THE creative work of a romance writer from Penola has been picked up by a prestigious London publishing house.
Author Ann Jones will launch her first novel, Tempting the Temp, in her home town on Friday after it has been published by Austin Macauley.
She began her fictional writing journey 11 years ago.
“I began putting my ideas onto paper as I would have a kaleidoscope of words that I had the urge to get out,” Ms Jones said.
The author’s career was a slow progression due to a busy family life, raising two teenagers and training horses, resulting in her first novel taking eight years to produce.
“As it was my first novel, I was not entirely sure how to tackle it, so I began writing everything as a flat manuscript ,” Ms Jones said.
“In the beginning there wasn’t any construction to my writing, however I just wanted to get my thoughts out on paper.”
After this first effort, Ms Jones’ work flowed easily onto paper, writing another four novels over the space of a year.
Ms Jones describes her writing genre as Australian romance with a flare of spice.
“Romance has undergone a real resurgence in the past couple of years and becoming involved in people’s romantic lives is a perfect form of escapism and I love being able to bring this to readers,” she said.
The novel follows the journey of a young woman who “temps” for a living – working as a temporary office worker through an agency – whilst also dealing with an alcoholic mother and other various family
issues.
Things begin to look brighter when she crosses paths with Adelaide’s most elite bachelor, who in turn is intrigued by her.
“It is a romance with a few twists and turns along the way,” Ms Jones said.
When discussing the inspiration for her work, Ms Jones said she does not base characters entirely on those she has
met.
However the main character in her new novel shares characteristics with her adored 89-year-old neighbour Mary.
“The main character is forgiving and sees the good in people despite her troubled life and this is based loosely on the character of my neighbour who is a sweetheart and tries to see the best in everyone,” she said.
The writer also incorporates family jokes and anecdotes throughout her six completed books.
“In the first ever book I wrote, many of the characters were based on family and life in Penola,” Ms Jones said.
Her professional career kick started when she met an editor by coincidence at a next door neighbour’s house who read her work and complimented her on her writing skills.
“I was embarrassed as someone had actually read my book, however she reassured me that she should know as she was a book editor – I was very surprised,” Ms Jones said.
The editor told Ms Jones to send her writing to her, propelling her publishing career.
“I sent my work to five previous publishers and some responses were automatic email replies and some were completely ignored,” Ms Jones said.
“I dropped the idea for a while and then one evening I went to Hollick Winery and saw author Tricia Stringer’s book launch and my inspiration was revived again.”
Ms Jones then received a letter from publishing house Austin Macauley to email through her first manuscript and the rest is history.
“If you had said to me when I finished my first manuscript that I would be published one day, I would have laughed in embarrassment, but now even our local book club has read advanced copies of the book, which has been terrific,” she
said.
“I hope readers will enjoy Tempting The Temp for years to come.”
The launch will be held at the Penola Library at 43 Cameron Street in Penola at 6pm on Friday.
Spaces for the launch are limited and bookings are essential.
Contact the library on 8737 2838 to book.
