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Gayle Cranfield

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Gayle Cranfield was born in London and found her true love at the age of 14.

After many years of being together, they have two children and now live in Wiltshire in the South West of England somewhere between Stonehenge and Bath.

Gayle was an Account Manager for a manufacturing company up until a few years ago where she decided on a career change after a strange encounter at a Shamanic retreat in Brazil. She now runs a successful beauty company from home.

She started writing after a road trip around California where she read a few books that she had downloaded and really struggled to finish as the stories lacked interest and content. Picking up her iPad with the old cliche "I can do better than that," she feels she has.

Visit her website: www.gaylecranfield.co.uk

Email her at: [email protected]

 

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Q: Why did you decide to write a book?

A: I was never a great reader. My family would often kid around with me as I hadn't read anything since school. I never had the time. Kids, work, house, DIY, animals all got in the way.

After leaving work to start my own business I found I had a lot more time on my hands and one of my beauty clients introduced me to 50 Shades and I found a new love for Romance books. I became obsessed with reading various romance stories but also found you had to work through a lot to get a pure classic. After a holiday in 2013 I read a lot of rubbish and decided if this can get published, surely I have a chance and within four months, I had written The Right Turn. I have loved the process of writing this book and am now finalising a second. My dream is to be able to write full time.

Q: What are your likes and dislikes?

A: Dislikes - False people is my one bugbear. I cannot abide people that cannot tell the truth or will not show their true self. In my sales career I would meet these people on a daily basis and found them hard work to cope with. I now have managed to leave these people behind in my life and can look forward and only bring people into my life that I choose to be there.

Likes - I love being sarcastic. Good British sarcasm goes a long way in life and never take yourself seriously, you will always end up worrying what people think of you. I now have the motto "I'm a nice person and if you don't like me then that is your problem and you are the one that is missing out, not me."

Q: Do you have an inspirational quote?

A: "Illegitimi non carborundum" or "Don't let the bastards grind you down." It is something myself and my Grandmother would often say to each other.

Q: What is your inspiration?

A: I love to write in my garden, which is a typical English cottage garden in the heart of Wiltshire in the South West of England, with my two dogs next to me and the fountain cascading down into the pond, a nice glass of wine often goes down a treat too! Although unfortunately in reality, with the weather the way it is in England, I'm normally found writing in my beauty studio in between clients wrapped up in a big jumper!

Q: What help do you receive when writing your books, if any?

A: My sister keeps me on the straight and narrow when it comes to writing. I will write a couple of chapters and give them to her to beta read them and she winds me in.

My friend is an ex-CSI investigator and has written books on forensic science, so she helps with forensics and the court cases too. Both have been a great help.

I also have a team of beta readers who are my beauty clients who have all given me good feedback, and I do take on board their opinions, although I do ignore some of them too!

Q: Where do you get the ideas for the settings in your books?

A: My first book is based in Bath which is 15 miles away from where I live. As this is a very popular tourist destination in England, I thought it was an ideal place to start, as I could visit the area regularly to get an air for the place. Also if I needed to have another setting or to walk a route it was only a little car journey away. Sorrento, where the last part of the book is based, was a holiday destination I visited in Italy three years ago, which is approximately 20 miles from Pompeii.

My next book is set in Egypt, which is one of my favourite destinations to visit. I keep trying to persuade my husband that I need to go back for a bit more research for my book, but he's not having any of it!

Q: How does it feel to have a book published?

A: Weird. It didn't feel real until I saw the front cover. I had visions of what it would look like in my head when I was writing the book, but to actually get the image in front of you and to see how someone else sees your main characters is a totally different experience. I keep looking at the front cover and a big smile comes across my face. I love it.

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