GUTGAA: Meet and Greet

Today kicks off Deana Barnhart's awesome blogfest, Gearing Up To Get An Agent, which for those of you who don't know, is a great way to connect with other writers, find CPs/ betas, pitch to agents and all sorts of other awesome writerly things like contests.

Today's post is a meet and greet, designed to allow everyone participating to get to know each other. 

To get things started, here's a little bio of myself, and a questionnaire. 

Hi! I'm Clare, a twenty-nine year-old, married, mother of two from the West Midlands, of England.

I've been writing since my teens, cutting my writing teeth in the world for fan fiction.  Now I'm following my dream of becoming a published author. I'd like to invite you to join me on my journey.

You can also find me at the following places:
Facebook | Twitter | Polyvore | Pinterest | Good Reads

I currently have two projects that I'm working on, Cupid - a new adult paranormal romance - which I'm writing the first draft of, and Sibylline Nights - a new adult contemporary fantasy - which I'm editing the first draft of.

-Where do you write? In my living room. I have a computer desk and arm chair that faces away from the rest of the room, but looks onto the trio of windows that covers one wall and offers a view of my balcony.

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see? To the left of my writing space is the floor, where my slippers that I've just kicked off are, and a t-shirt of my two-year old's, as he's in the habit of stripping off!

-Favorite time to write? In the morning. I find I'm most productive after I've taken my oldest to school, had breakfast and set my youngest up with something to entertain him. On a good day I can get three thousand words written before lunch.

-Drink of choice while writing? Depending on the time of day, it's either tea or Coke.

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?
I very rarely listen to music while writing, I find it too distracting, and usually spend all my time making a play list, instead of doing any actual work.

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?
My latest idea sort of came to me out of the blue. I was on a paranormal romance kick, having just finished Kiersten White's fabulous Endlessly, and got to thinking about paranormal beings that haven't really been touched upon. I looked over to my bookcase, where my collection of Monster High dolls sit, and saw CA Cupid. That got me thinking about Cupids, and if it was possible there was more than one. The rest kind of flowed from there. 

-What's your most valuable writing tip?
Writ! Write as much as you can, and share what you feel comfortable with. Don't be afraid if it's rubbish, everyone starts out less than perfectly. But find a place - writing group, online site, blog, whatever - where you can share and get feedback on your writing. I make no secret of the fact I started writing with fan fic. I truly believe it gave me the confidence to start branching out, and try my own stories. Though I've learned a lot since then, and still have a lot more to learn, having written fan fic for five years gave me that boots to take the next step, and challenge myself.

Thanks for stopping by, and checking out my meet and greet post. I look forwards to getting to know all of you taking part in GUTGAA.

Please remember to stop by as many other bogs as possible, as this fest is all about meeting other writers and making new connections.

You can find the full list of participants here: