Margaret Egrot
Coventry, UK
Margaret
Egrot is based in Coventry, UK. She is the author of two YA books (And Alex Still Has Acne, and Girl Friends). Girl Friends was
published in May 2016 and And Alex …
in January 2015. And Alex has been on
the Amazon best seller list more than once. Both stories deal with contemporary
social issues – but there are a few laughs along the way, and the books have
been well rated by adult readers as well as teenagers.
As well
as these novels, Margaret has had several short stories intended for adults and
new adult readers published. She mostly writes stories based in the present,
though in her short story, Sleeping
Beauty, she mixes contemporary with well know folk tales, and several of
her short stories – Chains of Magic,
Journey to the Fair Mountain, A
Midsummer Day’s Dream, and The Ghost Queen – are based on female characters
in Shakespeare plays. Many of her short stories have appeared in Solstice
publishing anthologies, and are available as short story downloads from Amazon
Books.
Margaret has also written a number of short plays for local
amateur groups and rehearsed readings, and has just completed her first full
length play. There are further details on these on her website: www.margaretegrotwriter.weebly.com
Margaret
describes herself as boringly normal. She eats and drinks almost anything - ‘though you can’t beat a cup of strong brew
tea, milk no sugar,’ listens to any music so long as it has a good beat (but
prefers complete silence when she is writing), and takes a polite, but rather
uneducated, interest in most art. She enjoyed visiting the Art After California
Light and Space exhibition at the local art gallery recently, and admires the
work of the potter Grayson Perry.
The place
she most likes visiting is Thailand as this is where her son and his wife live.
Apart from this, the place she would most like to visit is Myanmar / Burma,
which, seeing as it is the country right next to Thailand, sounds like a
realistic possibility.
A perfect
evening for Margaret is a trip with friends and family to the theatre,
preferably to see a comedy such as One Man and Two Guvnors, followed by a glass,
or several, of wine and a natter back at home (and of course a cup of tea).
Many of
Margaret’s plots come from past work experiences, or individuals she met
through work – all heavily disguised. She is also influenced by books and plays
she has read. Her favourite author is Jane Austen, and she enjoys witty
romances, detective novels and a range of non-fiction titles.
Her
favourite book changes over time and is usually one she has recently read (she
doesn’t, these days, persevere with anything she finds boring).
Currently her recommended
read is Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly
Everything, which is high on her to be re-read list. Meanwhile she is reading
David Nokes’s biography of Jane Austen, having just watched the new film Love and Friendship based on one of her
novellas. This is a great film, by the way, and one she would like to see again
shortly. The biography is a bit long winded, so she may not finish it.
Margaret
says she would have a rather impoverished life if she had to rely on her income
from writing. She has spent most of her adult life working with offenders,
victims of crime, and troubled families.
Now largely retired with a modest, but
adequate, pension she is able to give more time to writing. At least writing
regularly every day takes her mind off wondering why her royalties are so
small.
Her
advice to someone who wanted to be a writer is to just do it. Also to read
widely, including trashy books that you throw down in disgust, convinced you
can do better than that. You probably can.
Book and Social Media Links:
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Margaret-Egrot/1374506486178952
Twitter: https://twitter.com/meegrot
Website: www.margaretegrotwriter.weebly.com
Blog: www.writingandbreathing.wordpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment