Interview with Rowan Coleman

Quick Start

SS: How would you describe your life in only 8 words?

RC: Complicated, busy, delightful, fortunate, difficult, funny, intriguing and rewarding!

SS: What is your motto or maxim?

RC: It's all material!

What Readers want to know...

SS: How would you describe perfect happiness?

RC: My daughter and I, somewhere sunny hand in hand.

SS: What’s your greatest fear?

RC: Letting people down

SS: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?

RC: On the beach in St Ives, Cornwall UK - watching my little girl play in the sea and hoping to spot some wild seals.

SS: Which living person do you most admire?

RC: I have to say my little girl, she's had year of very difficult changes and she's handled them with the grace, spirit and optimism that I am in awe of.

SS: What are your most overused words or phrases?

RC: It must be time for cake!

SS: What do you regret most?

RC: That piece of cake. No, I regret that something that should have worked out ten years ago didn't and that its taken me ten years to make it right. And that's all about I can say about that.

SS: If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?

RC: I would love to be able to really sing.

SS: What is your greatest achievement?

RC: I am so proud that I do for a job now what I dreamt about doing as a little girl.

SS: What’s your greatest flaw?

RC: Letting my imagination run away with me.

SS: What’s your best quality?

RC: Letting my imagination run away with me.

SS: If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?

RC: I would be a fabulously successful soprano, about to go on stage at Carnegie Hall.

SS: What trait is most noticeable about you?

RC: I like to laugh a lot.

SS: Who is your favorite fictional hero?

RC: Jane Eye, without question. What a incredibly brilliant character who started a revolution in literature and in some way paved the way for every fictional heroine ever to follow.

SS: Who is your favorite fictional villain?

RC: Is Miss Haversham, from Great Expectations a villain? I think she is, although only because she is bitter and lonely and burning with anger. I read that Dickens based her on a real bride who was jilted on her wedding day and never took off her dress again. What a powerful, compelling dark and dangerous character!

SS: What is your biggest pet peeve?

RC: People who are late - why should I waste the precious moments of my life waiting for you to get your act together?

SS: What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?

RC: I am partial to a bit of shopping.....

SS: What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?

RC: Honesty, humor and good faith.

SS: If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?

RC: Chocolate Cake

SS: What are your 5 favorite songs?

RC: Somebody to Love, by Queen, Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, Summertime by Gershwin, Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin.

Questions About Books and Writing

SS: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

RC: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet ( I know its a play, but its the most perfect play ever written and just as compelling to read as a novel) Great Expectations, Anne of Green Gables, Wuthering Heights.

SS: Is there a book you love to reread?

RC: Oh dear....yes but I'm not saying which - that's mean.

SS: Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?

RC: You will never be a writer if you don't actually write anything.

SS: What comment do you hear most often from your readers?

RC: Your book made me laugh out loud on a bus/train/in a cafe and everyone looked at me. Cool.

General Questions

SS: What is your birthdate?

RC: 4/14

SS: What were your previous occupations?

RC: Waitress, Barmaid, Bookseller, Bookshop manager, Publishing Sales Administrator and Editorial manager.

SS: Where did you go to high school and/or college?

RC: I went to school in Hertfordshire England and university in Hull, England.

SS: Name of your favorite composer or music artist?

RC: I am a massive fan of Queen and I love everything ever written by George Gershwin. Perhaps I'm attracted to the drama and tuneful musical sweep of both.

SS: What is your favorite movie?

RC: Brief Encounter, Gone with the Wind and Dirty Dancing. How can a girl choose between those three works of genius?

Get more on Rowan Coleman at SimonandSchuster.com