An interview with Belinda Williams, author of The Pitch

What is the inspiration behind your latest release?
I guess I’d have to say my many years working in marketing. Like Maddy, I’ve worked in advertising and marketing in various account manager / campaign management style roles. Often the demands of the job are intense, with long hours required, and I wanted to write about the challenge of finding and nurturing a relationship in this environment.

Tell us about your writing journey/how you got published?
I wrote a lot as a child and teenager and inevitably gave it up when I became a responsible adult. I decided to revisit it again around eight years ago as a creative outlet and because I felt like being a little less responsible again.

The more I wrote, the more serious I became. Because of my background in marketing, I decided to self-publish my first novel, a paranormal romantic suspense titled Radiant. It had also been listed as a top ten finalist in the Romance Writers of Australia Emerald award, which gave me the confidence to put it out there.

After that I decided to write something more light-hearted and The Boyfriend Sessions was created, which is the first book in my contemporary romance City Love series. I had a feeling it would be more appealing to publishers so started submitting and it was picked up by Momentum (Pan Macmillan). I was secretly thrilled about this as Momentum had been at the top of my wish list! Since then I’ve been contracted to complete the series, so four books in total. Maddy’s story, The Pitch, is the second book in the series.
 
What is your writing routine?
I am a very structured, organised individual – in every other aspect of my life! Sadly my writing routine has to be flexible to accommodate the demands of part-time work, looking after my school age son and everything else. I’m lucky I work from home so if I’m having a quiet work week, I’ll fit in an hour or so of writing whenever I can. Beyond that, when I’m in writing mode, I write on weekends and at night. I am quite disciplined though. When I was writing my last manuscript I committed myself to a weekly word count and writing five out of seven nights. I can’t keep that up all the time though, only when I’m writing the first draft!

Share a writing quote/motto about writing.
Just write.
Not sure if that’s anyone’s quote, but it’s my motto.

What is the one piece of advice about writing that has stuck with you?
Similar to my motto: keep writing. The more you write, the better you get. And the more you write, the more likely you are to finish a book!

What are you reading at the moment or what’s the last book you read and what did you like/not like?
I’m reading Lisa Heidke’s latest release, It Started With A Kiss. She was actually my teacher at The Australian Writers Centre when I did her course on Popular Women’s Fiction, and we still keep in touch.

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The Pitch

She’s in a long-term, committed relationship. With her business.

In three years Madeline Spencer has single-handedly grown her marketing agency, Grounded Marketing, into one of the country’s fastest growing companies. But her success has been at the expense of her social life, and her girlfriends have had enough. They’ll do whatever it takes, from speed dating to blind dates, to show her there’s more to life than work.

Only Maddy is having a hard time forgetting about her business. She’s about to pitch for her biggest client ever and the mysterious media mogul, Paul Neilsen, has volunteered to mentor her. Maddy might just be in with a shot of landing the account—if she can keep her mind on the job.

Working with Paul is not at all what she’d imagined, and Maddy finds herself torn between her ever increasing workload and her feelings for Paul. She’s discovering playing in the big league means making sacrifices…and Maddy must decide what she can’t live without.

Purchase Links:

http://momentumbooks.com.au/books/the-pitch-city-love-2/

About Belinda Williams

Belinda is a marketing communications specialist and copywriter who allowed an addiction to romance and chick-lit to get the better of her. She was named a top ten finalist in the Romance Writers of Australia Emerald Award in both 2013 and 2014.

Her other addictions include music and cars. Belinda’s eclectic music taste forms the foundation of many of her writing ideas and her healthy appreciation for fast cars means she would not so secretly love a Lamborghini. For now she’ll have to settle with her son’s Hot Wheels collection and writing hot male leads with sports cars.

Belinda lives in Sydney and blogs regularly about writing and reading here: www.belindawilliamsbooks.com

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