, J'aimee Brooker, hosted me. Here's the interview:
Tell Us Your Backstory with Noelle Clark
I have a vivid memory of ‘reading’ well before I actually could read. I must have been about four. Peter Pan and Wendy belonged to my older siblings and had richly depicted colour plates on the left hand page, the right was all text. The pictures were realistically drawn, allowing me to interpret them, and thus I learned the story of Peter Pan, Wendy, and her brothers – John and Michael. That is my earliest memory of falling in love with a book.
Every birthday, I received a book, usually one of those Girls’ Annuals. They were fabulous! Today, my bookshelf still contains my most treasured childhood books, including those 1960s annuals.
As I grew older, I soon learned that my forté academically lay not in numbers, or arithmetic as we used to call it, but in words. I was always a good speller. It just came easily to me. I loved dissecting Shakespeare, devoured adventure books, and haunted my local library.
Some years later I began writing songs, combining my ability with the guitar. I had some success with my songs, achieving many awards both locally and internationally.
I eventually turned my attention to writing novels, specifically historical fiction.
In 2012 my writing buddies encouraged me to attend the RWA conference on the Gold Coast even though at that time I had no intention of writing romance. That conference changed my world. Suddenly I saw how I could combine my love of words, of writing, with the buzz created by four hundred like-minded women. Finally finding my ‘tribe’ – the place I belonged – was a most exciting revelation. I then set about combining my love of travel and writing into romance stories set in locations I had visited or lived in. I have now released five full length novels, including the Robinhill Farm Series, have short stories published in two anthologies, and have three novellas published under another pseudonym.
I find that my writing style is slowly changing, heading more towards what I call ‘women’s fiction’ rather than straight out romance, although romance is an integral part of the stories. This style allows me to combine various life junctures that affect us so profoundly. My stories are about lost love, hurt and disappointment; divorce and new beginnings; growing older, forgiveness, and redemption.
My next release is Buckley’s Chance, the final book in the Bindarra Creek Romance Series which has been very popular. Set in a small fictional town in the New England District of New South Wales, Bindarra Creek’s residents take readers on journeys that somehow seem very familiar and real.
The storyline of Buckley’s Chance combines another of my childhood passions, fossicking, or ‘rock hunting’ as I used to call it. My research for this book was sublime, as my young grandson accompanied me on a trip to Inverell, NSW, where we fossicked for sapphires.
Buckley’s Chance
Dave Buckley is heading off on a road trip to nowhere, licking his wounds and trying to rebuild his life.
Charlie Moore is stuck in a dead end job, but sticks it out because she knows how much she is needed.
Dave and Charlie are both coming to terms with loss and sadness.
In the little town of Bindarra Creek, their lives crash into each other, and they find in their fledgling friendship a rapport, a warmth that they both desperately seek.
This is the tale of two young people alone in the world. The chances of them meeting would have been non-existent if it hadn’t been for one thing. Is Charlie’s friend Cecil watching over her, guiding her life, steering her towards happiness? If that’s so, Cecil has his work cut out for him, because both Charlie and Dave are stubborn and neither are ready for the complications that surround them.
There are only two chances that Dave and Charlie will solve the riddle of Cecil Crawford’s secret and end up finding riches beyond their dreams—Buckley’s and none.
Out on July 29, 2016Available for pre-order on July 15, 2016 Click HERE
Thanks to
AusRom Today for this post which I have re-blogged.
