Author Harvest ‘bales’ up: Kylie Ladd

Kylie Ladd’s novels are real keepers. Lucky for readers she has a new one coming in April 2013 (Allen and Unwin). And another fabulous title too: Into My Arms. (Maybe now is a great time to catch up her last two novels: Last Summer and After the Fall.)

I caught up with this fellow wine-lover today and we talked boots, roots, and beavers.

Kylie, start by telling me if it’s scones and tea or some other homemade delight you have whipped up for me today.

Sadly, I don’t do homemade, unless homemade means made by the nice people who live at Coles. I’ll pour you a big glass of wine though, and after a while you’ll have forgotten about the scones.

(Scones? What scones? I’ll just grab some glasses.) 

At home…

My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes at home, a closet gnomer or with a strict ‘no gnomes’ policy at your place?

Gnome be gone. We do, however, have two quite mad chickens in our backyard that provide at least as much colour and far more entertainment. Their names are Agnes and Rooney (blame my children for that) and they are Barnevelders- absolutely beautiful looking birds, but dumber than a box of hammers.

What vegetable (or fruit) have you always wanted to grow at home?

None! That’s what Coles is for! (Oh dear. Despite the chickens, I seem to be failing this whole country-vibe already.)

If I came to your home and looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?

Stuff from Coles. (NB. This is not a sponsored post. But it could be, Mr Coles. Hint.)

(I knew you looked familiar! *snigger*)

If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)

I sort *everything*. Of course I sort my wardrobe by colour… also style, function, season and shade. Blue.

What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)

An old Roots windcheater that I bought when we lived in Montreal for two years and is very comfy for writing in. Roots is a sportingwear company (the Canadian Nike, basically), whose logo is a beaver. Their marketing person clearly isn’t from Australia.

(So no puns about you beavering away on edits then, eh?)

Whose home would you like to housesit and why?

Martha Stewart’s. I bet she sorts everything by style, function, season and shade too.

(Ah yes, she makes up EVERYTHING herself and is very creative in many way, but we won’t go there!)

Country curiosities…

We love a sunburnt country (slip, slop, slap and all that). What’s your ideal hat? Or are you a boots person?

Boots. I have a pair of Blundstones that I got when I was about 18, which was last century. I wear them all the time and they are the most comfortable things ever (right up there with the Roots windcheater). When I took them to London a few years ago I had people stop me on the street and ask if they could buy them. (True!)

(Boots? Roots? Beavers?  Only here on Harvest, folks!)

If you were a tree (or animal) what kind of tree (animal) would you be?

A horse. I love them. In fact, I thought I was a horse for about three years between the ages of 9 and 12- a bay called Tammy, after my first riding school horse. My ten year old daughter seems to have inherited the gene, and confided to me recently that she is a chestnut filly named Cinnamon. I am feeding her carrots and hoping it lasts right through high school.

(You will stop with the carrots if she starts turning orange though, won’t you?)

Now for the big question… Why did the chicken cross the road?

Our chickens are so very stupid I have no idea why they do anything. Yesterday a dragonfly buzzed near them while they were sitting together on the lawn. They jumped up in a panic and ran straight into each other. Crossing an entire road would be well beyond them.  

About you…

Your turning point: when was that point in your life that you realized that being an author was no longer going to be just a dream but a reality and a career?

When Mrs Whitla read out my first major work, “Peppy and Pip go to Boarding School” to an enraptured 3W when I was 8. Ok, possibly they weren’t enraptured, but I was. I’d written a whole NOVEL (10 pages at the back of my maths exercise book) and someone liked it!

(So you failed maths I take it?)

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

All of it. Starting, finishing, the bits in between, editing, re-writing, plotting, re-reading, doing promotion, reading reviews… it’s all unrelentingly difficult, interspersed with moments of abject gloom and self-loathing. But if it wasn’t such a challenge I don’t think I’d be drawn to it.

(Funny, my fave saying when someone asks me about the writing/publishing business is… Ignorance was bliss!)

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

Don’t die wondering. Or with a messy house.

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

What is your personal best for the 50m freestyle? (27.86. I’m still proud of that, but it never comes up.)

Fun stuff…

What does your protagonist think about you? Would he or she want to hang out with you, the author, his/her creator.

Hmm… I had four protagonists in my first novel, ten in my second (except one was dead), and six in my third. I suspect my protagonists wish I would just make up my mind.

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

I’d bring out Agnes and Rooney, then pop a balloon behind them. Mayhem!

(ROFL, you crack me up – which makes me think about the eggs Angnes and Rooney would jettison after your balloon prank!)

What food would you be?

Belgian chocolate. Smooth. Seductive. Not too rich (hey, I’m an author).

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

You’d have to ask Coles.

Name 5 uses for a stapler that has not staple pins.

Just one: Excellent reason for my kids to nag me into taking them to Smiggle.

(We just got ourselves a Smiggle here. Woo hoo!)

How weird are you? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very).

2 – Not at all weird. It’s the ones you least suspect who can get away with stuff.

You can find more about Kylie and her books on www.kylieladd.com.au  and do what I do… Follow her on Twitter: @kylie_ladd

Links to Booktopia:

http://www.booktopia.com.au/last-summer-kylie-ladd/prod9781742375014.html

 http://www.booktopia.com.au/after-the-fall-kylie-ladd/prod9781742372303.html