To quote solo circumnavigator Paul Lotus: “You can’t steer a boat that isn’t moving? Just like a life.”
Well this author is moving all right. She’s gone from flying over the ocean in a Dash 8, to sailing across it in Roo Bin Esque (with the a none-too-happy-about-it Staffy named Zeus).
So Helene Young, start by telling me if it’s scones and tea or some other homemade delight you have whipped up for me today. 🙂
Jenn, come aboard, GW caught fresh fish today so we’re having tempura battered whiting, marinated olives and fresh baked sour dough to go with the gin and tonics, or champagne if you prefer.
(Hmm, don’t mind if I do. I mean the boats already rocking, isn’t it? G’day Zeus, boy.)
At home with…
My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes, a closet gnomer or with a strict ‘no gnomes’ policy?
Eclectic garden ornaments were my specialty rather than gnomes. When we lived in a house we had a huge boot with a desert rose growing in it and an iron rooster who guarded the pool. Sadly, there’s no room on Roo Bin Esque so they are both residing with friends now.
(But you do have GW and he is kinda cute!)
What vegetable (or fruit) have you always wanted to grow at home?
Hydroponic lettuces. We’re currently growing basil and parsley on the boat 🙂
If I looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?
Hmm, the eggs look a little lonely with only a block of parmesan and a couple of roma tomatoes for company– must be time to go ashore…
If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)
Eeek, sorting by colours? Even my OCD pilot personality doesn’t need to have my cupboard in that much order! But the predominant colour is white. White works shirts, white shorts, white pants, but then there’s the multi-coloured dress and a heck of a lot of black and then I’d have to decide whether the coloureds had black backgrounds or white and …. Help!!!
(Yes, Helene. I can see that sorting your wardrobe would be akin to hoisting yourself up 60 feet of mast or flying at 25,000 feet!)
What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)
A sarong by Nude Beach – they make the best all cotton sarong with extra length for room to grow!
(Extra length for room to grow? Length, Helene? You are short. You always will be short. In fact, you will start shrinking in a few years. More champagne?)
Whose home would you like to housesit and why?
The Kwila Hut on Haggerstone Island – gorgeous tranquil haven.
(Nice! Check it out.)
Country curiosities…
We love a sunburnt country (slip, slop, slap and all that). What’s your ideal hat? Or are you a boots person?
I wear a hat for work that looks like a prop from Police Academy Three (does anyone remember those tragic movies??) but that’s not my preferred option. I love hats – in any shape and style. I have an extensive collection of caps, sunvisors and straw hats. I’m now collecting floppy hats with strings to tie them on so they don’t blow off in the stiff breeze on the yacht!
If you were a tree (or animal) what kind of tree (animal) would you be?
I want to come back as a Staffie living with a couple of nut cases on a yacht in tropical paradise. Whether I’ve done enough good deeds in this life to be so rewarded remains to be seen. I’ll get back to you on that one. 🙂
Now for the big question… Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because the Staffie was chasing it…
(Yeah, sure he was. In his dreams maybe. Zzzzzzzzzz!)
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?
I’m still looking for that elusive moment!
What is the hardest part of writing for you?
Discovering the day only has twenty-four hours in it… Finding time is always a struggle, but I know I’m not alone in that.
If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?
Flights of Fancy 🙂
What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
Q: Where did you meet your husband?
A: He literally swept me up into his arms on a dark and stormy night in the Lake District and carried me off the touch footy field. (I’d badly torn a knee ligament in a fall and I figured anyone who could carry me like that was a keeper.)
(What a hero!)
Fun stuff…
What does your protagonist think about you? Would he or she want to hang out with you, the author, his/her creator.
I think Ellie and I could be good friends. Nick? I’d love to hang out with him. 🙂
If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?
Ameila Earhart, the week before she embarked on her last flight.
(Oh wow, that would be fascinating.)
If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?
Take you for a sail.
(Uh-oh. Is that a distant shore I see back there? I said IF I was to ask… *gulp* (Jenn hates water–unless it’s Tonic and in a glass with some Gin! Top up, GW?)
What was the best thing before sliced bread?
Panini – hand-torn.
(Dunked in garlic oil, then dipped in sea salt and oregano. Yum!)
Name 5 uses for a stapler that has no staple pins.
- A door stop
- An aircraft wheel chock (for a light plane.)
- An anchor for a crab pot
- A paperweight to stop the maps flying away
- On the end of a line to test the depth of water
How weird are you? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very).
I reckon I’m about a 6, but GW’s just fallen about laughing, tripped over Zeus, and he’s holding 10 fingers up…
I’m now feeling a little queasy so how about you tell us about the story inside that gorgeous book cover for Half Moon Bay.
Ellie Wilding has been running from her past, but when the residents of Half Moon Bay call for help she knows it’s finally time to return home. As an international photojournalist, she’s used to violence in war zones, but she’s shocked when it erupts in the sleepy hamlet on the north coast of New South Wales, threatening all she holds dear.Battle-weary Nicholas Lawson walked away from his military career leaving unfinished business. In a coastal backwater, that decision returns to haunt him. He remembers all too vividly his last lethal assignment in Afghanistan when Ellie’s sister, Nina, was shot and killed. Ellie’s been in his dreams ever since, even if she doesn’t remember him…As a storm rages and floodwaters rise, Ellie struggles to save her community. But who can she trust? Nick Lawson, the dangerously attractive stranger with secrets, or an old friend who’s never let her down?
Okay book lovers, Helene has a copy of Half Moon Bay to give away to one lucky person. But of course I’m having terrible trouble with my blog at the moment so if you enter and you don’t see your comment appear, don’t worry. I’ll be sure to included it in the draw!!! *evil laugh* 😉
In your comment, Helene wants to know… ‘If you could interview a character from any book or movie who would it be and what’s the first question you’d ask them?’
CLOSED: Congratulations Patricia.
Find Helene at:
www.heleneyoung.com
https://www.facebook.com/HeleneYoungAustralianAuthor
https://twitter.com/HeleneYoung
It’s great to be taking part in this blog hop on The Writing Process in which different writers answer the same questions about their writing process.
Helene Young – multi-award winning romantic suspense author of Wings of Fear, Shattered Sky, Burning Lies, Half Moon Bay and her next release: Safe Harbour.
Natasha Lester – award winning author of two novels, If I Should Lose You and What 
Zena Shapter – a British-Australian author who loves putting characters inside the most perfect storm of their lives, then watching how they get out. She likes wild rides through the gulches of adventure that spit you out breathless, and close-to-reality books of the unexplained. She’s won seven national fiction writing competitions (all blind judging), has been published in magazines such as “Midnight Echo” and anthologies like “Award-Winning Australian Writing” (Melbourne Books, 2012). She is represented by literary agent Alex Adsett.