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The best way to ask me questions is to sign up to my Newsletter where we can chat via email, but meanwhile, here are some questions I’ve been asked:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

My most recent novel, Heat in the Desert, is the result of the characters screaming loud enough in my head that I could no longer ignore them. I had to write their story so they can live in the world. And it’s always such fun to write books set in Namibia as part of the Desert Love series. I always feel as though I’m on holiday when I write these books because I know the place and the people so well – it’s like visiting old friends.

How do you get inspired to write?

I LOVE writing with a capital L. I’ve always told and written stories from as young as I can remember. I was just too busy singing opera for many years to think about publishing a novel. I guess now it’s time. Inspiration comes from everywhere. Sometimes, I read something, sometimes, I experience something myself, and sometimes, I hear snippets of conversations when I travel, which greatly intrigues me and sets my imagination alight. It comes from other people’s lives, movies, world events, etc. Inspiration is all around us all the time. It’s just a question of recognising a great idea when it lands in your mind.

What are you currently working on?

As always, I seem to be working on several projects, concurrently.

The third novel in the Desert Love series, Heat In The Desert was published in September 2020 and already readers have been asking what happens in Gerhard and Saira’s immediate future just after the novel ends. I feel another novella coming but it’s always so gratifying when that happens because it means the readers are invested in the characters as much as me!

I’m also working on the second novel in the Love Beyond Reason series, Forever and Ever Love. This is a far more serious series, dealing with the complexities of love. Readers loved Angelo and Isabelle from The Healing Touch, the first novel in the series. Now, it’s time to find out more about these characters as we follow them through three lifetimes.

And later this year, I hope to start the second book in my non-fiction series, Your Voice, Your Superpower. Voice Placement, Vowels and Volume follows on from Breathing for Confidence as we start to learn more about voice production now that we have our breathing techniques under our belt.

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Read, read, read. Write, write, write. Tell stories, role play. And always carry a notebook. Write everything that inspires you in your notebook. And I mean everything: your dreams, paintings, songs, news articles, snippets of conversations as you pass people on the street, anything that captures your attention and your imagination. Don’t think you’ll remember it because you won’t.

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

It’s a little like being an actor, I guess, I get to live many lives and many different characters, and experience and explore many different realities. Writing allows me to experience what life would have been like, had I been born in a different body, to different parents, and had different friends. It’s fun. But it is also difficult to face a blank page and to make your words paint the pictures in your head that readers can visualise.

But the very best thing about being a writer is that I get to connect with so many wonderful readers from around the world – people I never would have been able to meet under any other circumstances – and to build real friendships with them. I’m truly blessed.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

I go for long walks. It usually clears my head and if I’d been pondering a particular problem, by the time my walk is over, I can’t wait to get back to writing.

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I would love for you to purchase my books, read them and post short reviews about what you thought on Amazon or wherever you had bought them. Even if you just say, “I liked it.” That’s also a great review and I thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity in doing so.

You can contact me at angelina@angelinakalahari.com.

I read every email.