Mary Balogh
Mary Balogh
Mary Baloghis a Welsh-Canadian historical romance novelist...
NationalityWelsh
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 March 1944
lifetime
I have read somewhere that we often spend a lifetime searching for what we already have.
philosophical happy-life thinking
Black is the absence of all color. White is the presence of all colors. I suppose life must be one or the other. On the whole, though, I think I would prefer color to its absence. But then black does add depth and texture to color. Perhaps certain shades of gray are necessary to a complete palette. Even unrelieved black. Ah, a deep philosophical question. Is black necessary to life, even a happy life? Could we ever be happy if we did not at least occasionally experience misery?
life real self
Always guarding one's real, precious self in a cocoon of tranquility within a thousand masks. Life itself had become a secret affair.
firsts first-time life-living
Suddenly, and for the first time, he was at the center of his own life, living it and loving it.
people
I have people introducing themselves to me: 'I am your publicist; what can I do for you?' But I have never learned how to use a publicist.
I never think that any writer can teach someone how to write.
home hope people writes
Everyone writes differently. I hope to get people energized so they'll want to rush home to write.
bit characters develops existence exists finding main minor quite role setting
I don't know quite how a story develops in my head. It is a bit chaotic. If I am working on a series, one of the main characters at least is already in existence as well as some setting and minor characters. Finding the other main character can be a challenge. Sometimes this character already exists in a minor role in another book.
couple decide scale since sort success year
Since 1988, I have been writing steadily. I did decide a couple of years or so ago to scale back to writing one book a year - a sort of semi-retirement. But I never did have much success with that plan!
besides brought fit formal perfectly rather sort suited
I have a British voice and a rather formal one at that, having been brought up in post-WWII Britain. My voice is perfectly suited to the sort of book I write, I think. It would not fit a contemporary, besides which I do not know enough about the contemporary world to write convincingly or comfortably about it!
seen success
It's this idea that success changes you as a person... I've never seen my career that way.
felt finally full good novels overlap published quit since teaching three time written
I have written more than 100 novels and novellas since 1983 - I was first published in 1985. There was an overlap of three years with my teaching career, but finally I felt good enough about my writing career to quit teaching and write full time.
fancy flickering image inspired lights music romantic
I fancy the romantic image of myself being soothed and inspired by music and the sweet aroma and flickering lights of candles.
bit felt good three time wrote
I think I wrote 'The Trysting Place' in about three weeks. But it was inexperience that made me have to do that. I didn't feel good about the book all the time I was writing it. It felt a bit like wading through molasses.