IT’S GUEST AUTHOR SATURDAY!! Please welcome the author of the fabulous Woolworths Girls series, Elaine Everest…

         Hi, Elaine! I am thrilled to welcome you back to my blog and so looking forward to hearing all about your latest release THE WOOLWORTHS GIRL’S PROMISE – out 16th March! Let’s get started with my questions…

                Thank you so much for inviting me to appear on your blog today; I love to read your blog and                     to be here is an honour

                    What genre do you typically read? Why?

I like to keep an open mind when choosing books to read. My favourite genre is historical sagas, however when I’m deep in edits and deadlines for my own books I can also hate the genre!

I do enjoy reading crime novels, a friend introduced me to Elly Griffith’s Ruth Galloway series of books. I binge read fourteen of the books in months and sadly have just read number fifteen – the final in the series. To say I was bereft is an understatement! Peter James is another favourite author and my claim to fame is we share the same publisher, editor, and structural editor. I’d love to share his sales as well! My all-time favourite has to be Dick Francis, I’ve read his novels many times over and now his son Felix has taken over the reign. All books have a link to the horse racing world and as someone who has a similar interest, but in the dog show world, I enjoy reading of the community and the people. I also have shares in thirteen racehorses, (very small shares) so feel I’m part of that community.

 

Share a favourite childhood memory.

Gosh there are so many; some bad, and many good. Yes, there are memories of family holiday with my parents as well as events we took part in – my parents liked to be part of many social activities where we lived. However, the memory that sticks with me is of sitting in the kitchen after school chatting to my mum as she unpacked the shopping after coming home from her job as a home help. She would tell me of her childhood, family dynamics and a fair amount of scandal as well. She treated me as a grown up and I was allowed to ask questions which I’m grateful for as we lost her eleven days before my eighteenth birthday.

 

Do you have any shameless addictions? i.e., Tea, Books, Shoes, Clothes?

Most definitely books, but then I can claim them against my tax as they are mostly non-fiction and connected with my world. These days I tend to put much of my fiction purchases on my kindle just to save shelf space. As for tea, the kettle never has a chance to go cold – I like it strong with a little milk, no sugar.

I’m looking over my shoulder as I write this in case my husband is hovering… I’m addicted to clothing from the Cornish company, Seasalt. I dare anyone not to go to their website and just browse…

What do you think is the biggest challenge of writing a new book?

The biggest challenge for me is getting it right! I want my readers to enjoy any book I’ve written. Let’s face it, if they dislike a book, they may never read another and that’s the stuff of nightmares for an author! I have a very loyal fanbase and would hate to disappoint them. I sometimes ask my readers what they would like me to write next and the resounding answers is ‘more woolworths!’ I’m happy to write another as I adore my characters and the setting, but just sometimes …

Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages a day?

It very much depends how close I am to a deadline. Like many authors I plan a word count but then things can happen to stop that. For example, at the moment I’m writing a book for publication in March 2024, edits have arrived for another book, and we are in full promotion mode for The Woolworths Girl’s Promise. This does affect my daily world count so I’m aiming to write 10,000 words a week – more some days than others.

I had a problem with my sight last year and although it is 80% okay now, I’m aware that I mustn’t overdo things by being on screen as much as I used to – I set an alarm when I write so as to step away from the screen every hour. That means I can put the kettle on for another cuppa … 

What are your thoughts on writing a book series?

I adore series as we can really get to know characters and their problems. I do love a ‘problem’ and like to throw bricks at my characters just to see how they react. I’m very lucky on that when I am contracted to write more books by my publisher, I can jump from one series to another. I’ve not long filed a book set in 1953 Woolworths and have dived into 1942 Ramsgate and another Teashop Girls story. After that I’m back to Woolies and then…

The Woolworths Girl’s Promise: Available in supermarkets, bookshops and online from 16^th March

 

The Woolworth Girl’s Promise is the heart warming eighth novel in Elaine Everest’s bestselling Woolworths series that follows the turbulent life of a much-loved Woolworths girl.

After losing her beloved fiancé at Ypres in 1917, seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Billington faces a lonely future estranged from her upper-class parents due to her association with Charlie Sayers and his working-class family. No longer able to live under her parent’s roof she is taken in by Charlie’s father, escaping the suffocating demands of her parents.

Betty soon learns all too well about the realities of life after an accident at the Woolwich Arsenal munitions works. Spotting an advertisement for a nearby job at Woolworths, Betty starts on a new and thrilling journey starting at the bottom of the employment ladder in the well-known store.

Her work journey leads her to Ramsgate in Kent to work in a newly built store and with it the chance of marriage, but can she ever forget Charlie and the promise she made to him…?

Read this exciting early chapter in the life of well-known Betty Billington and follow her journey before she arrives at the Erith store and meets fellow Woolworths Girls in 1938 as war is again on the horizon . . .