Lovely to have Kiltie Jackson along today, with her new book ‘An Artisan Lovestyle’ being released on 28th June. Kiltie grew up in Glasgow in Scotland, a unique city with a very unique way of looking at life. She currently lives in Staffordshire with five cats and one grumpy husband. Her little home is known as Moggy Towers, even though despite having plenty of moggies, there are no towers!
The cats kindly allow her and Mr Mogs to share their house on the condition they keep paying the mortgage!
Could you tell us about yourself?
Hi there Roger, Looking spivvy today, if you don’t mind me saying. I am Kiltie Jackson, I’m Scottish although I now live in England, I am a slave to five cats and I am an indie author.
Thanks Kiltie, it not often I get the chance to wear my dinner jacket, or pants. 😲
When did you first decide to write and what got you started?
I’ve always been a wordsmith and have dabbled in several forms of writing over the years. I first began writing my debut novel, ‘A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle’ over 12 years ago, although not with the intention of it ever being a novel. I was merely ‘dabbling’ and writing down the story in my head. When I read it back, after writing seventeen chapters, I decided it was a bit rubbish and shelved it. Then, eighteen months ago, when I was at a low point in my life, I read a book with an author bio at the back. The bio described how the author had self-published her first book and, in a moment of really intense clarity, I knew that I had to get back to the story I had shelved and do something with it. Nine months later, it was sent out into the world and has received great feedback. So I decided to have another bash at it and my second novel, ‘An Artisan Lovestyle’ will be published on 28th June 2018.
Do you plot your stories or do you write and see where it takes you?
I normally sit down with a reasonable sense of the storyline in my head – I always know the start, the middle and the end – but I don’t fully plot it out and like to see what my characters will do to get themselves to these fixed points.
Do you have any inspirations for you writing? Other authors / people / events?
My favourite current authors are Karen Swan and Erica James. I love the multi-layered facet of their books. They often have two or three stories weaving through their books and I enjoy the depth this brings to their writing.
What is the best part about writing, and the worst?
I’ll start with the worst aspect, for me, and that is writing the first draft. I realised this as I finished book 2 and thought it was the worst story ever written. I thought it was dull and boring and would never match up to the success of my debut. But then I began to work on the editing… I have to say that I LOVE the editing. I get a real thrill from moving bits around to create a better scene, or a stronger character and there is a certain joy when changing just one word can totally alter the whole meaning of a sentence.
I tend to edit as I go and find your view perverse. After editor – me, backwards and forwards a few time, I get frustrated with the process, I do enjoy Hemingway’s take on it though, write drunk, edit sober. Or as my editor says write drunk, edit drunk and send it to the editor to sort out. Seems to work. 🍺 Cheers!
Tell us about one of, or your most recent book.
My recent book is called ‘An Artisan Lovestyle’ and is the second book in the ‘Lovestyle’ series. It could be read as a standalone although there are a few spoilers from the first book. It is a Contemporary Woman’s fiction with a hint of Paranormal in there. The great thing about being an indie author is that I don’t have to adhere to any pattern or rules. In ‘AAL’, the general premise is about two people who die in unrelated accidents on New Year’s Eve. They are both given the chance to live for one more year on the condition they agree to fulfil three tasks. If they succeed in accomplishing the quests, they remain in the world of the living but, if they fail, they will die properly and completely. The story line follows them both as they realise the need to make over-due changes in their lives and how they face up to what they must do.
What are you currently working on? How long before release?
I’m due to begin writing again within the next few days but the dilemma I now have is which book to write as I have two vying for my attention. One is the third book in the Lovestyle series and the other is a standalone crime / psycho thriller. I suspect I may end up writing them both simultaneously so I can’t say when they will be ready for release although I would like to be in a position to release one of them by March 2019.
What are you currently reading?
‘The Picture’ by some geezer called Roger Bray!
And enjoying it immensely I have no doubt ☺
Which authors and novels would you recommend?
The one author I always recommend to people is Deric Longden. He was a gorgeously funny man with a lovely way of seeing the humour and laughter in this world. His books always make me smile even when the subject matter may be dark. The first of his that I read was called ‘The Cat That Came in From The Cold’ but I soon gathered up all of his work because I enjoy him so much. I will usually re-read at least one of his each year.
Which of your books would you like most to be made into a movie?
I would love to see ‘A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle’ made into a movie – simply because I would have a REALLY good excuse to spend a lot of time in Salzburg, Austria. That would be amazing.
Film casting – which actors would you choose as your main characters?
Ryan Reynolds would be Pete Wallace. Sukie McClaren…? I’m not sure. Sandra Bullock would be great although I don’t know if she’d fancy playing a thirty-six year old…
Any funny cat stories you would like to share?
When I had my very first cat, at the age of eighteen, I was living in my own pad by then and she was a house cat. I lived on the top floor and, one evening, popped down to the bin area on the ground floor with some rubbish. I pulled the front door to, but didn’t close it tight. When I returned back up the stairs about two minutes later, the front door was wide open and the cat was nowhere to be seen. I searched in every room – there were only four of them if you include the kitchen & bathroom, but no sign of the cat. I looked out of the window to see if I could see her, but to no avail. I had left the front door open in case she had gone down the stairs and decided to come back up again. I had been searching and calling for about twenty minutes when I heard a noise. Upon looking up, I saw the darned cat lying along the top of the front door watching me with a very bemused expression! I won’t repeat here the exact words used as I fished her down but I’m sure you can imagine!
Been there as well, searching for the cat while he sits watching you and no doubt thinking, “You’re an Idiot” and so often he is correct. 🐱
I heard a rumour that you may have a bit of a minion fetish, is this true?
Little yellow beans who like bananas are totally awesome! They crack me up and I find them very funny. Would I call them a fetish? Not quite but any meme’s with them in are usually guaranteed to make me smile.
Me too! And you have to admit the Carmen Miranda Minion is quite sexy. 😐
It has also come to my attention that you have a great sense of humour and that you love posting funny GIFS and memes, would you like to share where you get them from………..PLEASE!
No secrets to share, sorry! I simply run google searches for the memes or, for the gifs, I scroll down towards the bottom of the options to find the ones people don’t use so often.
That was a question from my wife. I know how to find / make GIFS and I told her, but she wanted an ‘expert’ opinion. Pfft!
Any fun facts about you that you would like to share?
I have a tenor saxophone in my loft which I can’t play because I’ve never had the patience to learn to read music!
We’ve all been there, my discarded instrument was a clarinet. When I played, it sounded like a woopie cushion being tortured.
Thanks for coming aboard Kiltie, and taking the time to chat with me.
You can find out more about Kiltie on her Website or 
and 
and find her books on 
