The number of books author Abby Green has actually written remains a bit of a talking point here at True Love Towers – the truth is, she writes for the love of it and doesn’t really keep count. ‘It’s probably 37,’ her editor says, proudly, pouring her more champagne.
Abby Green first signed with Harlequin in 2006 and remembers clearly the day she got ‘the call’, not least because the manuscript she’d submitted had been rejected before being selected for publication. Abby didn’t give up, though, ever. She only saw her letter full of notes and ideas for improvement as a positive sign, and knew without a doubt that with a bit more work she could finally live her dream of being a romance novelist.
Not that Abby’s life hasn’t always been full of excitement, of course. This Dublin-dwelling full-time writer was once embrolied in the demanding, hectic business of assistant-directing movies. ‘I fell into it by accident,’ she says. ‘I was about to start studying but I was asked if I’d join the crew, and I never really looked back.’
Her work took her all over the world, from Malysia, to Namibia and Slovakia – she has a few celebrity stories under her hat if you’re ever in the same pub – and all this travelling, Abby says, is something she still draws from when she’s writing her stories. She writes at home mostly, once she’s turned off her phone and set aside the time she needs to truly focus. She never knows when inspiration will strike. ‘I was on a Greek Island, on a retreat, when I realised I was in a bar full of sexy pilots. There was a navy base there. I’d say that was pretty inspiring!’
So how else does she manage to churn out up to 5000 words a day and write a book every 3-4 months?
‘My writer’s tip would be a programme called FREEDOM‘, she says, which blocks distracting websites and apps and allows for undisrupted hours of productivity.
Any other tips for aspiring romance scribblers?
‘Don’t give up. Just keep going. Read as much as you can too, you can’t be a writer unless you read. If you know which genre you want to write, read everything you can read of that genre, read new writers and learn what’s being published. Know what is selling. And most importantly, pace yourself.’
Great advice from a prolific writer there, thanks Abby!
Take a look at Abby’s books here, including the newest, Awakened by her Desert Captor, and let us know what you think of her stuff on our Facebook page, or Twitter.
