Today in The Loft I am joined by fellow eXtasy author Lark Westerly. Lark, a resident of the island state of Tasmania, is a prolific author and under variety of pseudonyms, writes fantasy romance and children's books, as well as fantasy poetry, historical sagas, and how-tos. In her free time, she works as an editor and manuscript assessor. Lark is married, and the mother of two children and several dogs.
Author Lark Westerly
S: Welcome, Lark! Thanks so much for joining me for tea today! I absolutely love the whimsy of your photo.
Tell me, where do you do your best thinking?
L: I do a lot of my
best thinking while walking the dogs. I’m a natural multi-tasker and seldom do
just one thing at once. While walking the dogs, I exercise them and myself,
check the mail box, enjoy the Tasmanian countryside, and either listen to an
audio book or a manuscript or plot future books. When watching films with my husband, I usually
also play Patience on the computer. When talking on the phone I also do
isometric exercises or walk about the room putting things away. As I said – I
don’t often do just one thing at a time.
S: You sound like a very active person! Do you have an “alternative occupation?”
L: Apart from writing
my beloved Fairy in the Bed series, I also write children’s books, science
fiction and fantasy, run a small writer-mentoring service and ringmaster Prints
Charming Books – just-for-fun anthologies. I also do the occasional workshop or
author talk.
S: Okay, you're making me feel lazy! (Seelie refills her tea cup.) Why do you write romance?
L: I write everything
I write for four major reasons. Here they are in no particular order. I have a
powerful inherited creative gene. I lost out on most of the family talents, so
the creativity came out hard in writing. I write to make a living. I write to
“set the world to rights” as someone once said. I recreate things the way they
could have been, maybe… Finally… (how to say this without sounding silly?) I
write to put joy into the world. I have a gut feeling that the more creative
joy we can put out there, there less room there is for negative stuff. My
stories aren’t all sweet fuzzies, but my romances are about people who do their
best, love their best, and come out swinging for themselves and their loved
ones. Romance is the perfect genre for creative joy though, me being me, I
don’t tend to write pure romance. It’s generally blended with other genres.
S: I love that you write to share the joy of love and life. There just isn't enough of that. Can you name one person, book, or song who/that
inspires flights of fantasy?
L: I’ve always loved
the Ladyhawke main title theme – especially the remix.
S: Oh, I love that! Tell me, what’s the best advice you've ever given?
L: If you can’t have a
castle, have a cottage. Be grateful if the roof doesn’t leak. Find something to
love, take steps to get what you need, and reward yourself – don’t wait for the
world to do it.
Pen Swan is fading gently into her forties when a kiss from a pixie
mechanic alerts her to certain needs. Peck
Grene is already taken, so Pen wishes for someone to love her and to share her
bed. The someone that appears is a cat. Or is it two cats, three or even four?
Has there been some mistake, or are the fairies sending a message? Something
like this, perhaps…
Dear Mrs
Swan, no fairy finds it convenient to share your bed in the carnal sense.
However, here is a consolation prize; the first step in your future as a crazy
cat lady. Look after it well.
Grumpily, Pen gives up on the
whole affair, but the fairies haven’t finished with her yet.
S: That sounds like fun! Where can readers buy Pen and Ink?
L: The book is available from all major booksellers, including--
S: Lark, thanks so much for joining me today in The Loft. If you'd like to learn more about Lark and her many books, please visit--
Next week, author Zara West visits me in The Loft!
