Brook Cottage Books is thrilled to welcome Ellie Rose McKee to the blog for the very first time. It's lovely for me to be able to support local authors. 

Author Interview

 

 

Do you write under your real name or is this a pen name you use? 

I write under the name Ellie Rose McKee. McKee is my maiden surname, and Ellie is short for my “real” name, Elaine. Officially I do not have a middle name, so I appointed myself one, some years back. 

Where are you from? 

Northern Ireland, UK 

 

List 3 interesting facts about yourself.

  

My grandmother’s cousin was a founder of Hallmark Cards. 

For our 25^th birthdays, my best friend and I bought each other official titles to go before our names. Therefore, my legal prefix is Lady (rather than Miss). 

I met my soon-to-be husband on the Internet. 

What was the first thing you ever had published? 

 

Technically, the first thing I ever had in print was a piece in my primary school yearbook, of sorts (1999, aged ten. It was about eleven years after that that I had a poem published in an anthology and then, the year after that, I self-published a book all of my own. 

Do you have a writing routine? 

I’m a night owl, so I do most of my writing during the hours of darkness, when my house is quiet and I’m most awake and energized. Aside from that, though, there isn’t a great deal of structure. If anything, I thrive on the flexibility of my lifestyle. 

Do you have any writing rituals? 

Only if you count the fact that I always have to have a cup of tea beside me! 

Where did the idea for your most recent book come from? 

The most recent thing I published was Four Season Summer, which deals with love and tragedy in equal measure, but I didn’t plan the tragedy bit. I wanted to write about young love that would make the reader, and myself, feel what it was like to experience that again. When I started writing, however, it seemed inauthentic, somehow. You can’t just write about feelings without also writing about actions, and consequences. So, I guess what I’m saying is that the idea came about from wanting to recapture something of being a teenager, but that it evolved somewhat (as teenagers, coincidentally, also do). 

Who was the first person you shared your book with?  

I shared that particular book with the boyfriend I had at the time. 

Do you have a current work in progress? 

Yes. The next thing in the pipeline for me is a book of poems that is due out in January (2016). It’s called The Love Poems, but (in much the same way as I previously mentioned) it’s about more than just love itself. Across the forty poems there are the themes of family, and friendship, and lust, and loss. 

Do you have any advice for budding authors? 

Read a lot and write a lot. Don’t give up. 

Many thanks to Ellie for taking the time to answer some questions. I wish you well in your writing career Ellie. x

About the Author

Author bio – Ellie is the author of Still Dreaming, Wake, and Four Season Summer. She loves to travel, eat chocolate cake, and try her hand at art, occasionally. 

Author links – www.ellierosemckee.com

Buy Link for Ellie's books – http://www.amazon.com/Ellie-Rose-McKee/e/B0084P9WCA/