Thank you so much for hosting me on Ellesea Loves Reading. Following the recent release of my new novel, Colouring Outside the Lines.
I thought I’d share my thoughts about the relationship between my main character, Katie, and her mother because I think theirs is probably similar to the relationships many of us have with our mothers – loving, yet at times, infuriatingly frustrating.
I actually had no idea I’d written so many mother characters in my other books until I started working with my current editor, who told me that I wrote mothers well.
I don’t know if I write them well, but she’s right about their being a lot of them. Apart from one short story, which became the second book in the Scott Family romantic comedy series, I never intended to write about mothers at all. Maureen Scott was a fictional character, loosely based on my own mother, while the story itself was actually inspired by a farcical real-life family get together.
In general, I write about forty-something year old women who already have more than enough challenges to cope with, without adding a mother into the mix. Mothers just appear from nowhere, to interfere in my stories in the way a lot of mothers do in their daughters’ lives – without being invited. Personally, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love my mother dearly, but, like Katie does with mother, I sometimes have to make a concerted effort not to grit my teeth, particularly when I start losing the will to live during a conversation that has gone off at a ridiculous tangent.
I might have shot myself in the foot when I asked my mother if she wanted to be one of my beta readers. She can read a novel at the speed of light. And, with her gimlet eye, she’s also quite good at pointing out flaws – years of practice… 🙄
But she does tend to assume that all the mothers are her, and she’s forever saying things like, ‘Why did you make me say that?’
‘Because she isn’t you, Mam,’ I say. ‘I mean, when did you ever wear your hair in such a tight French twist updo that your eyebrows were practically pinned into it?’ (Katie’s mother, Beverley)
‘But, all the same, people might think –’
‘Which people?’
‘And those chickens.’
Slight move of the teeth towards a grit. ‘People who do know you also know that you didn’t drag us out to the countryside so you could raise chickens.’
You get the picture.
In Colouring Outside the Lines, although Katie knows her mother loves her, she feels as if she fails to live up to her expectations. What Katie can’t see, and what her mother doesn’t communicate very well, is that she just wants her to be all that she can be in life, so that she’ll be happy.
As a young woman, Katie’s mother wanted to work with animals in Africa, but her own mother wouldn’t allow her to go. So, she has spent her adult life flitting from one fad to another, looking for fulfilment. Unfortunately for Katie, this resulted in lots of moving around when she was a child, and a deep desire for security, which she manifests in the way she tries to control every aspect of her life.
Her mother hated the way, as a child, Katie insisted on colouring inside the lines of the pictures in her colouring books. She wanted her to scribble over the lines, which Katie just couldn’t allow herself to do. Even as an adult, her mother keeps urging her to spread her wings and try new things, which only encourages Katie to become more regimented and controlled.
Until the rug is pulled from beneath Katie’s feet, and she starts to unravel.
As she falls into a tailspin, a different Katie starts to emerge, against her own will. But in the midst of the mayhem, she might just discover things about herself she didn’t know, which could then lead to true happiness – if she can allow herself to follow her mother’s advice and colour outside the lines.
Colouring Outside the Lines in available as an e-book via Amazon from 26th July 2021.
Meet Katie: she’s about to marry the most wonderful man in the world. The planning is done, the checklist is checked. The future is set.
Having spent her twenties and thirties enjoying life with good friends, and building a career she loves, it’s taken Katie until her forties to contemplate settling down. And she couldn’t be more delighted she waited.
So, why is her perfect groom standing gawping at her, wearing mismatched socks and sweating buckets? This can’t bode well.
With her special day in tatters, Katie has a decision to make. Does she snatch back the reigns of her old life, and tighten her grip even more? Or should she take a chance on change? Will she find the key to happiness at a Pilates class in a smelly old hall? Or is the curve ball heading her way too huge to handle?
If you like British humour and a flawed protagonist on an emotional journey, you’ll enjoy reading Amanda Paull’s latest novel, Colouring Outside the Lines – a heart-warming tale of shattered dreams, self-discovery and finding true love where you least expect it.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0988WTQJ4
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58560469-colouring-outside-the-lines
Amanda Paull grew up in the North East of England and couldn't wait to move away. However, after studying and then living both in England and abroad, she returned to the North East and wouldn't dream of living anywhere else now.
After a short career in teaching, she retrained as a nurse. She recently retired from her post as a Sleep Nurse Specialist and now spends her time writing Women’s Fiction novels and Romantic Comedy short stories.
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