Interview with Tracey Meredith

Published 2014-11-06.
Who are your favorite authors?
Terry Pratchett and Tom Holt are probably the only authors I actively seek out.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
Having to pay the bills. The dog and cat contribute quite a bit too. On non work days, I am loathe to waste my free time doing nothing- there's always too much to do and too little time to do it!
When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
Working, housework, all those mundane things. I also have an allotment that I grow vegetables in and that takes up a lot of free time from April to September
How do you discover the ebooks you read?
Generally just picking free books that sound interesting, at random. It usually takes a while before I get to read them, unfortunately.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Good grief, no. I used to write lots when I was a kid. As an adult, probably the first I finished was a Mills and Boon which I wrote as a joke for my Mum. Unfortunately, she passed away before I finished it, so she never read it. It's currently languishing at Amazon, but will probably find its way onto Smashwords idc. It's not bad, but will probably require a pseudonym.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
Not at all. I remember some of my favourite reads when I was, what 10- 12. I think we had nearly all the Enid Blyytons in the house, and I adored the Willard Price Adventure series (very into animals at that age- I think I wanted to be a vet). My older sister recommended The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to me, so I fell in love with Narnia (and, yes, I did keep looking in the wardrobe, hoping...)
What motivated you to become an indie author?
Having written the stories for my son, it seemed pointless just sitting on them. At least they're being read on Smashwords. I'm going to have to write a story with Dark Elves and lots of sword play to get my son to read anything I've written!
What are you working on next?
I'm just on the verge of finishing the last of the stories written for my son, Finding Richard, which is about a boy(Joel again) who gets on a steam train and ends up in Bristol (England) in December 1940. This was when all the major cities in Britain were subjected to intense bombardment during the Second World War. He meets a boy called Richard and they have some adventures while Joel is waiting for his chance to get home. You see what I was doing there? I brought trains into the story I was writing for a train anorak! Did it work? Was he nagging me incessantly to finish it? Nothing like as heck. If I changed my name to Salvatore and created a character called Drizzt, maybe then he'd take note. Children? Who'd have 'em?
What are your five favorite books, and why?
That's a hard one.
Figures in a Landscape by Barry England
The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
The Lord of the Rings by JJR Tolkein
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

These were all books I enjoyed so much I felt bereft when I finished them.
Describe your desk
Generally cluttered. Actually, I tend to write in long hand and then type up on the laptop. I usually to do this sitting on the bed. I'm looking to upgrade the desk and the chair as they give me back ache and things are always falling off the desk.
Smashwords Interviews are created by the profiled author or publisher.

Books by This Author

Barry and the Dinosaur King
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 49,500. Language: British English. Published: April 6, 2017 . Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Adventure, Fiction » Adventure » Action
Be careful what you wish for. Captain Arman Durant wished for action, any action. What he wasn't expecting was inter-dimensional travel and a group of blood thirsty dinosaurs. And Barry wasn't expecting to find a group of—well, Barrys. And Elian certainly wasn't expecting to find himself in a Bordeaux where dinosaurs still rule and there isn't any pizza. Will any of them make it back alive?
Grandma Stannard (and why you shouldn't annoy the neighbours)
Price: Free! Words: 3,840. Language: British English. Published: February 29, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Short stories
(5.00 from 2 reviews)
“Trick or Treat?” said the boy, in an annoyingly sing-song voice. “It's April,” said Grandma coldly. “And?” offered the boy. And so begins the worst afternoon Grandma Stannard has endured for a long time. A short story based (very loosely) on an old fairy tale
Discovering the Wolf
Price: Free! Words: 8,580. Language: British English. Published: January 1, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Paranormal, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Supernatural
Red's mother gets involved with a handsome man with a perfect smile. He won't take no for an answer and Red is starting to get worried. Connor has a theory, but should Red take him seriously? A short story to while away your bus/train journey. For 16years upwards.
Never Put Your Hand in a Crocodile's Jaws (and Other Useful Advice)
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 10,630. Language: British English. Published: January 1, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Humor & comedy » General, Poetry » U.K. Poetry
An anthology of daft rhymes for children of all ages (8 years upward will appreciate most of them). 33 poems of varying length, with more than a nod to Belloc and Dahl. Most of them aren't to be taken too seriously, and most, I hope, will elicit a smile. And a few- just a few- might make you think.
Finding Richard
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 41,150. Language: British English. Published: December 27, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Science Fiction, Fiction » Young adult or teen » Adventure
Joel is lost in Bristol during the Blitz. Is he dreaming, or has the world gone mad? The people here seem to think it's 1940 and Hitler is trying to invade. Will Joel make it back home? Or will his new friend, Richard, get him killed looking for shrapnel on bomb sites, or dodging explosions during an air raid? Joel just wants to get out of the place and find out what on Earth is going on.
Grimm Stories & Other Faery Tales
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 19,260. Language: English. Published: September 1, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Short stories, Fiction » Fantasy » Short stories
This is a collection of seven short stories based on traditional fairy tales. In some cases they are more Dahl than Disney. Enjoy an hour or more reading tales you thought you knew, and perhaps crack a smile or two. It's cheaper than buying a magazine, and there are no annoying adverts. Wolf, Rapunzel, Jack, The Frog Prince, Goldilocks, Snowdrop and Rosebud, here to entertain you.
The Angel in Towerhouse Wood
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 46,780. Language: British English. Published: August 29, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Fantasy, Fiction » Young adult or teen » Adventure
It's not often that you meet an angel when you're skipping school. It's not often that you jump into a pond and find yourself in another world. And when did you last have to deal with trolls and goblins? Not to mention the ruler of this miserable land, who has, it turns out, some serious anger management problems. Maybe Joel should have gone to triple maths after all.
Growned
Price: Free! Words: 40,850. Language: British English. Published: June 20, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Fantasy, Fiction » Young adult or teen » Adventure
For Liam, a move to the country is bad enough. But bad goes to worse when he's kidnapped and shrunk by a couple of fairies. It turns out Liam might be the heir to the throne of Fairyland, and not everyone is happy about it. Will Liam survive predators and the Vapourer's assassin long enough to be growned and get back home?