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Author Profile: Robyn Harding

Author Name: Robyn Harding

Website: http://www.robynharding.com/
Bio: Robyn Harding grew up in Quesnel, a logging town in northern British Columbia. To relieve her small town angst she turned to creative writing, hoping to become another S.E. Hinton and publish a novel at seventeen. After high school, creative writing was relegated to a hobby and Robyn moved to Vancouver. She studied English Literature, journalism, and then marketing, eventually landing a job at an advertising agency. After seven years in the industry, Robyn left to raise her two young children and work as a freelance copywriter. During this time, Robyn began to write fiction again. In 2004, she published her first novel, THE JOURNAL OF MORTIFYING MOMENTS. Since then, Robyn has continued to write: fiction, nonfiction and screenplays.
Currently: Robyn currently lives in Vancouver, B.C. with her family.
Titles: the Journal of Mortifying Moments, Unravelled, The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom, Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs?, Girls Night Out, My Parents Are Sex Maniacs, and Chronicles of a Mid Life Crisis.
Bio Retrieved from www.robynharding.com

Interview with Robyn Harding

Q: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I was about twelve years old when I read The Outsiders. I was so inspired that S.E. Hinton had written the book when she was only 15! And when I say I was inspired, I mean that I basically wanted to copy her. (But I would be even more impressive because I was only 13.) So, I started my own novel about a bunch of parentless boys who smoked and fought and took too many aspirins. I even tried to give them cool names like Pony Boy and Soda Pop. (I can’t remember all the characters but my protagonist’s name was Brewster.) Unfortunately, I lost interest in Brewster’s saga on about page 9, but that’s when I knew… I wanted to be a writer.

Q: Your first novel is titled The Journal of Mortifying Moments. Where did you get the idea to write this?

I wanted to write about the disastrous relationships we all have when we’re young and insecure and how, when we look back through a window of time and distance, we can see the humor in them. So I decided to have my character, a woman in her early-thirties, keep a journal about her past dating disasters. She’d write about all the humiliating and hilarious experiences she’d had with men during high school, college, and in her twenties. But then I thought, “Why on earth would someone write all that down?” That’s when I came up with the idea to have her therapist suggest the journal as a tool to work on her current relationship… And the journal of mortifying moments was born.

Q: Do you have a certain writing routine you stick to (writing so many hours a day, anything like that?)

I have two kids so I’ve had to develop a writing routine around them. I take them to school and then I sit down to write. Over the years, I’ve realized that my most creative time is in the morning, so I try to protect those three or four hours. In the afternoon, I’m kind of burned out and writing is more of a struggle. (And in the evening, I’m practically brain dead, lying on the couch, drooling and watching Bachelor Pad.) In the summer, when the kids are on vacation, I get up early and write. Lucky for me, they like to sleep in, so I can usually get an hour or two in before they’re up.

Q: What do you think is the hardest part when you are editing your own work?

I find that if I can step away from a project for a week or more, I can go back to my manuscript with fresh eyes. Suddenly, all the problems are so glaringly obvious. The difficulty is in the walking away. Sometimes deadlines won’t allow it. And sometimes, I feel an almost compulsive need to tweak it… and tweak it and tweak it.

Q: Your latest novel, Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis, is due out in September and covers both the male and female perspective after a breakup. Where did the inspiration for this idea come from?

I wanted to challenge myself and try writing in a different voice. I’d been developing a screenplay with a male protagonist, so I was in that male headspace already. I decided to write from a male, first person point of view. Also, I’d always found it funny how two people can view the same situation so differently – especially a man and a woman.

Q: How were you able to get a man’s perspective on how he feels and behaves after a breakup?

I went back and looked at my past break ups. In my experience, men tend to get over relationships quickly – at least on the surface. Women are more likely to cry and pine and grieve for months. Men look like they’ve moved on – within a few weeks, they’re dating, partying and socializing. But eventually, they crack. Because they haven’t dealt with the loss of the relationship, they end up on the phone saying, “We were so good together. Will you take me back?” In “Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis”, Trent feels trapped in a lifeless marriage. But when single life throws him a wicked curve ball, he’s desperate to hit the rewind button.

Q: What was your biggest challenge while writing Chronicles?

It was the authenticity of the male voice. I really had to get into that headspace. My husband was a great help. I’d get him to read over chapters that were from Trent’s point of view. My husband would suggest things like: “Instead of ‘ I have to pee’… Say ‘I need to take a piss’.”

Q: What is one personal goal you would like to achieve by the end of the year?

“Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis” has been optioned for a television series. I’ve worked really hard on a pilot and a pitch document, and it’s being submitted soon. I would really love to see something happen with it by the end of the year.

Q: What book(s) are you reading right now?

This is going to sound so pretentious, but I’m reading “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy. I was rereading “A Prayer for Owen Meany” and John Irving references “Tess…” so often. I realized that I’d never read it and probably should. But before that, I read a fun novel called “One Day” by David Nicholls.

Q: What is your advice for aspiring writers?

Write it, polish it, and submit it. I didn’t have any insider connections and I managed to secure an agent and get published. Agents really are looking for something fresh and new and exciting – and that just might be you. But you also have to know when to quit. If you’ve submitted a manuscript and it’s consistently rejected, move on. Write something else. Write it, polish it, and submit it.

Q: Where would be your dream vacation?

I’d like to rent a house with my family in the south of France for the entire summer. From there, we could take short trips into Italy and Spain. My kids speak French (I speak a little, my husband speaks none) so they’d have to do all the talking.

In My Mailbox: Week of August 29th

In My Mailbox: Week of August 29th

Title: Single in the City
Author: Michele Gorman
Received: From Michele Gorman
Synopsis: It’s official. Hannah has left her friends and family in the US behind and is following her dream. To live in London. She’s going to find:

1. Her dream guy. A prince or Hugh Grant would be nice. Or does she have to settle for her half-naked Australian housemate or an “English gentleman” with terrible hygiene habits?
2. Her dream job. Something fantastic in fashion. So how has she ended up being the mini-me for an evil party planner who doesn’t even trust her to arrange the paperclips?
3. Her dream friends. But everyone in London seems to have known each other for years and Hannah doesn’t know the rules of engagement. Who’s she going to have fun with?

Dream life? Should Hannah just dream on? She wanted a big change but maybe it would have been simpler and cheaper to just get a new haircut. Was she mad to move 3,000 miles away from everyone she knows? Will she ever find love and her perfect life in England?

Title: Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis
Author: Robyn Harding
Received: From Robyn Harding
Synopsis: Lucy had no clue that her husband of sixteen years was about to bolt. Now she’s dealing with shock, loneliness, and girlfriends who alternately pity her and provoke her. She also-unbelievably-is apparently competing with her own teenage daughter for a new man’s attention.

Trent pictured freedom, self-discovery…and maybe some sex with actual passion. So far, he’s mostly watching hockey in a hotel room and wondering what’s next. Being middle-aged and married isn’t easy. The jury’s still out on being middle-aged and single…

There are two sides to every breakup. In this witty, heartfelt novel, Robyn Harding explores them both-and takes us on a journey through the end of a marriage and the beginning of something new…which may or may not be something old too.

Title: Slim to None
Author: Jenny Gardiner
Received: From Jenny Gardiner
Synopsis: Abbie Jennings is Manhattan’s top food critic until her expanding waistline makes staying incognito at restaurants impossible. Her cover blown on Page Six of the New York Post, her editor has no choice but to bench her—and suggest she use the time off to bench-press her way back to anonymity. Abbie’s life has been built around her career, and therefore around celebrating food. Forced to drop the pounds if she wants her primo gig back, Abbie must peel back the layers of her past and confront the fears that have led to her current life.

Title: Little Miss Straight Lace
Author: Maria E. Romana
Received: From Maria E. Romana
Synopsis: When a brilliant biostatistician learns too much about her pharmaceutical client’s research, her life begins to spin out of control, and a dashing computer security expert from South America seems the perfect antidote. But is his arrival really just the happy coincidence it appears to be? Find out in this complex tale of suspense, humor, and romance.