Portia MacIntosh

Portia is the author of How Not to be Starstruck and Between a Rockstar and a Hard Place.

Hi Portia, thank you for joining us. Can you tell us about Between a Rockstar and a Hard Place and How Not to be Starstruck?

My books tell the tale of music journalist Nicole Wilde, and the situations she finds herself in thanks to her famous mates, newsworthy relationships and generally chaotic lifestyle. Between a Rockstar and a Hard Place takes place over 24 hours, and sees Nicole’s rockstar best friend get drunk and go missing in a hotel, whereas How Not to be Starstruck takes place over several months and is more of an insight into that kind of lifestyle.

What’s your writing process like? Planning, editing?

Messy. Finding time to write is something that I have found difficult to fit in (which you can read more about in my guest post, My Constantly Changing Writing Space). When you’re touring, going to gigs and sleeping in different places, you can’t always have access to a laptop. Sometimes you have to use a pen and write on bits or paper, or write entire chapters in the notes app on your phone. Editing is something I have to make time with a laptop for. I’m just so lucky to be living in an age where my laptop, phone and tablet all link together and share information. I still have to type up my written notes the old-fashioned way though [laughs].

Which book has had the most impact on you?

I first read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath as a teenager and I just loved it. I have read it several times since – I think everyone needs to read it.

Who is your favourite writer?

I am a big fan of chick lit, but I don’t think I could pick a favourite author. I just consume so much of it, and now that digital books are so popular it just makes it even easier for me.

What are your favourite things?

Bands, coffee, the colour pink, clothes, books, Henry Cavill… I love lots of things, I could go on forever.

Your book is about your experience with music and bands. Do you have any musical guilty pleasures?

I love a little bit of everything, and boast the world’s most embarrassing iPod. I love Disney soundtracks a little more than is probably acceptable for a woman in her mid twenties – I love High School Musical!

What makes you laugh?

Put it down to being around band boys too much, but I have a very boy-ish sense of humour. Pranks, toilet humour, dirty jokes… I love shows like South Park and Family Guy, but there’s no escaping them on tour, so it’s very fortunate that I do.

If you could swap places with anyone for a day, whom would you pick?

I’d love to swap places with Miley Cyrus for a day – only a day though, I can’t make that clear enough. She looks like she’s having the time of her life and I seriously envy her wardrobe. Honestly.

Ideal dinner guests?

Jared Leto, Henry Cavill, Kit Harington – this is reading more like my ideal menu [laughs].

What’s your best writing moment so far?

Signing my contract was a big deal for me. To land a multiple book deal with Carina, who are part of Harlequin, was a dream come true. When I started writing books it was as a way to tell my tour stories anonymously – I didn’t want to be an author until I realised that I was one, and that I was loving every second of what I was doing.

Do you have any writing rituals?

Not really. I like to listen to music while I write, but that’s about it.

Where do you like to write?

Some of my best work has been written from a bed, so I’d have to say there… wherever that bed may be.

Five tips for new writers?

Don’t take every piece of advice you are given.

Write about a subject you know well and have a unique insight into.

Do what works for you – don’t plan if you don’t want to, or plan every last detail if you wish.

Believe in what you’re doing and remember that not everyone will love it.

Don’t think you need a fancy laptop to write. Do it on your phone, you tablet or buy a notebook and a pen and get your ideas down the old-fashioned way.

When she was fifteen-years-old, Portia MacIntosh fell in with a bad crowd… rockstars. She eventually landed a job in the music industry – but only so that she didn’t have to join the real world just yet.
Now in her twenties, Portia is ready to spill the beans on the things she has witnessed over the years. Well, kind of. If her famous friends knew that she was borrowing their lives to inspire her fiction, they would stop inviting her on tour and banish her from the inner circle. Then she really would have to rejoin the real world, and she’s still not ready. Her debut novel, How Not to Be Starstruck is available now.

Follow Portia on Tumblr.

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Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.