Author Interview with Rebecca Bryn

When did you first start writing? Was being a writer something you always aspired to be?

I began writing about fourteen years ago. I didn’t aspire to write; rather, I fell into it helping a fellow author with her novel. One day, on a whim, I wrote Chapter One and I was off.

What are you currently working on?

I’ve just finished editing The Dandelion Clock, a tale of young lovers torn apart by the Great War. It was inspired by my grandfather’s exploits in Egypt and The Holy Land from 1916 to 1918, while Grandma, the girl he’d promised to marry if he survived, kept life together at home in England and waited for him to return. It’s been a roller-coaster ride. The horrors soldiers endured in Gallipoli, Egypt, and Palestine were a real eye-opener. Bill’s struggle to survive and keep his promises to bring home his beloved warhorse and marry his sweetheart are inspirational and heartbreaking.

The Dandelion Clock is available now at the special pre-order price of 99p/99c at http://mybook.to/DandelionClock – Royalties until the Remembrance Day Centenary will go to http://ABF Soldiers’Charity.org https://www.soldierscharity.org/about-us/what-we-do/ and www.thebrooke.org a charity that rescues horses, mules, and donkeys from some of the poorest parts of the world and was founded to rescue the old warhorses abandoned by the army in Cairo in 1918.

My next project, ‘Th1rte3n’, forming silently in my mind, will be something completely different – contemporary and maybe bordering on horror.

What is your best advice based on your own experiences so far to other Authors?

Write with an honest heart, a personal truth, and don’t duck the difficult bits – readers respond to honestly told stories with which they can identify – and be prepared for a lot of hard work both during the writing process and after – promotion is harder than writing. Research your subject thoroughly. Write whenever you can, put your writing out there, and accept criticism as a method of improving. It doesn’t much matter what you write because every word is honing your craft, and it’s a very steep learning curve. If you love writing, you’ll climb the hill. Someone once said writing was a selfish profession. It’s true: you have to immerse yourself in a different world, and it takes a lot of time and concentration, and it can feel exclusive to those around you. Don’t forget reality exists, and there are people there who need you.

What of your own writing was your favorite piece?

That’s a hard question to answer. Each of my books has its own place in my heart and there are passages in each I especially love, usually descriptive or emotional pieces, but I think I’m most proud of ‘For Their Country’s Good’ series. It was inspired by my own family history, and I wrote it for myself, my children, and grandchildren. It turned into an epic tale I loved researching and writing. I learnt a lot about my roots.

A quote by you or your Life motto?

‘The only thing written in stone is your epitaph.’