Take Mum Out is the story of single mum Alice who lives in Edinburgh with her two teenage boys - and feels as if she hasn't been on a date since the stoneage. Her rather bossy best friends decide she needs to 'get back out there', and so Alice embarks on a dating whirlwind, much to the horror of her sons. 'What d'you need a boyfriend for?' her youngest retorts. 'You're a mum.' The book follows Alice's dating escapades and pursuit of love.
Fiona Gibson
Why is this book the perfect present for Mother's Day?
It's a funny, feel-good story about a woman who discovers that the 'real' her is still there after all. As a mum of three teens myself, I know how easy it is to feel that the real you is buried under mountains of laundry and assorted domestics. And we can all do with being reminded that that young carefree person, who loved going out and throwing caution to the wind, is still there, underneath it all. Sometimes it just takes a bit of burrowing to find her!
How much has your background in journalism helped you to write fiction?
It's been enormously helpful. I've written for magazines since the age of 17 and am used to deadlines, and writing in various styles to appeal to different readerships. When I write a feature, I dash off a quick first draft, then go back and hone and polish the writing. It's exactly the same when I'm writing a book. Plus, when you write for magazines you become used to working quickly, efficiently and not minding (too much!) when your work is edited and changed by a features editor. I suppose it's made me reasonably relaxed and unprecious about the writing process.
Please can you tell us about the beginning of your writing life for Jackie magazine?
I didn't know what to do after school - I'd applied to art college but hadn't got in. My dad spotted an ad in our local paper, calling for trainee journalists at DC Thomson, the Dundee-based company that published the Beano, Dandy and of course Jackie. Throughout my teens I'd been obsessed with magazines - like many girls of my generation, I just adored them and lived and breathed by their every word. So I applied and was delighted to be given a job as junior writer at 17 years old. It remains one of the most fun periods of my entire life.
You are originally from Yorkshire, so what prompted you to move to Scotland?
My first job was in Dundee, then I loved to London to work on Just Seventeen magazine, and lived there until my early thirties. After having our twin boys my husband Jimmy and I wanted a change of lifestyle - room to swing a cat, basically. So we bought a big crumbly old house in a small Lanarkshire town. By then, I'd edited several magazines in London, but I wanted to step away from managing a team and get back to what I loved most, which was writing. Luckily, you can do that anywhere. I do miss city life sometimes, though - I have pangs. I think we'll move to Glasgow or Edinburgh when our brood has flown the nest.
Why do you like to write about motherhood so much?
I started writing about my twin boys as babies, really as a way of coping, and letting it all out! Being a new mum is incredibly daunting, and writing about their daily antics helped me to see the funny side, so it was pretty therapeutic. There was a virtually infinite stream of stuff to get down on paper. Then they hit their teens, and banned me from writing about them - so I started putting it all into fiction instead.
How can those who aren't mums enjoy reading this book?
Take Mum Out is about more than motherhood. It's about coming to terms with growing older and finding love - not as a twenty-something girl who's out every night, partying it up, but as a true grown up with baggage, confidence wobbles and a more complicated life. It's really for anyone who loves a pacy romantic comedy, whether they have children or not. In fact, for the moment at least, I'm a little 'over' writing about babies. I can hardly remember what they're like!
What is next for you?
I am about a third of the way through a new book about a mum and her teenage daughter, who is incredibly beautiful and scouted by a top model agency. It dips into the fashion world and, I hope, includes plenty of laughs along the way.
