In this episode, we discussed:* How she went from self-publishing to landing an agent and a deal with Harper Collins * How writing in the morning before her day job is the best way she’s found to get her books written while working full-time * Why she thinks reading (and reading a lot) in her genre gives her inspiration, especially when she’s feeling blocked * Why a solid reversal in the middle of your book is key to avoiding a saggy (boring) middle * The power of a pause of a few weeks to let your brain work on your book when you’ve written yourself into a corner * How dreams can get us some of our best ideas * Why she writes in and prefers writing in 1st person POV

Sandy’s BooksThe Holiday Romance Series:

• One Summer in Santorini (#1)
• That Night in Paris (#2)
• A Sunset in Sidney (#3)
• A Sunrise Over Bali (#4)
• NEW RELEASE: A Wedding in Tuscany (#5)

Hilarious Stand-Alone Novel

• The Dating Game

Some of Sandy’s Favorite Novels The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough * To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee * Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee * Shakespeare, esp. the original rom com, Much Ado About Nothing* * The French Photographer, Natasha Lester * I Heart New York – the first rom-com she read that made her believe that she too could write this genre

Meet Sandy BarkerSandy is a writer, traveler, and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list, and many of her travel adventures have found homes in her novels. She lives in Melbourne Australia with her partner, Ben, who she met while traveling in Greece. Their real-life love story inspired Sandy’s debut novel One Summer in Santorini, the first in the Holiday Romance series with One More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins. She has now published 4 books and she’s done all of this while working full-time at Pearson as an adult learning specialist.

Connect with Sandy Barker* Sandy on Instagram * Sandy on Twitter * Sandy’s Website

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