Claire Allan's debut, Rainy Days & Tuesdays was a big Trashi favourite (and one of Jill's best reads of 2007) so we had to interview her, didn't we?
Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer:
Slummy mummy cries a lot and then gets happy. And there's a sexy doctor.
Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?
At home generally, in my "good room" (that is the room not trashed by my three year old), after the boy has gone to sleep. I have to have the TV on in the background, with the sound down low. Preferably I'll be wearing my jammies and drinking wine. Chocolate is optional depending on whether or not I'm dieting.
Your favourite chick-lit book?
Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. [A popular choice - Keris] This was the first book I read that let me know that you can write really serious issues while still being pant-wettingly funny. Ms Keyes is an inspiration.
Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?
Apart from Rachel Walsh (see above) it would have to be Maggie Walsh from Angels who proved that you can find happiness right under your nose.
What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?
Write, write and write some more.
Most of all write something you, yourself, would want to read. Don't worry about writing for a market or trying to be the next big thing. Write something that makes you laugh and cry (Preferably not in a "I'm so rubbish" kind of a way) and that is honest and from the heart.
What are you reading at the moment?
Melissa Hill's The Last to Know, wonderfully warm writing with that all important twist at the end. [She's finished it since sending this interview, but this time the delay wasn't my fault! Claire was waiting for a new photo. Lovely, isn't it? - Keris]
What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)
Well at the moment I'm working on my third book, which is the story of four lone parents thrown together in a Craggy Island style village in rural Ireland. My second book Blue Line Blues is a story of two friends - one with an unplanned pregnancy and the other who is struggling to get pregnant - and is due out in the summer.
Do you have a theme song?
When I was an 18 I used to do a mean rendition of I Will Survive but now I'm a little (okay, a lot) older I'm more sensible. So, erm, Flashdance by Irene Cara. Get me drunk enough and I'll show you the dance routine.
What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been? (Tell us the question and answer it too, if you like!)
In an ideal world that question would be "How does your husband, actor George Clooney, feel about you winning the Booker Prize and Strictly Come Dancing in the space of a week?"
My answer would be to giggle and say he had treated me with diamonds and a private jet.
But this is not an ideal world, and I think I've survived interviews quite well so far!
Thanks, Claire!
