Colette McCormick is my Uncomplicated Guest Author
Please welcome fellow Headline Accent author Colette McCormick author of An Uncomplicated Man and three other wonderful books, as my delightful guest.

Let’s find out about Colette and her life:
Colette was born and bred in Sheffield but now calls Co Durham home after living there for almost four decades. As well as writing books, Colette has worked as a retail manager in the charity sector for almost twenty years, firstly with Cancer Research UK and currently with Barnardo’s.
As well as writing, Colette loves cooking, gardening, and taking long walks in the gorgeous countryside that surrounds the village she lives in. She has been married for almost forty years, has two grown-up sons and a daft dog.
And now to the nitty-gritty – her writing in her own words:
Dream job? Not really.
As a child who enjoyed writing and had a dream of having just one published, you’d think that with four books under my belt I’d be living the dream. If only life was that simple.

When Things I Should Have Said and Done was published in 2016 I thought I had it made. I thought that people would buy it, love it, recommend it to friends and it would be a best seller. Ha! Welcome to the world of the writer my friend.
It is the story of a young mum, Ellen, whose life is tragically cut short when a driver runs a red light and hits her head on. Although she is dead, she is still here and bears witness to the aftermath of her passing. She watches her beloved husband Marc struggle to be a single parent to their daughter Naomi and can only stand by as her mother falls apart. Or can she? George, her companion, shows her that there is a way that she can still influence things.
More than one person has said that it would make a great movie and I agree but I am, as yet, still waiting for the call.

My second book Ribbons in Her Hair is very special to me and I dedicated it to my late mother and to my sister who were the women that put ribbons in my hair (so to speak.) I was fortunate enough to always feel loved but that isn’t the case for everyone. I was the baby of the family and as my sister is twelve years older than me in some ways it was like having two mothers. My mum was the one that put the actual ribbons in my hair but my sister was the one who made my birthday cakes and taught me how to knit. My mother sadly passed away as I was writing this book and it was hard to resist the temptation to put more of my mother into Jean. As it is, their only similarities are that they were both obsessively house proud and made beautiful mashed potatoes.
Rather than a film I see this as a gritty Northern drama on Channel 4.

In a nutshell, my third book Not My Brother’s Keeper is the story of two brothers and a girl. Robert and Tom are almost identical in looks but so different in every other way. Robert is outgoing and confident whereas Tom is shy and reserved. Maybe it shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that they react very differently to the same situation.
In some ways it was an easy book to write because I am the mother of two sons but that was also the reason that in other ways it was very difficult. I had to be careful not to reflect either of my sons on the page because this wasn’t a story about them.
This would sit nicely on ITV on Sunday nights, I think.

Which brings me to my last book. An Uncomplicated Man is set in the late 1950’s and is the story of Daniel and Lucy. Daniel is the uncomplicated man that the title refers to, a mild-mannered bank manager who happens to get involved with a complicated man and his equally complicated daughter.
It is a bit darker than the rest of my books inasmuch as it deals with the seedier side of life. Of this book, one person said that they wanted to slap Lucy across the face and another that they wanted bad things to happen to them all because they were all bad people. I can understand both of these things I’m afraid because there is little to redeem any of them.
Where would I see this one? The same place that I would see any of them and that is anywhere. Big screen or little I don’t mind. Now that would be a dream come true.

Colette, thanks so much for giving us such a wonderful introduction to your writing and I hope that you find yourself watching your creations on the big (or small) screen sometime soon. We shall keep and eye out too. It’s been a pleasure having you as my guest and I hope visitors here will seek out your books. Once more thanks for sharing your writing story with us. Wishing you much future success.
You can find Colette’s books here:
Buy Links
Things I Should Have Said and Done
Media Links
Blog – On Books and Life in General
Categories: Blog
Really enjoyed the intro to the books against the background of your life and family, Colette. Thank you Collete and Jane xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Anna
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anna much appreciate your visit and comments. xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed this introduction to Colette. I particularly enjoyed the clever way she presented each of them for the medium of film.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you x
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re welcome!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought it was clever too Liz.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I am looking forward to trying one of Colette’s books and am curious about where she lives as I was in Co Durham for a number of years in the 1960’s.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, I hope that you enjoy whichever book you choose. I live in one of the small ex mining villages near Bishop Auckland.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I spent some time in my hubby’s pub in Spennymoor. Bishop Aukland is in my book,
” Never Run Away.” I have picked the one about the brothers. Julie.
LikeLike
I know Spennymoor very well though it’s not the place it used to be. I hope you enjoy Not My Brother’s Keeper because it was sort of overlooked by the original publisher and I don’t think that the new one realise that they have it. Thank you so much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I shall send her to you and you can find out. xx
LikeLike
Thank you Jane.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Wilfred Books and commented:
Four books to check out from a County Durham author.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jon, appreciated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you
LikeLiked by 1 person
Appreciated.
LikeLike
Thanks for this introduction to Collette and her books, Jane. They all sound very good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Roberta, thank you. Much appreciated. Hope you are well and family safe and well to xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Jane, yes we are all holding up fine and our city hasn’t been badly hit by this virus yet. Some parts of SA are getting worse, but the death rate hasn’t been high like in the UK.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good news. Hope it stays that way xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for saying that Roberta. Should you give one a go, I hope that you enjoy it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for trying though Appreciate it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Always a pleasure. x
LikeLike
I wanted to reblog this Jane, but the button doesn’t work: has it been deactivated? Cheers, Jon.
LikeLiked by 2 people
No idea Jon, will look later. It should work. WP changes of late a bit hit and miss. Will let you know. Xx
LikeLike
I think the button works but in case not…https://janerisdon.com/2020/05/18/colette-mccormick-is-my-uncomplicated-guest-author/
LikeLike
Jon, the reblog works for other people so try again it maybe your end…
LikeLike
Thanks: I will do! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much Patty, appreciated. xx
LikeLike
Thanks for that Jenny and thanks again to Jane for having me over. It’s the closest I’ve been to a friend’s house in weeks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Colette, we all hope you will come back as my guest and that you have found new readers and followers now.
LikeLike
Lovely blog. Thanks Colette xx
LikeLike
Jenny, appreciated. xx
LikeLike