Hi everyone welcome back to a random houses virtual event series. My name is Taylor. I work in marketing here at Random House. I also recommend books on my own channel books with Taylor. Today, I’m, going to be joined by Josie silver.
Who was the best-selling author of one day in December and the two lives of Lydia Byrd? I’m, going to quickly pin a comment here to the top, so everyone can who’s tuning in later, can see what we’re talking about, and now I’m, going to let Jo’s, let’s, see here feel free to introduce yourselves in the comments.
I want to know where you’re tuning and from in what you’re reading, um. Oh there you are, can you see me? I can’t. How are you I’m good. Thank you. So I & # 39. Ve read your books. I am a huge huge fan of both of them.
They’re amazing, and I thought that you could start by telling us a little bit about yourself and about your wonderful books. Okay. Well, I’m Jesse Silva and I’ve been writing for I & # 39. Ve got two books there as Josie, but I’m.
Actually writing now. For almost ten years, I’m under a couple of different names and my Josie silver books, one day in December and which was December 2018, and now it’s. Lydia bad husband act for just a coupla months.
So you know that’s me great, so you’ve written two wonderful and me, I think super successful rom-coms and I wonder if you can tell us how you did that. What’s, your writing process? What kind of tips do you have? Okay, um? Well, I mean um, I mean I & # 39.
Ve always wanted to be one of those writers who goes out and write some coffee shops and libraries. I’m. I always think it looks in glamorous when people are kind of leaves – and you know another piece I can’t do, but I tried – and I’m terrible at writing anyway, apart from at home – and I have to have some my Quiet and with one day in December, I used to weave new highs, but I wear one day in December in our old house and had a lovely little office that was kind of tucked away.
So that was nice. And then we moved house and film ethically. This house should be better for writing in it’s, big own, it’s kind of old and it & # 39. S got some nice writings, but soon I & # 39. Ve got a lovely kind of window seat in the bedroom, and I & # 39.
Ve got this image of myself right in there and I set up a little office here, but it didn’t really work because the space is kind of it was communal and I & # 39. Ve got my husband walking through and my teenage boys and the two cats and the dog, and you know it was really quite kind of noisy lots of distractions.
So I’ve. Had this lovely little office built in the garden, and oh, my god, it’s. Just like the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s like a sanctuary and I’ve got you know it’s, just smells nice and there’s, no boys and no one’s.
Shouting at me to say you know what are you doing and where’s, my rugby kit even better, and I thought it would be – and I just come in and I like a candle put music on and I can’t. Have any kind of talking on radio but just music? In the background and I’ve got different playlists.
I have playlists for my different books. That kind of you know reflect what’s happening in the story at the time. So I’ll, put the playlist on that kind of suits the book, and that will help me kind of make it in the right mood for writing so yeah.
So I & # 39. Ve got this lovely office now and it’s made all the difference to kind of my productivity and in my just being able to get in the mood for writing. So I’ll come here. You know I’ll, be mom.
I’ll, get up, be mom for half an hour, get the kids after school. You know pretty obviously pre what’s going under the minute and then come down here. You’d, bring a coffee and just get in the mood. You know if you’re writing for half an hour.
I have a little look at social media and then switch off and do kind of who writes through the day. Then might stop for lunch. My husband works at home, so he might come and have lunch that kind of thing and it’s lovely.
You know it’s. Just such a nice place to work a tiny little commute from home, but it feels as if you actually go it that go out at home and go to back. That sounds idyllic. It really is actually and it’s in the garden.
So it’s, wonderfully English and and I just love it and I’ll write all day and then then go back and be mom again for the evening. You know dinner like kind of stuff and then it’s. Not it’s, easy it’s.
Just that you know. I kind of you know you find what works for you, don’t you and you know I’ll write in the evening. Sometimes after the kids have, you know gone off to do their own things. You know we & # 39.
Ve got a couple, a living room, so I’ll, go in near the living room away from everyone. Okay, look. You know corner the safe, a blanket glass of wine carry on and it’s, no hardship, because I just love it so much.
You know it just is you know I can’t believe actually get paid to do this job. I just love it. This is random house live with Judi silver, who’s. The author of the true life’s of living, a bird and one day in December, and we’re talking about Josie’s.
Writing routines. If you have questions for her, please use a little question box down at the bottom. I have a ton. I’d love to get to some of yours as well, in our time that we have and so Josie. My next question, for you is about your inspiration and your books remind me a lot of some of my favorite rom-com.
Actually um PS. I love you and I’m wondering where do you get your inspiration? Well, it comes from lots of cases. I mean I’m, a big reader of romance myself, so you know absolutely love. So if my own Keys Jojo, you know all of the all of the normal, you know brilliant romance writers, um and I grew up in my teenage years.
I was a big reader of kind of Jackie Collins and Julie Cooper. All the big kind of sprawling romance is, with you know, real alpha heroes and really kick-ass women, that kind of stuff – and I think that sort of gave me a base for romance and yeah.
So I mean I can’t. Imagine that I would ever buy anything other than romance. I’ve tried. Occasionally you know, I had a little go rightness thriller and I was terrible. So you know, I think I’m romance 2 & amp 3 here, okay, oh, this is so wonderful.
This person and Phoebe got books as one is your next book coming out. You’re, my favorite author, that’s. Really sweet! Well, my next book, we haven’t, got the data exactly for yet, and I think it probably will you know, be probably moved around because of what’s going on generally and in the publishing world, and I’m Working on it um, what can I tell you about my next book? I can tell you that, obviously it’s romance.
I can tell you that it’s. No parallel universe is which thank goodness for that, because that book was so hard to write. Yeah I mean I found live with Lydia and we’re, wondering December, obviously spend 10 years.
So it was kind of nice to have that luxury of all of that time to to write about. But then you have to kind of be careful and choose out. You know what’s shown what to leave out so that the book still feels like a complete story.
So you know there is that with wonder in December and then with Lydia. Obviously my first plan was to try and write something a bit easier to write, because I thought you know one day in December was difficult and men say yes and then the idea for Lydia came and it was even more complicated and even more difficult and because There was two worlds, you know lots of everyone in, and it was even more complicated than difficult to write, because the things that book is that it was difficult to write in a way that would make it easy to read and which I hope we pulled off.
In the end, so the next book, my plan is not to have any parallel world not to have tenure ten years. What can I tell you, but I can tell you there’s, lots of love letters in the book. I love that yeah, and I can tell you that my central cutler are called a moon bail and that they are not together at the time of the book, for a very important reason that I cannot reveal, or my editor will kill me does all would like To know what some of your favorite books, okay, I mean at the moment, I find that probably like a lot of other people, actually that I’ve gone back to reading my favorite concert reads I mean I generally will read pretty much anything.
You know historical or nonfiction that kind of stuff, but at the moment I’m reading and if you had the Darrell, the Darrell’s show in America um. It was here and just the kind of read that just makes you feel comforted and so yeah my family and other animals, and that you can see this is rotate together and it’s, the oldest dirtiest thing I loved.
I loved it. So that’s, why it looks like that the old can add that to your shopping cart when you’re buying the two lives of Lydia Berg after our live today, a little bonus for you. Let’s. Keep a lot more question: um question from books: do you do your characters before care tonight before you start? Okay? So the answer that should be? Yes, I think, but the answer that is a big fat now.
What I tend to do is have the Koecher in mind physically kind of, and I’ll have a start at the story in in my head, and I & # 39. Ll have a end point and perhaps a few of the twists and turns that are going to happen, but then, beyond that, no not really a planner.
I wish I was because it’s quite chaotic. Actually, you know to write in this way and quite scary, because it’s kind of some days. You’ll, sit down and think. Okay, what’s going to come out my fingers today? Yeah I used to try and plan it a lot more, but I would find that I would spend a lot of time planning and then it would deviate anyway from there sorry yeah.
So much planning is quite used from real life. Are they all in your head? How do you do it? Well, it varies. You know. Sometimes it is like, for instance, with Lydia Lydia’s got a sister called owl and I & # 39.
Ve got a sister who is the same age gap between myself and my sister as Alan Lydia, and I didn’t have to look very far for inspiration for Forel. You know my sister is my better in pretty much everywhere.
You know she’s, my older sister and she kind of Trailblazers, and I just followed behind basically like a little duckling and that’s, pretty much the relationship that Lydia Nana’s got as well yeah. I think so.
Well, if she reads it, I mean it’s actually dedicated to as well, but whether or not she’ll read it. I don’t know, you know she. She didn’t, read one day in December because she said I & # 39. Ve heard that much about it.
I know exactly what’s going to happen. Yeah I’m sure she. What we do. I’m sure our questions. Do you have any tips for aspiring layers tips for aspiring writers um? Well, I would say I mean for me. I always knew I wanted to write romance, are doing the Mills and Boon Harlequin forums, and I made some lovely friends who were in the same kind of position.
They wanted to write romance and we entered their competitions and that kind of stuff. So if you can find people who are similarly in the same position as you and and you know, form perhaps a group and quit each other’s, work read feature that really just to put pen to paper and just go for it without feeling Worried about it or you know without worrying, where it’s gonna go afterwards just start, you know and be brave, and just you know have a cookies here on the side or a glass of wine.
If it seemed easy, just let it go because what’s, the worst? That can happen really. My yeah, I mean I wasn’t. You know I didn’t have training, particularly I didn’t, go to college for writing or anything like that.
I just always knew that. I really wanted to do it and when I was on maternity leave with my youngest, it was coming to crunch time, and I was gonna have to go back to work, and I just thought this is the only opportunity that I & # 39.
Ve got really this little gap of time. You know to have a guy properly and I entered the Mills and Boon competition and it kind of all went from there. So yeah just be brave to see just do it yep that’s.
My advice is just don’t, let anyone tell you that you can’t and just go for it. Another great question here which them your characters, do you relate to the most and why? Okay, why probably was sorry in one day in December, I’m, probably Laurie, because I’d, sound, probably quite similar in in personality to Laurie and saying we was very big and bold and bright, whereas I’m.
More of a kind of sit back and you know, sit on the sides and watch what’s happening more, the probably proper way to actually you know just like to sit and watch and see what’s going on, but keep you Know you keep your own counsel, and quite quite quite quite you know, I’m, quite happy to not go anywhere for days so yeah that’s, a probably Laurie.
If I was gonna choose one, I think a Lydia would be my favorite, but maybe I spent time with her so recently I do lovely do actually she’s such an endearing character. You know she’s kind of lived in.
My head for the last 18 months and I miss her don’t mean when they & # 39. Ve gone. It’s kind of like well, then we get to enjoy them, which is such a special treat yeah, and that’s escape me. So for the speak, we’re tuning in this.
Is Random House live with Judi silver, who’s, the author of the two lights of Lydia Burt, and one day in December we just have a few minutes left. So I put all of your final questions in the little question box and I’ll try to get to some of them.
In the meantime, I have a quick few questions for you. Josie. Am I having this idea of all authors putting in their PJs when they write and I’m wondering? Are you a PJ writer in your pajamas, or do you actually get dressed every day to write? I think I kind of walk the line between the middle.
You know it’s. Um it’s, um acceptable to leave a house, but not particularly dressed up, I would say yeah, I love PJs. I love my comfort clothes, so you know if I can get away with pajama bottoms, fluffy socks that’s kind of my perfect and do you have a favorite snap that you turned here when you & # 39? Re writing? Oh god, I’m, a terrible snack yeah.
I mean that this is a good thing with being it in the garden actually, because I’m distant from the house, so I’m a bit more distant on the kitchen. So I have to bring my snacks with me and I do try and be good, but I just love chocolate Hobnobs.
You know in a cup of coffee and then usually a bag of wine. Gums is hiding somewhere on the dresser. So I’ll. Go and that’s. My you know. If I were a thousand words, I can have quickly sweets and you know just use them as an incentive and see I’m, a terrible smecker, and, and what do you do if you have you get writer’s block? Do you have any ways of working through that? Sometimes I’ll go to pen and paper.
You know because usually I’ll, be typing on my laptop, but sometimes if I get a bit of the diskette stuck, I’ll, go and write longhand and then in the process of kind of transcribing it across into the manuscript tidy.
It up that way, so sometimes I’ll. Do that or sometimes I’ll just go and do something else. You know just for a little while going either read or the houses will renovate my house at the minute. So we’re, going, do something you know completely different, go and do some painting, you know just something completely different and then come back to it fresh well, we are thank you so much for joining me today.
Thank you very much for all of you who’ve watched. Please go by the life’s, a bloody, a bird. It’s, my personal favorite. It was just released and it is the perfect comfort read for when you’re stuck at home right now, yeah.
Thank you. So much all right, bye, everyone! You
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