Spinning a yarn
Jo Barnes catches up with Usk author Julie McGowan.
Here they chat about inspiration, drama and housework
MCL: Tell us a bit about yourself
Julie McGowan: I spent my early childhood in Blaenavon, before the family moved to Kent where I spent my teenage years. I trained as a nurse at Guy's hospital, and, after my marriage to Peter, became a health visitor in Durham. We have four grown-up children who are all actors and/or musicians. We have lived in Usk for the last 16 years, during which time I have had a number of jobs, including town clerk for five years, piano teacher, and childminder.
MCL: When did you start writing and why?
JM: When our children were young my husband was head of an independent school, where I took over the annual drama productions - headmasters' wives having to fill in' in all sorts of areas. I couldn't find suitable scripts for the number of children I had to cast, so I started writing my own. When they were met with approval I started writing short stories in my spare time and then on to novels.
MCL: What sort of books do you read?
JM: I like novels which are multi-stranded, where several characters' stories interweave, but I'm not averse to a good thriller or crime story. Favourite classics are probably Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. I love How Green was my valley' by Richard Llewellyn, and I really enjoy books by Elizabeth Jane Howard and the much under-rated Monica Dickens.
MCL: What sort of books/stories do you like writing?
JM: I like to write stories which have a strong emotional content and characters whose quirks and foibles readers can identify with. But I also like to ensure that each story is different from the one before. My second novel, Just One More Summer is written in a completely different way from the first one, The Mountains Between, in setting, era, tone and story line.
MCL: Do you have to work hard at writing or does it come naturally?
JM: It varies, and, like most writers, there is always a bit in the middle where I start to have doubts and then I have to push myself to work through that. When I'm really fired up, especially if I'm writing a feature for a paper or magazine where I can have a bit of a rant', then it can just flow.
MCL: What else do you do with your time?
JM: I'm co-director of Is It?, a theatre-in-education company, with my daughter Catherine, where we visit schools with productions that have a health or social message, and then we talk to the pupils afterwards about the issues. We also run Stageright, a local children's drama workshop, and my husband and I run Usk Panto Players where I write the pantos, he directs and we both perform in them, which is all great fun. The pantos have become one of the highlights of the Usk calendar, with a cast of more than 30 and sell-out performances every year. The scripts are now selling well via the internet.
In addition I'm a volunteer for Usk First Responders, who attend to 999 calls in advance of an ambulance arriving, and I'm secretary of the Usk Memorial Hall committee.
MCL: Where do your ideas come from?
JM: For short stories it can be an overheard phrase, or something on the radio, or just a title pops into my head and sets off a train of thought. For The Mountains Between it was deciding to tape my parents' memories for posterity, and Just One More Summer began as an anti-chick-lit tirade, which then became something much deeper.
MCL: Do you have a special place where you like to write or will anywhere do?
JM: I have to work on a computer, because my handwriting is so bad I can't read it back! But it doesn't matter where the computer is - my children used to say all sorts of outrageous things to me when I was writing in the evenings in the corner of our family room, and I would be so engrossed in what I was doing that I had no idea what they'd said and would always answer, Yes, OK'.
MCL: Do you think you suffer for your art?
JM: Only financially!
MCL: How important do you think it is for youngsters to get into reading?
JM: I can't imagine bringing up children without bedtime stories and surrounding them with books. Reading widens their horizons better than any of the technological wizardry at their disposal. At our drama workshops you can tell the children who are into reading, not only because they are more imaginative, but also more expressive verbally and emotionally and have a greater understanding of the world around them.
MCL: Do you find living in Monmouthshire helps you write?
JM: When we moved back to Monmouthshire, it truly was coming home' for me and led me to record my parents' memoirs because I could feel so much of my family's history all around me. This then inspired me to write The Mountains Between which is set in Blaenavon and Goytre, and I don't think I would have done it if we'd been living elsewhere. Also, so many people in Usk are supportive and genuinely pleased when things go well for a member of their community, that it spurs you on to do even more. And if I'm feeling discouraged, a chat to someone in the town or a walk with our two dogs in the stunning countryside never fails to lift my spirits. It's a lovely feeling to be surrounded by good people and, having lived in many parts of England, I know that this is the best and most beautiful place of all.
MCL: If you weren't writing, what would you be doing?
JM: Probably something in the caring professions, or voluntary work, and maybe a bit more housework!
MCL: What dreams do you have left to fulfil?
JM: Lots of people have said that my books have a filmic quality and I would love to see them turned into films or TV series. And it would be great for a book of mine to end up on something like Waterstone's bestseller list.
Just One More Summer is Julie's second novel. It tells the story of Allie, who flees to Cornwall after her marriage breaks down. She hopes that by returning to a place she last visited as a child will comfort her and help her through some dark times.
This is not chick lit. Instead Julie tells an intelligent story full of twists and turns which leave the reader engrossed and not wanting to set the book down. We at MCL thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Just One More Summer is published by Sunpenny. Price £8.95.
The Mountains Between was Julie's first novel, which was published last year. It is a celebration of Welsh life from the 1920s to the 1940s and is set in the Blaenavon and Abergavenny areas. The saga brings you the story of two families and their communities set among the background of war, tragedy, love and hate.
Again, it was a great read and very moving.
The Mountains Between is published by Sunpenny. Price £10.95
12:09pm Tuesday 1st July 2008
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