And This Shall Be My Dancing Day by Jennifer Kavanagh

Biography

Jennifer Kavanagh worked in publishing for nearly thirty years, the last fourteen as an independent literary agent. In the past twenty years she has run a community centre in London's East End, worked with street homeless people and refugees, and set up microcredit programmes in London, and in Africa. She has also worked as a research associate for the Prison Reform Trust.

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Fiction

And This Shall Be My Dancing Day

Collective Ink

Amazon

'I will if you will.' What is the mystery of the dying flowers in a dark doorway with an ever-open door? And why does it matter so much? Two very different women are brought together by love, loss and their struggles with very modern moral choices - whether to act against injustice, and just how far to go.

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What led you into writing?

I always wanted to write. I’m just surprised it took so long! But I was working with other people’s writing. Once I started, I couldn’t stop!

How does a typical day look?

Get up soon after 6; once dressed and breakfasted, dealt with urgent emails, out for a walk/swim. Need the outside world to stimulate me, to remind me of things beyond my own concerns. Go back to work. Doze after lunch. Afternoon a bit passive; relax in the evenings. For writing, it is all day every day; I jot when I’m walking, in the middle of the night, then often put stuff on the computer in the early evenings. I write fast.

In what ways do your characters test your abilities?

They live on my shoulders and dictate what happens. Voice sometimes difficult: usually want more than one narrator.

What’s your setup?

A notebook by my bed and everywhere I go. A laptop.

What lasting effects have your favourite authors had on your writing and style?

The value of storytelling. Page-turning. Elegance of style, often heard almost musically in my head as a write.

What do you do for inspiration?

Inspiration arrives unexpectedly, usually when I’ve had a fallow time.

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And This Shall Be My Dancing Day

“As Emma sat on the train, holding the flowers between her knees, she was nervous. Her proposed intervention that the night before had in some indefinable way seemed momentous and meaningful, in the morning light seemed excessive, even intrusive. At Victoria, with the flowers in her arms, she struggled to release a bike from its docking station and, without a basket to put them in, she hugged the flowers to her as she rode carefully to her destination. At the door of no. 37, she gently laid the three stems on the ground, leant the bike against a lamp post and, peering nervously around her, began to untie the bundle of dead flowers. "What are you doing? What the hell are you doing?"” More

Jennifer Kavanagh

@jenniferkwriter

What repeating themes do you find yourself pulling into your stories?

Empowerment. Overcoming injury/disability The unexpected opening of a new way of life. Community. Social justice. Truth.

How do you wind down?

Puzzles, light TV, reading whodunnits, unless I’m writing one! Talking to friends. Music.

What sort of challenges do you regularly overcome while designing your world/setting?

Doing the right research to get the facts straight in unknown areas of life. I tend to write about contemporary London, but very different lives.

What are you reading at the moment?

Re-reading Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald

What’s the most useful advice you could give to an aspiring author?

Write in the way that suits you and the material. Let go of preconceptions. Let the characters lead you

Tell us about the book you’re promoting.

Two very different women are brought together by love, loss and their struggles with very modern moral choices – whether to act against injustice, and just how far to go. A menopausal librarian and a civil servant at odds with what she is being asked to do.

👋 Hi! I run Author Interviews

As a new writer I found myself itching to contribute to a thriving, creative community, so I made Author Interviews and I've met loads of wonderful people in the process. You can buy my debut fantasy RINGLANDER: THE PATH AND THE WAY from Amazon.