{"id":5075,"date":"2024-09-09T15:25:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T14:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/?p=5075"},"modified":"2024-09-10T12:30:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T11:30:05","slug":"award-winning-romantic-writer-releases-second-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/2024\/09\/09\/award-winning-romantic-writer-releases-second-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning romantic writer releases second novel ‘New Beginnings at The Cosy Cat Caf\u00e9’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2020, whilst recovering from Covid, Julie Haworth (English and American Literature, 1994) began working towards a lifelong dream of becoming a published author. Since then her dreams have becoming a whirlwind reality.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Her debut novel, Always By Your Side<\/em>, won the Katie Fforde Debut Romantic Novel Award in 2023<\/a>, and her second novel, New Beginnings at The Cosy Cat Caf\u00e9, <\/em>was released earlier this year to rave reviews.<\/p>\n

When reflecting on her recent successes, Julie said: \u2018I never would have imagined when I was an undergraduate at Kent that, one day, my own novels would be stocked in Waterstones and Sainsbury\u2019s and I\u2019d be doing author signings and events.\u2019<\/p>\n

In the interview below, she reflects on her career journey and offers some sound advice for current students who are also looking to break into the infamously competitive industry.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your new novel. What was the inspiration for The Cosy Cat Caf\u00e9?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

My latest novel, New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Caf\u00e9<\/em>, was actually inspired by my first visit to a cat caf\u00e9 in London a couple of years ago. My books are set in the fictional Sussex village of Blossom Heath and I immediately thought a cat caf\u00e9 would fit into the village perfectly!<\/p>\n

The novel tells the story of Tori who, after being dumped and left stranded by her long-term boyfriend Ryan on a trip of a lifetime to Asia, returns home to the sleepy Sussex village of Blossom Heath with her tail between her legs and her dreams shattered. Donning her frilly apron to help her Mum, Joyce, behind the counter at The Cosy Cup Caf\u00e9, Tori starts to believe \u2013 with the help of a hunky fireman and a clowder of rescue cats – that perhaps the secret to her future happiness might lie closer to home than she ever thought possible.<\/p>\n

New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Caf\u00e9 is a feel-good, uplifting read, which is purrrfect for readers who love their romance with a side order of cake, cats, and cosy community dynamics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You achieved your lifelong dream of publishing your novel more than twenty years after graduating from Kent. What were you up to in the meantime? Do you think this time benefitted your writing in anyway?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve been down a few different career paths since graduating from Kent. I began my career in PR, writing press releases and working with journalists. I then worked as a copywriter for a digital news agency and then did a complete U-turn, going back to University as a postgraduate student, to complete a PGCE and become an English teacher, specialising in working with learners with literacy difficulties. After a few years spent teaching, I decided to return to my writing roots and I set up my own copywriting business in 2019, creating content for small businesses.<\/p>\n

Although I\u2019ve worked in a range of industries, I guess you could say all the jobs I\u2019ve ever had have involved books or writing in some way, so my time spent in different professions definitely benefitted my writing career.<\/p>\n

In fact, the main character in my debut novel, Always By Your Side, is actually a teacher, so there\u2019s certainly a link there!<\/p>\n

How did your English and American Literature degree from Kent help you with writing and publishing your novel?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The range of literature I studied as part of my degree course helped me to write like a reader and that\u2019s something that\u2019s been hugely beneficial to my own writing career.<\/p>\n

The degree course gave me the opportunity to let my love of literature blossom and time spent reading helped to improve my own skills, enabling me to hone my craft and look at manuscripts with a critical eye.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to our current students who are also looking to become published authors?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Never give up! If you love writing, just keep doing it. Becoming a published author is something that takes hard work and dedication, but it doesn\u2019t have to be an impossible dream, I\u2019m living proof of that.<\/p>\n

When I was sat in seminars at Kent, I could have never imagined that, one day, I\u2019d be doing events at Waterstones and seeing my own novels on the shelves in bookshops and supermarkets, so you never know what\u2019s around the corner.<\/p>\n

Connecting with other authors has been really important too. I\u2019m friends with a great group in Essex, where I\u2019m now based, and everyone is so supportive of one another. It\u2019s important to have people you can talk to that understand the creative process and the stresses and strains that come with being published. Being an author can be quite an isolating job when you\u2019re stuck at your laptop all day, so it\u2019s important to be around people who understand that.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for you? Is there a third novel in the pipeline?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are most definitely more novels to come! I\u2019m currently writing book number three and I\u2019m brewing up more ideas for the future. You never know when inspiration will strike and I\u2019m excited to see what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2020, whilst recovering from Covid, Julie Haworth (English and American Literature, 1994) began working towards a lifelong dream of becoming a published author. Since … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80151,"featured_media":5083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[118124],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5075"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5091,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions\/5091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}