As a writer, I’m asked lots of questions about writing.

Such as:

How do you come up with new ideas?

 Do you ever get writers’ block?

Do you write about people you know?

The answers are simple:

• Ideas come to me quite easily.
• No, I’ve never had writers’ block.
• I wouldn’t dare write about people I know. That’s a no-no.

But the question I’m asked most often is about writing in three genres, as Judy Leigh, Elena Collins and JR Leigh.

People ask, ‘How do you manage to write with three different hats on?’ In other words, is it hard to shift between the genres? Is one your favourite? Is one harder to write than the other two?

I chose the first genre because I wanted to write humorous stories about second chances for older women. There was a gap in the market at the time, and I knew my mum had wanted to read books that represented her age group. She wasn’t just a minor character in her own life story, someone’s granny or a source of advice or someone who gave a younger person a beautiful rambling house in the Italian Lakes. As if.

She was someone who was over 50 or 60 and needed a novel that reflected her life on her own terms.

 I wanted to write stories about men and women – people – who had fun, found new opportunities to laugh and love and live again. To change. To enjoy their golden years, often with fascinating people in beautiful locations. To be themselves, without prejudice or stereotype. You’ll have met the Five French Hens, and since then there have been so many more stories and characters. I enjoy writing these novels so much. You’ll often hear me laughing aloud as I type…

I’ve always read widely and I love different genres, so when I was asked by Boldwood if I liked dual timelines and would I like to write one, I was totally up for it. Using a name similar to my grandmother’s, Elena (Nell) Collins, I embarked on The Witch’s Tree and The Lady of the Loch. And then the others came along And that great RNA award for The Wicked Lady. I’ve had so much fun researching books that parallel historical times and modern ones.

I was offered the opportunity to write cozy crime. I had a wonderful time creating the Seal Bay series, starring Morwenna Mutton, a sleuth and an older role model, with her wild swimming and her love of books and her tendency to get into scrapes.

Then I was asked to write a new series, and DI Archie Darling came into being. The first in the series is out in August.

I think the question I’m asked is about the difficulties that might exist for an author moving between three different styles, and how hard it is to make the jump from one book to the next.

I find it refreshing to move regularly between time and place, character and style and content. The ‘golden’ books allow me write about people who I hope will become my readers’ friends. They are often faced with adversity, but they manage their situations with kindness and humour. I enjoy the chance to give them funny and poignant moments. I’m always inspired when people read my books insightfully and notice the way my characters learn, develop and grow.

I love writing historical books; they give me the chance to travel and research. I’m learning all the time. Writing as Elena Collins has taken me across the UK, and I’m always struck by how characters in the past, whose lives were in many ways so different and so challenging, still have so much in common with us today. The Three Witches, set in Scotland in 1050 in the time of Macbeth, tells the story of healing women who found themselves at the mercy of a judgemental community. But all those years ago, those women had the same experiences as we do. They faced tragedy and loss, they hoped and loved and dreamed.

My new cozy crime series is one I know you’ll love. The first one. published this August, is Death in the Dordogne and the second, at the end of the year, is A Body in Bordeaux. The protagonist, DI Archie Darling is an Irish police detective travelling through France with his Dalmatian dog Juno in his camper van. He’s taking a holiday to get over the difficulties he’s faced in his private life, to heal. But of course, given the genre, there are murders to solve and clues to unpick. Archie’s charming and funny and just a bit of a law unto himself. I love cozy crime. It demands something very different,. I like writing pacy books, but here the pace is faster, the clues come as quickly as the bodies, and I try my best to keep my reader guessing.

What’s not to love?

So – do I have a favourite genre? No. I have a soft spot them all. Some of my readers read every one; naturally, others will gravitate to the genre that is nearest their hearts. I immerse myself so deeply in each book that I write – I have hyperfocus – that it’s often difficult to believe there’s another life, let alone another genre, beyond writing that book.

The simple answer about writing three genres is that for me, variety feeds creativity. I like more than three different types of films, vegetables, weathers, clothes, music, holidays. I like variation, to tell you the truth. It really is the spice of life that keeps me writing.

I probably have a low boredom threshold, and writing in one genre inspires me to write in another. It keeps me fresh. As Francis Bacon said, “Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.”

So I really hope you enjoy reading my books – some of them or all of them – as much as I enjoy writing them.

Sending love.

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