an interview with the wonderful Elaine Mckenna

This is a very special blog this week and i would like to thank Elaine Mckenna for taking the time to chat with me we had great fun with the questions and i hope you all enjoy it you may also notice the questions may be mixed as this is how our conversation went so enjoy the fantastically comedic Elaine Mckenna

So Elaine tell us all a bit about yourself

Elaine Mckenna

• I am a 42 year old mother of two beautiful girls and live in the North pennines; a rural area of Northumberland. I love alternative medicine and therapies and volunteer on a regular basis at a physic garden 'Dilston physic garden' in Corbridge, Northumberland. I started writing poetry in 2011 after suffering manic depression since the age of 17. I found poetry and writing a way for me to recover and release my emotions and anguish against the world that surrounded me. Since I began writing poetry, I've had three poems in this year published in anthologies and two poems published in my local newspaper. I attempted the NaNoWriMo in the month of November for the first time and produced my first ever novel... 'Lunara and the gateway of souls', which I am in the process of editing for release later in the year. I write proverbs and quotations which I hope to have released in 2012 along with a poetry book. The main influences for my work is nature and the natural things in life; simple things we tend to miss but are there waiting to be discovered. William Wordsworth sums up my writing attitude in his quotation; Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.
  
  

Shaun Quarterman Lol when your famous lol

Elaine Mckenna haha when I've made my millions from raspberry whisky!!! lmao

Shaun Quarterman Lol this is all going in the blog

• Question 2 if you had to describe your self in one word what would it be and why?

10 January

Elaine Mckenna

• what? !!!! lol.... you do realise I am trained in the art of origami, and for that, I will have to tie your hands behind your back with a tissue before I beat you with a feather duster! if you do escape then you can rightly take the title - the germinator! lol
• haha... question 2 - confused! lol... no just joking... I would sum myself up as a caring, attentive, thoughtful individual. oh you said one word didn't you - see how I get ahead of myself... one word... hmmmm... sweet :D

Shaun Quarterman

• I couldn't agree more with that one more question can you give us a brief history lesson about the dilston physic garden

Elaine Mckenna

• dilston physic garden is a retreat full of powerful plants which heal and assist in medical issues. All plants are trialed and tested for their authencity. the curator - Professor Elaine Perry is a retired Neuroscientist from Newcastle University and everyone who enters the garden is welcomed with open arms. There is a team of volunteers (whom I am onje), who undertake the maintenace of the garden, keeping it pristine and beautiful. Courses are run also from the garden which enable people to learn about the plants and their healing properties, along with courses in alternative therapy, mediation and other aspects such as divination and sharmanic journeying (to name a few). People who visit the garden confirm their experience of peace and oneness with the natural surroundings and a lot of people visit who suffer from illness such as depression, trauma recovery and stress relief. It has been bless by the Tashi Lhumpo monks from Tibet; this was a great experience for both myself and other volunteers who were lucky enough to meet them. To sum the garden up, one little girl on entering excliamed to her mother; "Mum, we have found the secret garden".

Elaine Mckenna

• shaun you'll need to correct my spelling mistakes as I'm on the bloody laptop! lol

Shaun Quarterman

• I will lol ok the fun starts now a game of tag I have five questions for you and you have five for me and they can be as random as you like I will go first
• 1.What is your favourite cheese

Elaine Mckenna

• ok... hmmm. this is quite a hard one as I actually love cheese but I'd have to say buffalo mozarella.
  my number 1 question to you: what is your favourite comedy sit com?

Shaun Quarterman

• Well that is a tough one as I like so many I think it has to be only fools and horses right question 2 if you could be a tree what would it be and why

Elaine Mckenna

• oh this is easy - it would have to be the great old oak...full of wisdom, dignity and a tree that could tell many a tale!
  right my question 2 - if you were stranded on a desert island and you could have one item, what would it be?

Elaine Mckenna

• and why?

Shaun Quarterman

• um thats a good one well i think it would have to be a swiss army knife so i can use the toothpick and pick the crab guts out of my teeth
• right question 3 snog marry avoid stephen fry, arnold swartzenegger and james corden

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  Elaine Mckenna

  • right. question 3. snog marry avoid... you want my honest opinion? lol....avoid all .... 1 - stephen is gay but he'd make a great friend and has an extensive and intruiging sense of humour. Arnie - well been there done that in my teens with the posters on my wall (shhh) and james corden - who is he?
    
    Your question 3 - a friend wants you to meet his new fiance but when you meet her you find out she actually used to be a guy - only you know this as you discovered the birth cert. question - do you tell your friend and break his heart? tell your friend and loose a friendship? steal the guy for yourself? or keep shtum?
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  Shaun Quarterman

  • Ooooooo what a question tell her you know and give her the task of telling I suppose the if I had to choose then I would tell him
  • Question 4 who would you rather fight 12 duck sized horses or 1 horse sized duck
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  Shaun Quarterman

  • I'm gonna hit you with question 5 if you could pick one of the characters from your novel to come alive who would it be and if you could place them in a comical situation how would they react
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  Shaun Quarterman

  • Oh I have a bonus question who is your favourite cousin
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  11 January

  Elaine Mckenna
  
  question 4 - it would have to be a horse sized duck, like they say, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, well with a duck, you can lead it to water and make it drink by doing a hoi sin chop before drowning it ... lol.... and just think how many people it would feed!
  
  right my question 4 - nudist beach or nudist countryside camp? and why....
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  Elaine Mckenna

  • question 5 - crumbs shaun this is a hard one...hmmm... do you have another question? lol
  • bonus question... can't answer that either as she hasn't paid me enough! lol
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  Shaun Quarterman

  • Um ok question 5 are there any weird tips you can give for sufferers of writers block
  • My answer for question 4 that's a toughie I think a nudist beach as I don't have to stay with the blokes with there dongs out I think
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  Elaine Mckenna

  • hahaha - do you not mean you can then bury your face in the sand - bottoms up!!!
    weird tips...lol... a hammer! but on a serious note, the best thing to do is just write; anything and everything. An exercise I was taught once was to close my eyes and put my fingers on the keyboard and just type away without looking and just type whatever came into my head. another good way is to think of a colour and then type everything you associate with the colour. I chose yellow. It was funny reading back what I had written;everything from beautiful sunshine to seeing sick on a pavement in the morning...
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  Elaine Mckenna

  • my last and final question -
    if you could meet anyone in the world who would it be and why?
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  Shaun Quarterman

  • if its a dead or alive question then it would be roald dahl i would want to get inside his head and find out how came up with his ideas
  • if they have to be alive then i would love to meet my idol david jason just because hes a british icon especially for classic sitcoms and i would ask him the ultimate question would he star in my sitcom lol
  • so finally and you can breath easy now what are your writing plans for the future and will the writing world need to be aware of the works of elaine mckenna

Elaine Mckenna

• thanks Shaun for a lovely, witty and interesting interview! the world better watch out for me yes but my poems and proverbs stuff is staying under my name of Elaine Jowsey - my novels etc are going under my pseudonym... ;D

Thankyou Elaine i wish you all the success in the world and cant wait to taste the raspberry whisky