interview: Kendall Talbot

Today’s interview is a little different, in that I did a whole set of questions without asking a single question about Talbot’s current release Double Take. I’m not quite sure how that happened but clearly the roll I was on wasn’t as successful as I had thought. So please; pull up a seat, sit back and learn a little about Kendall Talbot and everything except Double Take.

Hi Kendall and welcome to Beauty and Lace, thanks for talking to us.
Thank you so much for having me.

What made you take up writing?
I have a bucket list with 101 goals on it. I wrote ‘write a book’ at number 69, I kid you not. My initial motivation was simple. I’m a bookkeeper by day, so numbers are my friend. English was not. I thought the best way to improve my spelling, grammar and vocabulary would be to write a story.

Every birthday and Christmas my husband shakes out my bucket list for inspiration. In 2008 he bought me the Year of the Novel Course at the Queensland Writers Centre. I never imagined how much that course would change my life. On the last Sunday of every month for nearly a year, my teacher navigated me through the novel writing process. I started in February with a blank page, but by November I’d written 68,000 words and typed THE END. My debut novel Lost in Kakadu was born. It took another 6 years of editing and learning before I was prepared to pitch it. I still can’t believe Lost in Kakadu won the Romantic Book of the Year in 2014.

Can you tell us a little about your writing process?
My husband works interstate 3 to 4 nights each week, so that’s my writing time. I don’t watch any television, instead I write for about 4 hours each night and usually at least half a day on the weekend. I also restrict my social media to 45 minutes each morning and 1 hour each night, it’s too easy to get sucked into the social media time warp.

Are there any quirky writing habits you have?
I have a scrap book for every story I’ve written. Each one is full of character ideas, story ideas, pictures I’ve found and drawings I’ve done. For example, the first book I wrote, Lost In Kakadu, is a survival story set in Australia’s Kakadu National Park. So that scrap book is full of survival techniques, bush tucker cooking ideas, hand drawn maps, aboriginal art, flora and fauna and plane crash details. I also make a mock front and back cover for the scrap book, complete with fake reviews from New York Times and Oprah. Haha. I love looking back over the scrap books and seeing where some of my ideas sprung from. Maybe they’ll be worth money one day.

What’s something readers would be surprised to learn about you?
I love food. I love to cook it, love to eat it, and love to write about it too. One of the fun things I did while writing my books Treasured Secrets and Treasured Lies, was to cook all the meals my Italian heroine, Rosalina, makes in those two books. So now, Rosalina’s recipes debut in their own cookbook ‘Rosalina’s Treasured Treats’. Readers can cook along as they read my ‘Treasured’ series of books. Rosalina’s Treasured Treats is available online and from my website: kendalltalbot.com.au

Who do you love to read?
I’m very eclectic in my reading. I read fiction and non-fiction and everything from crime to romance. I have a few favourite books that I’ve read many times over, rather than favourite authors. Deception Point by Dan Brown. Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. River God by Wilbur Smith. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Three Men In A Raft (Non-Fiction) by Ben Kozel.

What the last book you read?
The Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins. I actually read this as an audiobook and loved it. It made driving to work so much more pleasant.

Can you tell us the most anticipated book on your TBR pile?
This is a tough question. I have hundreds of books in my TBR pile. And I usually read 2 or 3 at a time (I know, I’m a little crazy). So if I have to pick one, I’ll go with Play by Kylie Scott. I loved the first book in this series.

Are you working on something new you can tell us about?
I’m doing the final edit for Treasured Dreams – book 3 in my Treasured Series. This book in my action-packed treasure hunt series takes readers hunting for a 700 hundred year old treasure from Italy to Egypt to the Solomon Islands. Chasing missing treasure has its dangers, especially when there’s an evil priest who’ll stop at nothing to get his hands on the treasure first.

Treasured Dreams, offers more treasure hunting, more bad guys, more delicious food and of course more hot romance. I can’t tell you much more, other than to say it’s a thrilling edge-of-your-seat adventure story that proves that true love is worth fighting for.

Treasured Lies is due for release 22nd October 2015 and Treasured Dreams is due out April 2016.

For more about Kendall and her work you can find her at KendallTalbot.com.au and on Facebook and Twitter.

Michelle

I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!