Find Out Friday: Mandy Baggot
11/11/2011 9:20:03 AM
Welcome to the second edition of Find Out Friday. Today, we find out about the Lady herself, singing authorMandy Baggot.
Before we met, I followed Mandy on Twitter and watched a great version of ‘I Put A Spell On You’, on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dSSv0nbX2M and was immediately bewitched by this person known as Lady Baggot.
Good morning, Mandy. How is the fair Lady Baggot this November day?
I’m cold Laura! I have long sleeves and a fleece on! Anyone would think it was winter!
I’m going to ask the obvious question. Tell me about the title that is not in print; tell me about the ‘Lady’.
Haha! I don’t really know how that came about. I think it was because of my You Tube video of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face. Lady Baggot started being bandied around and I quite like it! She is a bit of an alter ego I have to say and I get away with saying a lot more under her guise! Although some people do think I’m really titled. I’m not. You can take the girl out of the council estate but you can’t take the council estate out of the girl. I know my roots and it doesn’t involve castles and stags heads – unless it’s a really heavy weekend!
I’ve come to realise that many writers are extremely capable of other crafts – you sing, others knit or paint, sculpt or act – why do you think this is?
I think writing is a performance art, as much as singing or acting. We stand on a virtual stage and every time our readers open a book they are expecting a performance. It’s a bit like being a one person production team because, let’s face it, we have to write the script, choose the people for the leading roles and even design their costumes!
You have to be very creative to be a writer so naturally a creative streak leads to other things. Having said that, apart from writing and singing, I am pretty useless when it comes to art and making things. It was a standing joke at school that I couldn’t even draw a straight line with a ruler.
You know I want to ask about the singing as it’s a passion we both share. Tell me how you got started.
I’ve always sung! I started out at primary school, singing in the church for Christmas productions, but I never got the high-voiced angel parts because of the volume and tone of my voice. I always got the loud, boisterous, sinner parts! What were they trying to tell me?! Then, at senior school, I was in the choir, but what really set me apart was my impression of Tom Jones. We did a charity fundraiser at school and I dressed as Tom (complete with wool as a hairy chest) and it brought the house down. I think it was then I realised I was never going to be a soprano!
After that I discovered KARAOKE! No going back after that!
Where do you practise singing? Does the family join in and can you all sing? (This is a question of debate in my house.)
I practice at home usually, in the office, because most of the backing tracks are on the computer. I do have a karaoke machine too though! Yes, my family love to join in and my two daughters both have amazing voices for their age. I’m not a pushy mummy, I don’t prop them up with microphones in their hands and demand they sing and practice until every note is right, but I do encourage their love of music and dance and hopefully help them develop their skills! It’s all about the enjoyment for me!
My husband Mr Big isn’t a singer, but he is a great guitarist and we have formed a little duo called ‘Hard Drive’. We are working on a set list that includes:-
ZZ Top – Tush
Bob Seger – Old Time Rock n Roll
Chuck Berry – Johnny B Goode
We hope to launch ourselves to the world at my summer 2012 book launch party!
Which song would you absolutely love to crack and which one would you take to the Albert Hall?
Ooo that’s a toughy! There are songs I love that I just can’t sing. I guess I would love to crack something by Mariah Carey but that’s never going to happen! But I would take Adele ‘Someone Like You’ to the Albert Hall. I don’t think my version is too shabby! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiKzpzmHAmo
Do you play any instruments?
Um, I used to! I played piano for a couple of years at primary school but I gave it up. I really wished I had continued it because the most I can play now is Chopsticks! My daughter is learning so I sometimes sneak a go with her book!
I also played the clarinet at senior school but I never really got into it. I mean you can’t really start a band with a clarinet can you? I’m hoping Mr Big might teach me guitar. I’d like to learn but it’s finding the time!
Does your love for music influence what or how you write? Do you write in silence or to a musical backdrop?
Ah ha! It actually varies! Most of the time I write in silence but then, when the characters are nailed and I have my theme and my feel up and running, I sometimes need a bit of music to keep that inspiration flowing. With Strings Attached I have a suggested playlist at the front of the book full of music I listened to while I was writing it. It should hopefully enhance the reading experience and give readers a flavour of the ambience.
In Strings Attached, your hero is Quinn Blake, a Rock God. What is it about the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that you find attractive?
What’s not to like about the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle?! Obviously I had to do a lot of research, go to a lot of concerts, flirt with lots of rock stars etc. I WISH! I love the buzz of a concert and Mr Big and I do try and go to gigs of artists we admire. We were lucky enough to see Gary Moore several times before his sad death this year and my favourite is of course Bryan Adams who I am seeing in December!
With Quinn’s scenario in Strings Attached it was all about him being the ultimate pin-up, perfect from head to foot, sexy, charming and hot, every woman’s fantasy. But what’s going on under that perfect surface? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
How is Quinn Blake doing? How is his tour going?
He’s doing really well although he needs to get his tweets up. I think he’s spending far too much time enjoying himself when there is serious promoting to be done. He’s in Manchester now and on to Glasgow next! He’s been very warmly received so I’ve heard!
What sort of questions does his Twitter community ask?
They ask all sorts! But then I only know what he copies me in on and what he tells me! He’s had long discussions about guitar models, pizzas, hot tubs, song choices and underwear! In fact he offered to give away a pair of his pants if Strings Attached got into the Kindle top 100. It hasn’t quite made it yet but there’s still time!
Writing, like singing, is a passion for me. Is it the same for you? Have you always written and how did you get started?
I’ve always written, since school and it always involved romance and action. It’s widely known that I wrote for my friends an ongoing saga including them, New Kids on the Block and the Italia 1990 England squad. We all went to fabulous parties, got married off and had babies. There were car crashes and deaths and half-brothers and long lost sisters – I could have been on the Dynasty script writing team at age fourteen!
2008 saw the publication of your first book, when you chose to self-publish. Can you tell me something about your decision to go down this route?
In 2005 I had my first daughter and after a break from writing when life took over I got back into it on my maternity leave and wrote Excess All Areas. In 2008 I found out about the website Youwriteon.com where you can post your work and get reviews from other members on the site. I joined the site and they then announced they would be publishing a certain number of books by Christmas. I literally had a couple of weeks to pull the book into shape if I wanted to be included in this project. I managed to do it and it was published in December 2008. It wasn’t a choice to be self-published back then; it was making the most of an opportunity that fell into my lap. After that Youwriteon.com set up the publishing as a permanent thing and I had re-caught the writing bug.
I was still sending out submissions to traditional publishing houses up until I decided to self-publish Strings Attached. I usually have great feedback and requests for full manuscripts but ultimately a ‘no’. Now, with the e-book taking over, I wonder what a traditional publishing house could give me that I can’t go out and do myself. A big, fat, advance is obviously the answer but I hear they are in short supply right now!
I adore your new covers; they’re eye-catching and carry the silhouette theme. Is this the new branding? How do you go about choosing the design?
Yes! This is Brand Baggot! I’m glad you like it! A really good friend of mine did the original covers for the books, with limited resources and my budget of nothing and I will always be grateful to her for doing that, but long term I wanted my books to be uniform and give the readers a flavour of Lady Baggot’s work from the outset. I now have an amazing cover designer helping me and we worked together to create a look that’s original and very me! I thought I didn’t know what I wanted but when it came to designing the cover for Strings Attached I told the designer I wanted ‘my name big and bold like Tilly Bagshawe and probably a bluey colour with stars’. I then looked at covers out there and told her the styles I liked and she sent me various images to look at. Once I had chosen half a dozen images I liked, she mocked up covers and then I had the hard task of choosing! I asked Team Baggot to help me! These are friends and Associate Readers with Loveahappyending.com who go out of their way to support me and my books. Well, we all chose the same design and the silhouettes won the day!
Tell me about book trailers. Do you develop the idea or do you have a team? How do you transfer what is in your head into an informative and entertaining trailer?
Ooo I love a good trailer! This is my chance to produce a lead-in like a Hollywood style preview! Another great author Suzy Turner actually helped me get started on the trailers. She produced a great one for her book Raven and she give me tips and advice to get me started on the trailer for Strings Attached. For me the music is the most important thing because that sets the whole mood of the book so I chose some royalty free music and then started on what I wanted to say. Then I got to choose the pictures I wanted!
I’ve just created a trailer for my 2012 release Taking Charge and I love this trailer! The music is brilliant and I hope I am tempting people into this American tale with the mini-movie featuring a fat man with a doughnut and a hot ice hockey player!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QygMK9Gz_lA
On your website www.mandybaggot.webs.com, you mention a character by the name ofMilo, and I gather he’s a little special. What would you like to tell us about him?
Haha! Milo is very special to me yes! Milo is a character mentioned in every one of my novels. It started by me desperately trying to think up a name for a bit part character and always thinking of Milo and then thinking ‘no I used that in the last book’. Then I thought well what a great idea, why think up another name for a bit part character when I can just use the same one! So now it is my ‘thing’ to always have a Milo in my books. Sometimes he just gets one mention, other times he gets a speaking part but in Taking Charge he’s actually a proper character! But it’s up to the readers to decide whether they think he is actually one and the same person or not! Who knows maybe he’ll get his very own novel one day? At the moment it’s a bit like ‘Where’s Wally?’ – It’s ‘Where’s Milo?’ have you found his mention yet?
You also mention that you prefer action to relaxation. Do you switch off, other than when sleeping?
In short – NO! I never switch off. I am always working! If I’m not at the computer working I am playing with my girls or generally being mum. The only time I sit down is at night, about 9.00pm. I watch television for an hour or so and then I go to bed and read for a bit. That’s it!
I only really switch off from work when I am on holiday, but even then I am usually texting about work!
My To Be Read Pile has increased over the weekend. Actually, there are three TBR piles. What is in your TBR pile and which authors influenced you as a child?
At the moment I have:-
Two Talli Roland books – The Hating Game and Watching Willow Watts
A lovely MS from a loveahappyending author Sue Fortin
Bagpipes and Bullshot – Janice Horton
When Tomorrow Comes – Joanna Lambert
Plus a whole host of erotica I won at the Festival of Romance from the lovely Total E-Bound
I don’t think I was influenced by authors as a child with regard to writing. I loved Enid Blyton The Faraway Tree books and also Nancy Drew mysteries when I was a bit older. And of course Judy Blume – my first dabble into the world of men and their ‘Ralphs’!
This is the penultimate question. Are you a straight to PC person or a pen and paper kinda gal?
Both! Mainly I am a straight to PC kind of girl but there are places where you can’t take a laptop – like the Christmas Fair I did at the weekend. Between customers and sales I wrote (with pen and paper!) about eight pages of my work in progress Do You Remember?
And finally, Mandy; writing or singing? Which are you most passionate about?
Writing without a doubt. I love it; I made a big leap and gave up my job to pursue a career in it. A lot of people said I was foolhardy to do that but I wouldn’t change it and a few more book sales and I’ll prove them all wrong! I hope!
Thank you so much for being my guest on Find Out Friday, Mandy. I look forward to seeing you again soon, when we shall practise our duet.
If you’re thinking of self-publishing, you cannot go wrong following Mandy’s example. She is truly professional and inspirational.
You can follow Mandy on Twitter @mandybaggot or on her website www.mandybaggot.webs.com
All of Mandy’s books are available from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Mandy+Baggot&x=0&y=0