What inspired you to first start writing?
I love reading and am never without a book. I have always wanted to write; but didn’t have time. Lockdown was the perfect time to begin writing a book.
Tell us a little about your book – Rehab and Beyond –
The book is a tongue in cheek story about a bunch of guys and girls in rehab taken from my own experiences. I have tried to give everyone very individual characters with a (hopefully) humorous spin on the story.
What’s it about?
The book is about day-to-day life in a rehab. I have tried to make it as light-hearted as possible without being insensitive towards the plight of addicts. After I left treatment I to come to terms with the consequences of several suicide attempts and try understand what led to them. It took a lot of self-analyses to help me understand why I had done what I had done and that I needed to change. I had to be totally honest with myself which wasn’t always easy as we always look for others to blame. I left rehab feeling angry, hurt and resentful. When I entered treatment, I was under the impression that I was being booked into a clinic for psychiatric help and was furious when I found myself in the rehab wing.
Where did the idea come from?
During lockdown last year when alcohol and cigarettes were banned, I joined a Facebook page, “Lift the ban on alcohol and cigarettes”. The group had 42 000 members. I didn’t realise until I started reading some of the posts how dependant we all are on cigarettes and alcohol to the point that some of the members of the group committed suicide or were threatening to.
Do you have a favourite time/place to write?
I am a gym instructor so I write between classes, however I completed most of the book during last year’s lockdown as under lockdown level 5 gyms couldn’t open. I also had a spinal fusion and spent three months flat on my back I used the time to write.
Do you have any plans for your next book?
I have started writing my next book. It’s about a private investigator that falls apart after her divorce and leaves the police force. Her speciality is catching cheating husbands and getting revenge. I am thinking of adding a twist to the story and have someone kill off the cheating husbands but I’m still working on that.
What’s your favourite book to read (or genre or author)?
To be honest I only read psychological thrillers. I love authors like Patricia Cornwell, Linda la Plante, Cathy Reich’s, Harlan Coben. For the last two or so years I have only read books written by Holocaust survivors or anything that relates to the WWII, including books written about the French and Dutch resistance, Hitler and his henchmen, The Russian invasion of Berlin, Hitlers lost children and many, many more. I have collected and read 65 books on the subject, and it continues to be my choice of reading.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I have a lady’s gym I do personal training and group instruction which I love. I am also teaching myself to DJ but to be honest I have been too busy and a bit lazy to practice at the moment. I love music and people’s emotional response to music. I also love decorating.
