I know that we’re heading towards the end of January with frightening speed, but this is my first blog post of the year, so it would be remiss of me not to wish you a Happy New Year. And I hope that 2025 brings health and happiness to you all.
I’m really delighted to be welcoming one of my favourite authors, the lovely and very prolific Lilac Mills to my blog today to talk about her new book Suprises on the Scottish Isles.
Lilac Mills lives on a Welsh mountain with her very patient husband and incredibly sweet dog, where she grows veggies (if the slugs don’t get them), bakes (badly) and loves making things out of glitter and glue (a mess, usually). She’s been an avid reader ever since she got her hands on a copy of Noddy Goes to Toytown when she was five, and she once tried to read everything in her local library starting with “A” and working her way through the alphabet.
Lilac loves long, hot summer days in the garden, and cold winter ones snuggled in front of the fire, but whatever the weather she’s usually writing or thinking about writing, with heartwarming romance and happy-ever-afters always on her mind.
Thank you for stopping by to chat, Lilac. It’s great to talk to you about your new novel, Surprises on the Summer Isles, can you tell us something about it?
It’s a Scottish romance set on the Isle of Skye:
When newly divorced Tara McTaigh spots an advert for a studio to let in Coorie Castle’s craft centre, she packs up her Edinburgh life and moves to the Isle of Skye, eager for a fresh start.
Little does she know that the castle’s estate manager, single dad Calan Fraser, is the man who broke her heart back at university.
Thoroughly done with romance, Tara decides to ignore Cal and focus on building her business – creating dollhouses to commission. But Duncoorie is a small community, and the two keep bumping into each other…
Just as she is starting to open her heart once more to Cal, a change in his life puts everything on the line. When a surprise storm threatens Tara’s safety, will Cal realise in time that love is worth the risk?
And, what a lovely story it is, all about second-chance romance. Great plot and characters in a really idyllic location, so you can probably guess I really enjoyed this one. Definitely five stars from me. Before we get started, I usually offer my guests a drink and a cake, but I know we’re both being careful at the moment about what we eat – so what would you like?
I could probably go for a couple of squares of really dark chocolate, and a nice coffee, please! The chocolate is my nightly treat -just two squares of the good stuff.
I know when we last met you talked about buying a camper van and travelling round the world, are you any closer to doing that?
Unfortunately not! I’ve too many commitments at home with an elderly mum. Still, I’ll keep dreaming and imaging myself in far-flung places.
I ask because this is set in such a beautiful place, what made you choose the location for this one? Sounds like the perfect destination for a camper van.
Skye is the camper van capital of the UK, with loads of vans visiting the island during the summer months, so yes, it is the perfect destination to explore on four wheels. I’ve got my addiction to watching the Outlander series to thank for setting this book on Skye. The Skye Boat Song just sends shivers down my back. And the landscape is to die for.
Tara builds dollhouses. I have always been fascinated by them, still am, but as a child the one thing I really wanted was a rocking horse. Did you ever own a dolls’ house?
I never had a dolls’ house but, like you, I always wanted one, so when a saw a dilapidated house in a second-hand shop when my daughter was about 5 years old (many years ago), I bought it. I had the greatest fun doing it up secretly for her for Christmas, working on it after she’d gone to bed. I wish I’d thought to take a photo, but back then you used to have to send a roll of film off to be developed (I’m showing my age now), so we never took many. I did find this one in a second-hand shop recently, that’s ripe for renovation. Isn’t it gorgeous! If I had a bigger house, I might be tempted to treat myself . . .
The crafting units at the castle sound idyllic. I’m almost tempted to take one and do more sewing. What about you, what would you most like to do if you weren’t a writer?
That’s a difficult question, because I really love crafting: I’m just not very good at it. Embroidery, sewing and quilting are probably my favourites, as I just adore working with fabric. But I enjoy painting, too. Unfortunately, everything I paint becomes an abstract, even when it’s not meant to be.
Word to the wise – Needle felting is painful!
Yes, needle-felting is painful. I also found it quite difficult. I’ve got a half-finished dog around here somewhere that fills me with sadness whenever I see it.
Characters, Plot or Location – what comes first?
Plot first. Or character. Sometimes setting… I guess I’m saying that it depends on what sparks an idea for a story. For me, it tends to vary.
Mhairi is one of my favourite names, but naming characters is one thing I always struggle with. How do you come up with names for yours?
A name has got to be right, hasn’t it? It’s got to fit. I get a lot of inspiration from TV, and I keep a notebook with names I like or ones that catch my eye. I do worry that the more books I write, there might be a chance I’ll run out of names!
Are you somebody who needs to have pictures of their characters on pin boards, or easily accessible while you write?
I have a folder on my computer for each book, and in it I’ll have images of what I imagine my main characters look like – a digital pin board.
Have you ever got halfway through a book and realised you’ve either changed the name of one character or worse still that you don’t think the name suits them anymore, now that you’re halfway through and got to know them better?
Oh, goodness, yes! My editor knows to look out for this very thing. It’s something I’ve done more than once. I’ll often get my edits back from her with ‘who is—?’
You’re such a prolific writer. Where do your ideas come from?
I honestly don’t know, but the ideas come when I least expect it. Forcing them doesn’t work. But I have an ‘ideas box’ that I fill with everything that occurs to me, because maybe one of them will turn into a novel.
What does a writing day in the life of Lilac Mills look like?
I’m an early waker, so I’ll often be writing at five or six in the morning, followed by a swim three days a week, and a dog walk every day of the week. Then I’ll write for the rest of the morning and probably do a couple of hours after lunch. If I’ve got a deadline looming, I’ll try to do an hour after dinner, too.
And of course I’m not going to let you go without asking what’s next?
I’m working on the next book in the series.
I was really delighted that you describe this as Coorie Crafts Book 1 – does that mean what I think it does?
It certainly does!! I’ve just sent the final proofread for Book 2 to my editor and have started work on a Book 3.
Thank you for talking me today and good luck with the sales of this book. Anni x
Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Anni – l’ve had great fun answering your questions.
Lilac’s social links:
Website: https://www.lilacmills.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LilacMills/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilacmillsauthor/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@lilacmillsauthor
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lilacmills.bsky.social
