Danielle

Hawkins is a qualified veterinarian and busy farmer’s wife who writes popular

rural  rom coms set in New Zealand.  She got started, she says, because she needed

a new project and she’d “already painted the house.”

Hi there

I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Danielle talks about  how popular vet James Heriott inspired her

and  writing “unromantic” romance.

And for fans – or people who’d like to be fans – we’ve got a great Giveaway: two paperback copies of Danielle’s latest book, when it all went to custard to give away in a draw. One each week, for the next two weeks, so enter the draw here or on Facebook.  Entries close July 20, so get in now your own copy of Danielle’s latest funny romcom.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

How Danielle got started in rural romanceThe 'nicest rejection letter' everLiving in her favourite place on earthWhy she's tired of sanitized vet showsTreating Kiwis (the birds) with runny nosesA best-seller who doubts her own success

Where you can find Danielle Hawkins:

Facebook: @DanielleHawkinsAuthor

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: But now, here’s Danielle. .  Hello there Danielle and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Danielle: Hi

Jenny, thanks.

Jenny: Look, you're a qualified veterinarian, and a farmer's wife living on a sheep and beef farm, raising two children. And you decide one day that you want to be a romance author. Is that how it happened? And was there a Once Upon A Time moment when you decided; I've just got to write a book?

Danielle Hawkins - rurtal romcom author and country vet, at home on the farm with her children.

Danielle: Oh well, not exactly. I never decided to be a romance writer and I was rather surprised when this was how I was labeled, because you just think that you've written a book. You don't put it in any particular box. But I started writing. I was at home with a baby and I wasn't working full time. Actually I wasn't working at all, apart from being at home with a baby ,and I was bored. I just I wanted a project.

Looking for a project . . .

Jenny: It's that simple? You wanted a project? There's a million people who would like a project, but they don't choose to write a book.

Danielle: Oh, I painted the house first. And then I wrote a book.

Jenny: I painted the house first! That sounds so Kiwi. Your books have been described as a cross between Doc Martin, the TV series and the stories of James Herriott. I've gathered that when you were a teenager you wanted to be James Herriott. So it must be quite cool for you, is it?

Danielle: Absolutely. That's a wonderful compliment. No one has ever done, I don't think, what James Herriott has done. His books  appeal to people who know nothing about veterinary medicine and yet they're not patronising and boring to people who do know all about it. That's such a skill. I'm so impressed.

Finding her right niche

Jenny: It's lovely. You've now written four very well-received novels that can be best described as distinctly rural New Zealand romantic comedies. Was it a matter of 'write what you know?' You say you didn't start out writing romance. So how did you come to be put in that slot in the end?

Danielle: Oh well I started writing, and the first thing I wrote was rubbish.