From the Author’s Desk… Helena Frith Powell

We asked authors from our previous Festivals five questions and here are the answers:

How did you enjoy the LitFest experience?
I absolutely loved it, the quality of authors and events was fabulous. One of the disadvantages of living in the UAE is that you can sometimes feel quite far away from the literary world and the festival brought it all to our doorstep, a great achievements and great fun.
What current projects are you working on?
I am working on a novel, it is about some thirty-forty somethings whose lives fall apart and they find themselves sharing a rambling house in London living a student-style existence.
Describe a typical day in your life.
A typical day begins with yoga and ends with football. At least during the football season. I am a Chelsea fan and watch every game if I am not in London to see it live. I try to do yoga every day and then I sit at my desk writing, or editing or working on whatever I am working on. In the cooler months I play tennis a lot and go for walks. During term time I will skype the children at some stage during the day (they are all at boarding school in England).
What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you as a writer?
The first time a publisher approached me I thought he was either some kind of vanity publisher or a pervert. I had been trying to get published for years and then this man suddenly wrote to me, via the Sunday Times where I had a column in 2002, saying how much he loved the column and had I ever thought about writing a book? Thought about it? I’d thought of little else for years. Anyway I was convinced he was utterly dodgy so asked a friend of mine who is a literary critic to check him out. Turns out he was neither a pervert nor a vanity publisher and I am with him to this day.
What helps boost your creativity?
Reading, talking to friends, wandering around London or going for long walks close to our house in France. It is in the middle of nowhere and I get ideas as I stomp around the hills.