North Gower, Ontario
Canada
Good morning, Emily-Jane, and welcome to Vision and Verse. We're so happy to have you here with us this morning. Can you tell us a little about what you've written?
Lots – I write short pieces as well as books. I love writing about my garden, baking and cooking, and my memoirs, but I also enjoy writing a good fiction novel – fantasy, time travel, historical fiction, science fiction. A lot of my fiction is mixed with my memoirs, stories from my growing up years, like my “Piccadilly Street Series” (Tell-Tale Publishing) which follows my experiences as a child growing up in a haunted house, along with what my grandmother always called my vivid imagination. A complete list of my books can be found on my website: http://emilyjanebooks.ca My most recent books include:
“The Piccadilly Street Series” (Tell-Tale Publishing): “Mrs. Murray’s Ghost,” “Mrs. Murray’s Hidden Treasure,” “Mrs. Murray’s Home,” and “Mr. Murray’s Gun.”
“Beauty in the Beast” (Tell-Tale Publishing): a fantastical re-write of the popular fairy tale
“Island of Dreams” (Tell-Tale Publishing): a dystopian novel set in the Bermuda Triangle
What is your favorite genre to
Everything I write is my favorite genre. I don’t write horror and I’m not a particular fan of sexy romance novels. My writing is clean.
Favorite food.
Chocolate
Tea or coffee?
Tea
Pizza or ice cream?
Potato crust pizza
Wine or beer or soda or what?
Would you believe water? Nothing quite so refreshing as a tall glass of cold water straight from the well.
Where would you like to visit?
I used to love travel, but not since Covid. I’m very much a stay-at-home person now.
Favorite musical artist.
Enya
Do you listen to music when you write?
No
What makes you laugh?
Politicians – they’re so full of themselves!
Favorite work of art or sculpture.
Emily Carr “The Indian Church”
How old were you when you started writing?
6 – I come from a long line of avid storytellers, but as the youngest, I didn’t have much opportunity to share my stories orally, so, as soon as I could hold pencil to paper, I was writing my own stories.
Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write?
I prefer to just launch into the story and start writing, but I do keep outlines (online) in a separate file as I progress through the story so I don’t forget key points. I also like the exercise of creating character sketches, so I have a clear idea of my characters and I don’t get them mixed up part way through the story.
Describe your perfect evening.
Reading a good book.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Many places. My dog, Duke, was my muse. We’d go on long walks in the morning and he’d help me sort through my ideas, which I’d start writing as soon as we returned from our walk. I even wrote his story (or I should say, he dictated it to me because it is written in first person from his point of view). Sadly, “To Be a Duke”, is out of print, but some of the libraries still have copies. Also, sadly, we had to let our precious Duke (at the age of 14), go over the Rainbow Bridge a few weeks ago. I’m without a muse for the moment, but perhaps there’ll be another one in the future.
What do you do when you get a writer's block?
I’m not sure if I believe in writer’s block. If I can’t write one thing, I pick up another topic/story to write. I make sure I write every day, usually in the morning. It might be gibberish, but it’s writing, and, who knows, it might be part of a best seller at usome point. I have to admit the past few weeks, after letting Duke go, it’s been hard to write, but I still make sure that I do, because writing has always been a healing balm for me when I lose someone I love. It helped me with the loss of my grandmother (I wrote her memoirs: “Personal Notes”) and when my mother passed away (“F-Stop: A Life in Pictures”). It helped me when I sat with my son daily as he fought his own battle with cancer and it helped me when we had to let our previous dog, Misty, pass over the Rainbow Bridge – his story, “The Long Farewell” is appearing in Laura Lee Cascada’s animal anthology, “The Dog Who Wooed at the World,” another of her Every Animal projects, due to be released sometime this year.
Who is your favorite author?
This is always a difficult question for me. I have a lot of favorite authors: Anna Sewell, Jane Austen, Victoria Holt, Jane Plaidy, Tracy Chevalier, Sharon Kay Penman, Kathy Reichs, David Rosenfelt, John Grisham, P.G. Wodehouse, Amanda Flower, Eric Walters, E.J. Copperman, and many others.
Best book you ever read.
Another hard question – they’re all the best books, or I wouldn’t read them, at least not all the way through.
Last book you read.
P.G. Wodehouse “Full Moon”
What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
Teach – oh wait! I did that, too. I’ve taught music and creative writing to all ages – definitely a noble profession.
Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
My grandmother – she was my soulmate and 30 years after her passing, I miss her still. She appears in most of my stories. She inspired me to look at the world around me and find stories there, as well as deep within my imagination. After all, life is a story just waiting to be told (or written), all the story needs in an author to write it, to tell it. My grandmother, Gran as we called her, said I had a vivid imagination. It served me well as the youngest child with the least chance of being heard at the dinner table when stories were being shared, on long car journeys that were cramped, uncomfortable and often hot, in school when the teacher was busy teaching something I already knew, when I was at home, sick (and I was sick a lot as a child). My imagination allowed me to venture to worlds beyond our scope of perception, to create stories to entertain me, to keep me from dwelling on being uncomfortable in that hot car, bored in the classroom or miserable when sick. And I dreamed a lot. “Mrs. Murray’s Ghost” (and the complete “Piccadilly Street series” for that matter) are stories that dig deep into my childhood memories and the dreams and fantasies I had to keep myself entertained.
If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
My grandmother – she always had the right words of advice to share and I could use some of her sage wisdom right about now.
What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
Keep writing – don’t give up. Don’t be discouraged by rejections and negative comments. We all receive them. It just means you haven’t found your audience yet.
Do you have some links for us to follow you?
Facebook book page: https://www.facebook.com/realpeoplestories
My website: http://emilyjanebooks.ca
Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1732544.Emily_Jane_Hills_Orford
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=emily-jane+hills+orford&crid=1FTCEVYFSRZMZ&sprefix=emily-jane+hills+orfor%2Caps%2C141&ref=nb_sb_noss
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