Ask the Author: Virginia Macgregor
Answered Questions (8)
Virginia Macgregor
Hi lovely Ant. Yes, Hugh is Director of Theatre at a wonderful school called St. Paul's in Concord, NH: a dream come true. He feels so appreciated here and very much at home with the ethos. I'm writing full time. Signed with HarperCollins for my first YA fiction so I'm writing an adult and YA every year now. We're also expecting our second little girl for the 7th of April, so all change. Hope all is well with you. My email is virginia@virginiamacgregor.com and Hugh's is hmacgregor@sps.edu. Much love, Vx
Virginia Macgregor
Wow, that's just about the loveliest message I've ever received - thank you! I do the same...wonder about Milo, Ella and Willa, wonder what they're up to. They're pretty strong characters, I'm sure they're doing well, taking on another battle for the good! My third novel will be out in Jan 2017 on the subject of international adoption....Thanks again Vx
Virginia Macgregor
I read, I go for a walk, I work for a while on a different writing project. It's always useful to have several projects on the go so that it's not about stopping the writing process, it's just about working on something else for a while, until your motivation and inspiration for your first project returns. I also believe that if you write every day, even for just five minutes, you're less likely to experience writer's block. Find more inspiration and motivation on my website: virginiamacgregor.com
Virginia Macgregor
Getting to know this awesome world we live in that little bit better.
Virginia Macgregor
Be nosy. Write every day. Never give up.
Virginia Macgregor
I am editing the proofs of my second novel, out in January 2016: The Astonishing Return of Norah Wells.
Virginia Macgregor
I read the news. I eavesdrop. I go for walks. I write mind maps. I read. I never stop learning and asking questions.
Virginia Macgregor
My most recent book for adults, 'Before I Was Yours' is about adoption. I have a godson adopted from Romania and have watched the journey his adoptive parents took through years of fertility treatments to finally adopting him and his sister in Vietnam. As I got to the stage of having children of my own, the challenges of not being able to have children - or the thought of having to give a child up for adoption - became even more real and emotional.
My most recent YA book, 'Wishbones' is about a teenage girl who looks after her morbidly obese mother. I spent quite a bit of my teenage years looking after my mother who was unwell for different reasons, so the idea of being a child carer interested me. The book also tackles eating disorders, which is something I struggled with in my late teens and early twenties.
For all my books, however, I tell my readers that the inspiration is always a balance between experience, research and my imagination. The balance of these three elements might change from novel to novel but they are always present. And even if my books do have personal elements, they are never autobiographical - I invent characters and situations very different from my own life.
My most recent YA book, 'Wishbones' is about a teenage girl who looks after her morbidly obese mother. I spent quite a bit of my teenage years looking after my mother who was unwell for different reasons, so the idea of being a child carer interested me. The book also tackles eating disorders, which is something I struggled with in my late teens and early twenties.
For all my books, however, I tell my readers that the inspiration is always a balance between experience, research and my imagination. The balance of these three elements might change from novel to novel but they are always present. And even if my books do have personal elements, they are never autobiographical - I invent characters and situations very different from my own life.
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