What's my favourite food and other vital questions

Really getting to grips with the important stuff

Hello lovely humans!

I can feel a bit of email paralysis coming on again. Last time this happened, many of you were kind enough to get in touch to tell me that you were happy to hear about any old dull guff I had rattling around in my brain that week.

But the existential crisis is looming once again. Why? Well, maybe it’s just part of some existential crisis loop I’m on. Maybe it has its own orbit, like Haley’s Comet, and will reappear every few months. Perhaps I should consider tracking it in a Bullet Journal to see if there’s a pattern.

OR maybe it’s just that now there are people who are here for different reasons: some because they know I’ve written a crime fiction book; others because I said was publishing a comedy book and promised to keep them in the loop for a freebie. Some really liked my post about my dad making a palaver about dying. Others foolishly joined me because I did a Note about typos that made people feel seen.

And let’s not forget the friends I strong-armed into signing up… Actually, no, wait. We CAN forget them because they have to subscribe. The rest of you are free to come and go as you please because I don’t have your phone numbers and can’t call you to ask you to explain yourselves. More’s the pity.

Anyway, how do I plan on dealing with this little crisis in confidence? Simple. I’m just going to ignore it and carry on as usual and hope that you’ll all come along for the ride.

With that in mind, here is some dull guff from my brain…

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Since there are some people who really just landed here by accident and may soon regret the choices that led them to this moment, I thought I would take a leaf out of Amber’s book and reintroduce myself. Luckily, I have just the thing for this. I was recently asked to do a “Meet the Author” interview for the UK Crime Book Club group on Facebook (where lovely people dwell). So, in the spirit of utter laziness, I’ve pasted it in here.

The questions were set by Kath Middleton, one of the admins. Her words are in bold. I’ve added footnotes, which you can read easily by either hovering over them or clicking the number (depending on where you’re reading this).

Disclaimer. This is nowhere near as interesting as Amber’s post, which I urge you to read, and not just because I come out of it looking quite good, (even if I did employ someone simply because she wrote a blog from her dog’s point of view and it was hilarious). Amber has shared a lot of herself and it’s a pretty incredible story. Maybe one day I’ll do something similarly soul-baring, but in the meantime, here is some information about what food I like.

In my spotlight today is Katie Lee. I've read her crime book, due for pre-order soon, and I loved it.¹

Katie, tell us about yourself, where you live etc.

I’m the youngest of six children (five girls) and I’m the mother of two girls. My husband is the children’s author and illustrator Alex Milway. We’ve got a very friendly, very loving, very barky miniature schnauzer called Aggy.

I’ve lived all over the place, but I moved to St Leonards-on-Sea near Hastings (which inspired the location for my new series), in 2020 during the Christmas lockdown. It was the best decision ever! It’s a fantastic place to live.

Would you tell us about your writing journey to date?

In my twenties I was a consumer technology journalist, starting on What Laptop magazine and then going on to write for most major newspapers and lots of magazines. With the confidence of youth, I co-founded the UK’s first commercial blog publishing company back in 2004, including the world’s first gadgets website for women (Shiny Shiny). We raised proper VC funding and everything.

I was seen as a bit of a novelty thanks to my age and sex, which meant whenever I did an interview as a tech entrepreneur/writer I nearly always got a wink-wink-nudge-nudge question about “gadgets for girls.” Despite that, it was a very fun time to be a tech journalist: lots of press trips abroad and new tech to play with.

Once, I was invited to the launch of the Queen’s website at Buckingham Palace. It was only when the footman sent us through a door and said, “It’s ma’am to rhyme with ham,” that I realised I was actually going to meet the woman in charge! I was the first one through the door and I was so shocked, I just said “Hi,” as I shook her hand. The Queen’s face lit up and she giggled, and despite thinking I was totally ambivalent to royalty, I fell in love with her on the spot. Then she had to click a mouse to open her website, which she thought was a hoot. It was all very silly.

Later, I went down the client route and I’ve spent the past decade doing a lot of ghostwriting for senior executives. They don’t write anything themselves, you know! It’s been a really quiet year for that, however, and I consciously took the opportunity to finish all these books I’d half-started. It’s been scary taking the plunge, but also liberating.

Back in 2016 I also had a go at screenwriting and managed to get a screen agent. I’ve been shortlisted for BAFTA Rocliffe three times (screenwriting award) and Funny Women once. I’ve developed a few TV adaptations with producers in the UK and Germany and sold an option for a very creepy horror story.

I switched to books more recently as it’s very hard to get things away as a new screenwriter – especially if you’re a middle-class woman of a certain age. You’d be amazed by the things producers and agents will actually say to your face about your age and gender! I’ve been pretty lucky in that regard, but some of my friends have heard some outrageous stuff.

Do you have a writing routine?

My routine is to fail to write for most of the day and then berate myself for all my inadequacies before bashing out a load of words. Some days, I’ll hit peak productivity and absolutely blast through my word count, but tomorrow comes and I’ll just fritter it away reading too many articles and get behind again. Then I get eye strain and have to dictate for bit, which is brilliant and something I’m trying to get better at. I know you all know JD Kirk², who was once the children’s author Barry Hutchison. Well, I had a post-it note on my computer for a long time that said, “Be More Barry,” in a bid to channel his insane productivity levels, but eventually I had to conclude that being a flakey daydreamer is congenital and I’ve actually been more productive since I accepted that.

Any favourite or go-to authors whose work you admire?

I’m a sucker for crime writers who give a lot of interior lives stuff. People like Belinda Bauer and Kate Atkinson and Lisa Jewell. Outside the world of crime, I worship Hilary Mantel, Susanna Clark and Elizabeth Strout. As a teen, all I read was fantasy, so Tolkien and Mervyn Peake were huge for me. And recently I’ve been reading everything I can by Adrian Tchaichovsky. Oh, and I think Janice Hallet is so clever. Hallet and Bauer both switched from screenwriting to crime (and I’m sure I could guess why), so they’re big inspirations. I’d pay to be even half as good as them. And I couldn’t not mention the ex-kids’/YA author gang, including JD Kirk, David Gatward, Alex Smith, TG Reid, William Hussey and the whole crew. Watching their meteoric rises has been a proper thrill and privilege. They all know how to tell a good story.

Why crime?

If you’d asked me five years ago, I’d have said I wasn’t interested in crime. But I saw so many of my husband’s peers exploring it and I started reading their work. And it was all great! Then I realised that of course I’d already read crime – Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie and Kate Atkinson etc. Even something like the Gormenghast trilogy is crime in some ways. I think people are often really resistant to trying different genres, but it’s a mistake! I know that mentioning sci-fi immediately puts people off, for example, but a good story is a good story. I’ll try anything now.

Plotter or Pantser?

I’m a reformed pantster. I started writing the first chapter of my first crime novel and just carried on from there. Terrible idea! It took me far too long. Then, for reasons of sheer insanity, I decided to write the prequel, and that turned into another plotting nightmare since I created continuity errors that I had to go back to the other book to fix. After that chaos, I took a break and wrote a comedy sci-fi that I forced myself to sit and plot first. Thanks to that, it only took me a couple of months to write.

It helped when I realised plotting doesn’t actually have to be a strict structural thing: it can be as simple as just writing down everything you know so far. I just splurge it all out and it’s amazing how much more starts appearing and how the pathways open up. I’m not an organised person, so I don’t hold myself to any of it. I can change as I go, but getting down everything I know first is surprisingly similar to putting together a good basic plot. Let’s hope the third crime book goes more smoothly now I’ve reformed my ways.³

Any hobbies apart from writing?

Oh god, too many. I sometimes get stressed about how many hobbies I have! I have a home veg plot AND recently took on an allotment. I have a very neglected YouTube channel about it.⁴ I sew, crochet and knit. I read a lot – not enough books and too many articles. Substack is an addiction (reading them and writing my own). I like cryptic crosswords. I do visible mending on clothes. I really need to stop doing things that use my eyes. Thank god for audiobooks.

Favourite food and drink?

My dad was an Anglo-Indian from Pakistan⁵. Curry is a vital component of my life. My husband’s been making this amazing sweet and sour Sri Lankan fried paneer curry recently that is out of this world. The boiling water tap we got recently means I just mainline different teas. My friend got me a Pukka tea advent calendar, which was the perfect gift.

Thanks, Katie. That really makes you a three-dimensional person for me. I'll let everyone know when that book is up for pre-order.⁶ Katie writes under a number pseudonyms - Katie J Lee, KJ Lyttleton.

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So there you go! That’s a bit about me. I hope you’re all well and safe and aren’t reading too much news (because it really won’t help, you know).

I’ll be back again soon. In the meantime, please feel free to explore the archives if you feel you have the strength.

Katie

1. Kath was a Beta reader and picked up some excellent typos. You can thank her for the fact that DI Lee Hudson no longer “wraps his knuckles.”

2. Yes, I probably talk about Barry too much, but until he issues a restraining order, I’ll probably continue. He’s on Substack himself now, you know.

3. So far no

4. Watching myself back on camera was a real insight into the haphazard Manic Pixie Insane Woman I am these days. The editing was a nightmare and took ages, which I why I haven’t quite kept it up.

5. Actually, from southern India, but they moved to Lahore before Kenya and then finally the UK.

6. It’s available now from no good book shops! Amazon only.