Welcome to week seven of the Process Project!! If you don’t
know about us already, please visit The Process Project page to find
out more about this project, and read interviews with other authors.
Today’s interview is going to be broken into two segments,
you can read the continuation of our interview tomorrow!
MEET LOUISE LINDLEY!
Louise grew up in the North-East of England. In 2004
she moved to Canada with her husband, for what was supposed to be one year. Ten
years, two children, two cats and a dog later, she appears to be staying. She
worked as a registered nurse until giving up her career to raise her family.
When she was diagnosed with a chronic disease, she turned to writing, combining
her knowledge of the medical world with personal life experiences. She
currently lives in Vancouver with her husband and two boys. Bruises is her debut novel.
And now, for the questions...!!
JB: What
is/are your main genre/field of writing?
LL: Romantic fiction, my first novel has been classified
as “erotica,” but honestly, despite its steaminess, is very tasteful.
JB: Do you
think your genre of writing informs your process?
LL: I don’t think so. I imagine I would use the same
process if I wrote a different genre. I consider myself a bit of an amateur, so
I’m not sure what other process I would use to be honest. I just do what comes
naturally.
JB:
Who/what inspires you?
LL: Writers: JK Rowling, she taught me to believe in
myself.
Personal friends/relatives: My mother-in-law for her
courage & my best friend for her loyalty and selfless support.
I am inspired by the fact my life often feels like a
test I didn’t study for, but somehow manage to pass and move forward.
JB: And
most importantly: why do you write?
LL: Where do I begin?! First you should know that
since 2010 I have suffered from a chronic arthritis called ankylosing
spondylitis. Essentially my spine is slowly fusing. It is normal for people
like me to suffer chronic pain, but look completely normal. I self-inject two
mls of very expensive fluid, known as a biologic, every three weeks, as well as
a whole host of other medications I take orally for the other parts of me the
disease affects. You may find it interesting and amusing to know that I take
Viagra for very poor circulation! Since before my definitive diagnosis I have
attended physiotherapy 1-2 times a week. I usually have IMS treatment – fine
needles inserted into my muscles to stimulate then relax them. This is often
very intense, and causes a lot of discomfort/pain. It is an essential part of
my quality of life, and why I look so ‘normal’. This disease rules many aspects
of my life: what I eat (I can’t eat starchy foods), what activities I can do,
where I sit, how long I sit for, if I can put my own socks on, how I play with
my kids, if I can play with my kids, if I sleep, etc., etc.. I could go on and
on. It has taken many things away from me; things that I never thought it could
possibly get its evil claws into. It has forced me to retired from nursing due
to ill health.
When I turned forty, which in itself didn’t bother me,
I began to notice that as my boys were becoming more independent, I was
becoming more brain dead. I had lost my identity, a common problem when you
stay at home with your kids apparently. Whenever I met people who hadn’t seen
me for a while I would either be asked about the boys, or if the inquirer knew
about my physical condition, I would hear a very patronizing ‘and how are you?’ Honestly, I felt like a walking
disease, but I didn’t have anything else to steer the conversation away from
these two subjects.
This was all around the time that Fifty Shades was gaining momentum. I read it, of course, and a
whole host of others popular at that time, and began to get bored and
frustrated with the same format that was being used for all of these stories. I
didn’t get why we had to be so crude and raw about this subject, why couldn’t
we have all the steam but be more tasteful about it. As I mentioned earlier,
English was not my strongest subject, but I was always told at school that I
had a good imagination. And so it began, my mind turned everything on its head
and created a story that gives the reader characters they can relate to, with
more realistic jobs and life issues, with tasteful, but smouldering bits in
between, and most importantly, no obvious ‘happy ever after’.
Suddenly, I became more interesting, enthusiastic, and
animated about ‘what I do’. Nobody ever expects you to reply ‘oh yeah, I’m a
fictional novelist’ let alone an erotic one at that. I had an identity again;
my brain had been resuscitated, and I had found the perfect escapism from the
cruel realities of chronic disease. Most importantly a published novel is
something my disease can never take away from me… that is why I write!
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Check back in tomorrow when we delve a little deeper
into how Louise writes.
In the meantime, you can follow her on the web here!
And you can get your copy of her debut novel, Bruises!
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