This week it is my pleasure to interview Heather Flood. Would you please introduce yourself to my readers, Heather, and share something about your life.
Hi Everyone. My name is Heather Flood and I am a wife, mother and grandmother. I'm also a time traveller.One day I was talking to my granddaughter Gabrielle and she laughed when I said this. “Oh Nanna you are funny.” she chuckled.I then explained that I was born in 1948 and had travelled through time until reaching 2025. I told her that things were very different after the war, for instance, when we were on rationing.
When did you write your first book and how did it come about?
My first book, Mousey Mousey and The Witches' Spells, was published in 2015.I used to make up stories for Gabrielle about a lovely little lady mouse called Mousey Mousey. Other characters began to appear in my mind including Agatha, a naughty, mischievous witch, and her friends Stink Blob and Mouldy Knickers.I enjoyed reading some of the stories in the Mousey Mousey series of books at my granddaughter's school in Aldershot. I loved hearing the children laughing at the characters' funny names.
Do you always write in the same genre or do you mix it up?
I have also written Giant Sticker Monster and Other Children's Stories, and switched genres with Purple Mist, a fantasy adventure for older children and teenagers, and, for adults, Laughs and Tears Galore – short stories and poems with twists.It was after the Mousey Mousey series that I had an idea for another character, Annique, and wrote Purple Mist. Annique was badly bullied at her school until discovering she had strange powers. She then finds that her real home is somewhere far away where she must take on a much bigger bully.More recently, I have co-written Laughs and Tears Galore with my husband Tony Flood, who is a former journalist and was Controller of Information at Sky Television.
When you write, do you start with an idea and let it evolve, or do you make notes and plot the chapters beforehand?
Ideas just seem to pop into my head and I later spin them into a better, clearer order. I love to laugh, so humour is a big part of my writing.Tony and I bounce ideas off each other. Tony has written crime thrillers which have been recommended by best-selling author Peter James, and a celebrity book called My Life With The Stars – Sizzling Secrets Spilled, which features showbiz and sports stars he has interviewed or written about.I have become more confident in my writing due to the encouragement I have received from Tony and meeting, with him, famous people such as the late Michael Parkinson, George Best and Ben Miller, who played the first detective in Death in Paradise.
Would you like to give us a short excerpt from one of your books?
I will include a short story from Purple Mist at the end of this interview. Meanwhile, here is a poem from Laughs and Tears Galore:
IF YOU LET IT,a poem by Heather Flood
There's always something to wreck your day,some obstruction to mar your way,a thought to change blue skies to grey –If you let it.
There's always something to spoil your fun,disturb your mind when the day is done.A cloud that threatens to hide the sun –If you let it.
Ignore what upsets you, the stones and stings,find something good in whatever life brings.Life will surround you with wonderful things –If you let it.
Who is your favourite character and why?
Hermione Granger from Harry Potter is such a strong character who develops into an amazing woman and is similar to Annique in Purple Mist. Of my own characters, I particularly love the mischievous witch Agatha and her sister Xenda who infuriates and embarrasses Agatha by wanting to be a fairy!
What is the best marketing tip you have received?
Always remember to mention the name of your book – twice if possible when you are being interviewed. And give talks to writing groups such as Anderida Writers, to which Tony and I belong.
How would you describe yourself?
People tell me that I make them laugh when they meet me because I am fun-loving and a chatterbox. But, unlike my husband, who is a confident person, I am rather shy, and on one occasion I disappeared from Tony's side as he was about to introduce me to Colin Baker, one of the actors who played Doctor Who. Apparently, Tony said to Colin: “This is my wife, Heather”, only to find I was making a hasty exit from the theatre bar we were in.
What do you do when you are not writing or reading?
I love singing and was a member of the Concentus Choir for several years before undergoing treatment for cancer. I also enjoy listening to music on Boom Radio, who play all the great oldies, and Box Office Radio, whose showbiz expert Bernard Bale recently interviewed Tony.
If you could holiday anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why?
Well...let me think. I'd like to return to Italy, which has such marvellous history and beauty, particularly Rome, Pompeii and Venice.
If you have owned pets, do you have a funny story you would like to share with us?
I have had some wonderful pets and spend a lot of time talking to my cat Pixie, Rosie, Tinkerbell - names chosen by my grandchildren. Once, when I was talking to Pixie in the garden, the next-door neighbour thought I was speaking to them and answered me twice! We both had a good laugh.
What is the biggest factor for you when selecting a book to read?
I am usually influenced by endorsements and reviews so I am very grateful to those who have kindly endorsed and reviewed my books. I love an adventure story, and at the moment I am reading the children's series Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend. The next installment will be published in May. I also enjoyed the series The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley, who has sadly passed away. She was a great fiction writer.
Do you have your own website?
Tony and I share two websites where most of our books are available for £1.77 for the e-versions and less than £6 for the paperback. They are also available by going to Amazon.co.uk and entering Heather Flood in the search box. The links to our websites are:https://www.fantasyadventurebooks.com/ https://www.celebritiesconfessions.com/
Are you working on a new book at the moment?
I have an idea for one, but have not started it yet as I am busy writing my life story for my granddaughter. This Christmas she sent me a lovely book. On the cover it read DEAR NANA FROM YOU TO ME. A JOURNAL OF YOUR LIFETIME. The note inside said 'please write down your real-life adventures'. And, of course, I start them with “I'm a Time traveller.”
Do you have any events or book promotions coming up that you would like to tell us about?
My books and Tony's books will be promoted and sold at a special event called Songs & Secrets of Elvis, Marilyn and Kylie at the Grove Theatre (underneath Eastbourne Library) on Saturday, May 10th from 2 pm. Popular singing duo Stardust will be singing songs by Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Kylie Minogue, while Tony will tell amusing anecdotes and reveal secrets about these and other legends from his celebrity book My Life With The Stars – Sizzling Secrets Spilled! Tickets, priced just £9.50, are available from The Grove Theatre at https://www.groveeastbourne.com/events/songs-and-secrets-of-elvis-marilyn-and-kylie/.
EXTRACT FROM PURPLE MISTby Heather Flood
CHAPTER ONE My name is Annique Sheldon. I considered myself to be an ordinary schoolgirl until incredible things began to happen and my worst nightmares started to come true.
My whole world was changed beyond belief on my thirteenth birthday. But let me turn back the clock to four years earlier - the day I discovered I had special powers.
I was hurrying home from school along a country lane in Chobham, Surrey, trying to avoid my three tormentors, Fizz, Stacie and Nicola.
Nicola and I had been friends for a while, but when Fizz joined our class everything changed. Fizz was a bully and soon got Nicola and Stacie to join her in picking on other pupils – usually me!
I no longer had any friends because these three horrid girls would be nasty to anyone they saw speaking to me. Their favourite trick was to call me names.
Determined to ignore them, I continued on my way home, but Fizz grabbed my bag and ripped it off my shoulder, while Stacie and Nicola cheered her on. She swung it violently and the bag, containing all my school books, thudded against my head.I staggered backwards, rubbing the painful spot above my left ear.
“You're ugly, Antique Sheldon. You've got strange purple eyes and you smell of fish,” taunted this tall, thin, squint-eyed girl, who liked nothing better than to make my life hell.
It amused Fizz to ridicule me and call me 'Antique' instead of 'Annique'. I hated her and the snotty-nosed Stacie and pimply Nicola. The spots on Nicola's chin always looked like they would burst at any minute - it was a disgusting sight.
Fizz - that was her nick-name because she preferred it to Felicity - did not care about my pain. Instead of stopping this uncalled for attack, she poked me hard in the chest with one of her bony fingers. The other two joined in, pushing and shoving, until I fell, hitting my head on the ground. The throbbing was so bad that I thought I was going to be sick.
When I looked up Fizz was holding my bag. “There's only junk in here - I'll be doing you a favour if I empty it on the ground,” she gloated, starting to unzip it.
“Don't do that,” I yelled, trying to stop her but my head ached so much that my eyes began to water.
“Ow, look, poor little Antique is crying,” scoffed Fizz.
As my eyes cleared, the feelings of pain and humiliation gave way to an all-consuming anger. I glared at her and a strange purple mist appeared in front of me. Fizz, suddenly surrounded by the mist, was lifted off the ground. She dropped the bag as she began to float into the air, screaming.
“What yer doing up there?” Nicola screeched, seeing her friend rise higher and higher until she hovered above our heads.
 “Nufink, stupid - get me down!” Spinning around in the mist, her arms flapping in panic, Fizz shouted: “Help me!”
Stacie leapt in a vain effort to grab hold of one of her friend's legs. Climbing to my feet, I rushed over to help as the airborne girl continued to wave her arms like a large bird.
Another searing pain behind my eyes caused me to blink. In that instant, she dropped several feet. I recovered sufficiently to tug at Fizz's coat, helping Stacie to pull her down. She landed with a thud in the mud on the wet grass verge.
“Leave me alone, you freak,” Fizz shouted at me, climbing to her feet. “Did you do that?”
“No...I don't think so,” I mumbled. But my hesitant answer obviously didn't convince Fizz.
“I'll get you for this, Antique. I'll make you suffer.”
I picked up my bag and ran as fast as I could the rest of the way home, crashing through the red front gate to my small terraced house. Fumbling in my bag for the door key, I pushed it into the lock, tripped over the step, slammed the door behind me, and rushed up the stairs to my room. I threw myself onto the bed and pulled the duvet up over my head.
Stella, my mother, called to me from downstairs, but I was too afraid to get off the bed as my legs felt like jelly.
My heart thumped in my chest as I went over what had just happened. Was it really me who'd created the purple mist and made Fizz float up into the air? Maybe they were right: I was a freak.
Heather Flood with husband Tony (right) and Ben Miller