Interview MM


I started my writing career at the kitchen table, and have written everywhere from the rugby sidelines to doctor’s waiting rooms


responding to reader emails, admin, website updates, writing features or responding to interviews. My publisher and agent are based in New York so from 2pm here they are just starting their working day which often means I am responding to something they need at 10pm my time. My work life goes through very different phases throughout the year so we have to adapt and change our routines accordingly. ‘When I’m promoting a new book though, life


Hazel and her sons enjoy some family time


When I first interviewed Hazel Gaynor in 2010, she was telling me how she had just completed her first novel with her two young sons crawling over her feet under her desk! As a journalist and a mum myself, I could completely identify with that scenario - churning out words on a laptop while simultaneously ‘being mum’. Seven years later, Hazel’s boys, Max and Sam are now twelve and ten


years old respectively and are more independent - which is fortunate, since, from that first interview in 2012, Hazel’s writing career has gone from strength to strength and, with her latest tome hitting the shelves, it shows no sign of abating! That ‘first novel’ that Hazel was writing at the time of our first interview


turned out to be her 2014 debut historical novel ‘The Girl Who Came Home - A Novel of the Titanic’ - which hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and went on to win the 2015 Historical Novel of the Year award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association in London. A year later, her second novel - ‘A Memory of Violets’ - was also a New


York Times bestseller, while her third, ‘The Girl from the Savoy’ was an Irish Times and Globe & Mail bestseller. So now, in the midst of such a successful career, I wondered, has she


managed to find that elusive key to ‘work/life’ balance? ‘Finding a balance between work and family life will never be easy,’ Hazel


tells me, ‘but you have to find a solution that works for your family. There’s no point comparing your life to someone else’s, as you’ll only end up feeling constantly guilty. Social media brings added pressure to working mums as we can start to feel that everyone else is leading the perfect life while we step over piles of laundry and realise there’s nothing in the fridge for dinner! ‘I started my writing career at the kitchen table, and have written


everywhere from the rugby sidelines to doctor’s waiting rooms. I now have a desk/office in the attic which also doubles up as a guestroom and playroom. It’s usually cluttered with the children’s toys, but it’s my own space, and I’m so grateful for it. ‘The majority of my writing - first drafts especially - is done on the laptop,


but I use notebooks, Post Its, hard copies (and walls and floors if necessary!), for plotting and editing. What I’ve learned since first being published is that regardless of where you write, or what mood you’re in, you have to show up at your writing place every day and get the words down. No excuses. This is my second career and one I am so happy to have found. Life is very busy, with each hour of the day filled with something, but isn’t that how life should be?! ‘I have to admit that I’m very disciplined and ‘commute’ upstairs every day


to work while the children are at school. I’ve learned to fiercely protect those hours as they disappear so quickly. This is the only time I am alone in the house to concentrate so this is really my best time for thinking and creating. In the afternoons and evenings I juggle homework, dinner, running the boys to various activities and dealing with non-writing aspects of the job such as


Modernmum 9


becomes very hectic and I’m often away from home. As much as I can, I try to arrange interviews and events around school hours, but it isn’t always possible and I can often be away from home for a few days, or even longer if overseas travel is involved.’ Overseas travel will soon be on the agenda as Hazel


sets off to promote what promises to be her fourth historical bestseller! ‘The Cottingley Secret’ tells the story of the two


little girls who claimed to see fairies at the bottom of the garden just after the First World War, and whose photographs caught the imagination of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ‘A new book release is a pretty crazy time, which


means lots of juggling between me and my husband Damien to try and work our professional commitments around the kids. At other times of the year, I am quietly writing away in my attic. There’s no doubt that this phase is much easier to manage as there is more routine and less travel. ‘As with any mum, it’s all about balance and I’ve


found that finding that balance has certainly got easier over the years. As you said, my first - and actually my second novel as well - were written with the boys playing with their cars under my feet and I remember those days well,’ she laughs. ‘It’s certainly much easier now they are older and can understand what I’m doing, although work has also intensified over those years and I’ve never been busier! As with any job it's important to switch off, and I love nothing more than to get outside with the boys and spend proper family time together, making memories.’


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