I’m pleased to welcome fellow loveahappyending.com author Carol E. Wyer to the hotseat here at Celtic Connexions today. Make yourself comfortable Carol and we’ll get started.

So, tell us a bit about yourself. What makes Carol E. Wyer who she is?

Crumbs! I’m not entirely sure since I don’t really know who Carol E Wyer is other than a humorous author and lover of life, but I think I became a comedienne of sorts a long time ago when I was at school. Being an army brat I moved about so often I never had the chance to make proper friends. Each time we moved I had to try harder to get into groups where friendships had already been forged and the easiest way to do that was to be the class clown. I developed an ability to make people laugh very early on in life aided by the fact that I smashed my front teeth out when I was seven and had false teeth which I could take out at whim. Everyone cracked up when I ‘gurned’ at them. I was quite a mimic too so I could also do great impressions which made people chuckle. I learned pretty early on in life not to take myself seriously and it has spilled into adulthood.

What made you decide to go indie with your novels Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines and Surfing in Stilettos? Did you try the traditional route first?

I was pretty familiar with the traditional route because years ago I sat for weeks with The Writer’s handbook bombarding publishers and agents alike with copies of my children’s books.

After a telephone sized book of rejection slips I actually got a publisher interested in my work and they were keen to offer me a deal. Sadly, my illustrator for the books passed away suddenly and as it was a joint venture I didn’t take up the opportunity to go ahead with a different illustrator.

When I finished Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines I sent my script off to agents who I felt could best represent me. I got some very positive rejections and would have continued in my quest to find an agent had I not stumbled across YouWriteOn. I liked the idea of uploading my chapter, getting feedback and having my script looked at by a publishing house if it did well. Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines has been in the top ten of my publisher’s chart for six months now and as a reward my script is currently awaiting a critique from Orion so we’ll see what happens next.

With Surfing in Stilettos I was actually offered a contract with a publisher but after a sleepless night I decided to stick with FeedARead (who used to be YouWriteOn). That way I get better royalties, I am in control of my book and I like the way FeedAread operate.

I have however signed a two book deal with ThornBerry Publishing to produce the eBook to Surfing in Stilettos and it will be released on October 8^th so I am pretty excited about that.

You’ve won some prestigious indie awards. Can you tell us about them?

I’ve been pretty lucky with awards and picked up the Readers Views Reviewer’s Choice 2012 Award for humour. I got lots of stickers to put on my books for that and a terrific review from them. I received an invitation to the award ceremony in New York at the plaza hotel and got a huge Silver medal for the Indie Book Awards 2012. I couldn’t attend the ceremony but I have the medal and some more stickers. I got finalist placing for 2012 Indie Excellence awards again for humour and Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines is a semi-finalist Kindle Book Review Best Indie Book of 2012. I have my fingers crossed for that and results are to be announced September 1^st.

I’m even prouder of Surfing in Stilettos which is a Costa award nominee and is entered for a couple of other highly prestigious awards.

What was your reaction when you landed your contract with ThornBerry Publishing?

I did that stupid victory dance that very happy people do (or very drunk people attempt to do) and made Hubby buy me some Cava to celebrate with.

Can you tell us about future projects… works in progress?

I am currently working on Follow You, Follow Me, another humorous novel but has a dark side to it. It must be good because Hubby has laughed at it and he doesn’t laugh at much these days. I hope to have it ready by the end of the year.

About Carol:

An ex teacher and linguist Carol used to live and work in Casablanca until the late eighties when she returned to the UK, set up a language company and settled down to married life.

When her son finally left the nest a couple of years ago Carol took up writing full time. She has written articles and novels which generally encourage others to age disgracefully and enjoy life.

Carol is a loveahappyending.com featured author and author contributor to Famous Five Plus and Indies Unlimited.

Links to Carol’s books: