Featured Blogger: Emma from Emma R!

Hey guys! As you probably already know, throughout the month of November I’m
shining a spotlight on thirty wonderful book bloggers 😊📚 If you’re not already following them, then I’d definitely recommend that you check them out – these guys are all such wonderful bloggers and all incredibly kind and supportive.

Today is the turn of the wonderful Emma (from Emma R) who posts some amazing book reviews as well as bits of her own writing! Definitely one to watch!

–

Hi, I’m Emma, and I blog over at Emma R. I’m 35, I have two scrummy/monstrous children (delete as appropriate depending on the day) aged 5 and 1 and I’m also studying for an MA in Creative Writing… and all of that pretty much takes up every spare second of the day!

A few years ago I started a blog and it didn’t stick, mainly because I got bored with what I was writing about. I wrote about what I thought I should write about, as opposed to what I was actually interested in. And so when I wanted to start up a new blog earlier this year I thought long and hard about what I wanted from a blog. I had applied to study for an MA in Creative Writing at that time and having a blog where I could write about the books I had read as well as having a space where I could share my own writing seemed like the perfect fit for me.

–

Where did your love of reading come from?

It would have to be my Mum as my Dad didn’t read a book until he was in his fifties!!! She taught me to read before I started school, and from then on I carried a book everywhere with me, it became a standing family joke that I was surgically attached to whichever book I was reading at the time. I was always quite outwardly shy, and reading was a form of escapism, I would become the character in my imagination and live through them quite happily.

What is your favourite book that you’d recommend to anyone and everyone?

I love anything by Jodi Picoult. She challenges me as a reader to look at an issue and to see a different side. Her latest book, A Spark of Light was absolutely phenomenal in my eyes. It deals with the issue of abortion, and it looks at the debate from different angles. You can check out my review here! Another favourite of mine is Nineteen Minutes. There are books I’ve preferred to others, but all in all, she is one of two authors who I will always have a pre-order in for their next book.

Which author (dead or alive) would you love to meet and why?

Jodi Picoult, obviously. I’ve seen her give a talk on book tours three times now, and each time I am so incredibly impressed with her. I’m at the very beginning of trying to be a writer, and I would love so much to talk with a successful female writer, who has also raised a family whilst writing wonderful novels. To pick her brain on how she has coped with balancing the two and just to have general chit chat would be rather lovely!

What is the most memorable/sentimental book that you’ve read?

I love books by Lesley Pearse. Her books, but more particularly her earlier books, follow a young female character throughout their lives. There would be happiness and sadness, but she writes everything with such feeling that I just fall in love with her characters and I’m on the journey with them, devouring the book within a day or so. She is one of the few writers who can hook me from page one.

What is your favourite genre to read and your favourite book from it?

If I’m honest I don’t have a singular favourite genre. I am very plot and character driven and if one of those grabs me then the genre is irrelevant.

What are your top tips/tricks for fitting reading around a busy schedule?

I have two young children, and so I find that I just always carry my book around with me and grab reading time whenever I can, even if it’s five minutes in a car park whilst my daughter is asleep in the car! The kids are both in bed by 7, so I try to fit an hour in then, plus I always read before I go to sleep. It is literally about making the most of every spare second! 

What are your top tips/tricks for writing your own work?

I have fast learned to write down ideas! When I first started my MA I can’t even tell you how many great ideas I had, which I then promptly forgot. I’ve just been doing a poetry module, which has actually been relatively easy to write whilst I have the kids, I just keep a notebook and pen with me wherever I am, and write down ideas as they come to me. I find that whilst I’m pretty good at sitting at a desk and writing prose; with poetry, I’m a thinker and actually I make much better progress if I’m doing something whilst working on a poem. Distraction seems to yield inspiration for me!

What are you reading now? What have you just finished? Are you enjoying/did you enjoy it?

I am literally just a few pages into a book called Sadie’s War by Rosemary Noble, which I’m on a blog tour for in early December. It’s very early days, but I was very drawn to it as it is set in locations I either know well, or I’ve been to.

I’ve just finished reading The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp, which was quite simply fabulous. Definitely one of my top reads of the year! You can read my review of it here!

–

If you like the sound of Emma and all of the amazing things she posts you can find her over on Twitter as well as on her main blog.

I hope you guys are enjoying reading this month’s series of posts as much as I’ve loved organising and collaborating with so many amazing bloggers to create them! 💖 Check back tomorrow! x