Blog Tour: The First Time Mums' Club by Lucie Wheeler

I am thrilled to be hosting the opening day of Lucie Wheeler's blog tour for her debut novel The First Time Mums' Club. I have the book sat on my kindle ready to be read, but in the meantime, I have a very interesting article by Lucie herself on 'The Many Colours of Inspiration' so please enjoy, and let me know in the comments if you have or are going to be reading The First Time Mums' Club!

The many colours of Inspiration
I am a very visual person. I like to look at beautiful things and scenery is something that draws so much emotion from deep within. I love looking at colour, too. It is amazing what a vision of vibrant colour can do for your imagination and your mood. I think, when I eventually get the chance to redecorate my writing space, I want to have vibrant splashes of colour around. Not blocks of colour, splashes. I like the unevenness and messiness of a splodge of colour – maybe it’s the big kid inside of me. I am not one for straight angles and equal lines – although saying this, I do like -. I like things to be even, but not necessarily straight.

You know, it isn’t until you start to write these things down that you realise how strange you sound. But stay with me, it gets more ‘normal’.

As well as being a visual person, I also respond highly to audio stimuli. I find music incredibly inspiring. Sometimes I like to listen to the melodic notes of classical music to relax my chaotic brain, to allow the inspiration to materialise in my mind. But equally, I find quite heavy music inspiring too. By heavy, I mean in reflection of the vocals and the words. I listen to a wide range of music, I don’t really have a genre that I won’t listen to. Growing up, I went through a stage in my teens where I was heavily influenced by bands such as Green Day (who I still LOVE to listen to- much to the dismay of my family) Nirvana, Offspring and Linkin Park. Some of my friends couldn’t understand why I liked to listen to that style of music. “It’s just shouting – that’s not singing,” they would say to me. And I would think; but listen to the words, listen to what they’re saying. Because you can hear the passion, and the heartbreak and the life lessons pouring from their hearts as they shout the words. The emotion those types of songs draw from me is immense.

And then we come to people. Who inspires me?

There is one woman who was the inspiration that started my writing journey off. One woman who is my idol, who I admire and who I would desperately love to grab a coffee with (or a glass of wine!). And that woman is JK Rowling. Reading Harry Potter gave me the spark that deveoped into my writing passion. The way I felt when I read Harry Potter was incredible. Not necessarily because of the story (although I love it), but because of the awe I had that she could write a story, with just words, of which totally transported me to another land. There have been other writers since who have equally wowed me with their ability to write, but she was my first real writing idol and I credit her for giving me the drive to want to be just like her. I don’t just admire her talent, but her love, kindness and drive to make the world a better place. She is beautiful inside and out and I really hope one day I get to meet her – although I worry that I would be that woman who totally has a fan girl moment and merely makes noises instead of forming words to say.

But, actually, I think the person who inspires me the most - and she inspires me every single day -  is my daughter. She is an incredible little lady and as I watch her grow, I can feel my heart grow with love. Everything I do, I do it for her. Every day I wake up and I work hard, just to make her proud. She is the one thing in my life that I will work every hour, of every day, of every year, to make happy and believe that she can achieve great things. Without her, I wouldn’t have that drive to succeed. She makes me the person I am and I hope that one day, she looks back and is inspired by me as much as I am by her.

Thank you so much, Lucie!

Check out the other stops on the blog tour this week too :)