READERS’ LIVES YOUR STORIES
THIS WEEK: JANET PYWELL AUTHOR, WHITSTABLE, KENT
JANET’S CV
2012 MA Creative Writing, Queen’s University Belfast
2003-13 Director of DNI Marketing, Northern Ireland
Q&A
After a colourful 30-year career in travel, Janet Pywell has combined her two favourite passions – travel and writing – to become a self-published author. She talks to Travel Weekly about her new novel, Masterpiece
Q. Tell us about your new book A. I’ve always been interested in art, history and travel and like books that combine all three, but there’s not a lot on the market. Masterpiece is a heist novel set in London, Dresden and Majorca. It’s a follow-up to my first crime thriller, The Golden Lion, about a disgraced opera singer who is forced to take possession of a solid gold icon, part of a hoard of art treasures stolen by the Nazis. I wrote The Golden Lion as a short story while studying creative writing at Belfast University and developed it from there.
Q. What did you do before writing? A. I studied travel and tourism at college in the 1980s with Jo Rzymowska (UK managing director of Celebrity Cruises) and worked as a rep in Spain for Club 18-30 and Global. I later set up my own travel agency Viajes Costa Oriental in Malaga, but when the big tourism crash happened in the early nineties it really hit the Spanish coast. So I moved into corporate hospitality then worked at a timeshare company before moving to Belfast. That’s when I started working for Knock Travel. I knew Doreen McKenzie
1993-2003 Manager Club Resorts International (Malaga); events co-ordinator, JJ Spain Corporate Travel, Spain
1989-92 Director of Viajes Costa Oriental, Spain
1983-92 Rep for 18-30, Blue Sky, Global Holidays, Hamilton Holidays and Aisling Travel, Spain
If a reader says ‘I loved reading that and couldn’t put it down’, that to me is the ultimate accolade
(owner) from working together at Hamilton Holidays. I said to her ‘now you have your agency, you need to tell people about it’. I started doing their marketing and then three months later I become their marketing manager. Northern Ireland was changing around then with the peace agreement and investment coming in so I ended up starting my own marketing agency with clients from travel and real estate.
Q. How did you get into writing? A. In 2012 I started an MA in creative writing. I studied for a year while still running my own marketing agency, which was quite full on. After I finished I wanted to spend my time writing
and do what makes me happiest. This way I get to combine my two favourite things – writing and travel. I’m inspired by the places I’ve visited. My favourite destination is Lake Como – I saw a fabulous opera singer there, which inspired my character in The Golden Lion. When I’m in a different country I always look at people and wonder what they’ve been through or what’s happened to them and make up stories in my mind. I also like setting my stories in different places so if someone is travelling there they’ll be inclined to pick it up and read it on their holiday.
Q. Are you working on anything now? A. I’m two-thirds of the way through my third book The Book of Hours, which is set in Malaga, Bruges and Canterbury and due to come out in 2017. And I’m writing some short stories. I’m also a guest speaker at the Meet the Author event at the Grand Hotel in Folkestone on April 20 where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express.
Q. What’s your ultimate goal? A. It’s giving enjoyment to people. If a reader says ‘I loved reading that and couldn’t put it down’, that to me is the ultimate accolade.
JANET’S BOOKS CAN BE DOWNLOADED ON AMAZON AND KINDLE
Would you like to appear in Readers’ Lives? Tell us why! Email
juliet.dennis@
travelweekly.co.uk 40
travelweekly.co.uk 14 April 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76