SHELF LIFE
CATHY BRAMLEY
The bestselling chicklit novelist shares her fi ve favourite reads
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To read an extract from My Kind of Happy
‘My latest novel is My Kind of Happy. The story follows Fearne, a woman struggling to come to sets her on a journey to find her own kind of happy, whatever that might be! The idea came to me after watching a TED talk by Sebastian Terry, who has devoted his life to challenging himself and others to pursue a life which brings happiness. Sebastian’s ethos really struck a chord with me. How often do we put off doing the things we want to do and assume we’ll one day miraculously find the time to do them? How much happier would we be if actually made those things a priority now? Thanks to Sebastian, not only was the idea for this book born, but I also spent two weeks volunteering in Nepal as part of my own happiness list.
‘In the early years of my writing career, I was also running a PR and marketing agency, which meant getting up an hour early in order to squeeze in some writing time. Now, I’m fortunate to be able to write full-time and can be more flexible, although I do stick to a Monday to Friday working week. In the morning, I generally start by outlining the next scene, then I write in one hour bursts, often in the “virtual”
‘A couple of years ago, I was really stuck with a book. I loved the setting and the characters, but although I’d been excited about the premise, 40,000 words in, it simply wasn’t working. I turned to a friend of mine for help. Julie Cohen is the best writing tutor and mentor I have ever worked with and is really good at pushing her students to solve their own dilemmas. In this instance, she asked me to imagine my character’s worst nightmare and then make it happen. This turned out to be such a good idea – it forced me to rethink the entire story, which eventually became A Vintage Summer.