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Tell us about your ‘Miss Ruby Heart’ character – a cute talking toy Spaniel.

– Miss Ruby Heart is a King Charles spaniel character from my book ‘Young Ebenezer ~ A New Christmas Carol’. She is the Ghost of Christmas Past and along with a magical clock called ‘Grandfather Time’ they try to help a naughty young lad to mend his ways. It is a modern-day version of the Charles Dickens classic but for kids. The talking part came about from my lovely author friend Deb McEwan who has a beautiful rescue dog called Sandy. Deb discovered the ‘My Talking Pet’ app. You take a photo of your pet, adjust the facial features then record a message into the app and your pet talks the message back to you. I thought it would be fun to have Miss Ruby Heart review children’s books!

You have been part of the ‘Share a Story’ event on Instagram. What is the idea behind this?

– I believe this first came about via the March World Book Day Events, they had the hashtag #ShareAStory. I liked it and it kind of stuck – I use it in my Miss Ruby Heart tagline now.

You like visiting ‘bespoke’ shops and are an admirer of metal sculptures from ‘Paul’s Metal Crafting’ made from recycled materials. Tell us a bit about your love of independent and quirky shops.

– I adore unusual things and greatly admire the gifts that people have. I am in awe of the passion people put into their art forms be it books, painting, the amazing ‘Metal Crafting’ from Paul, or quirky tea shops with delicious cakes! I am a Yorkshire lass and have lived and worked in many places but Herefordshire is now my adopted home. A beautiful city not too big but has just about everything from great architecture (Hereford Cathedral) to adorable Independent shops.

A few years ago you wrote a short story ‘Lost Love in Spring’ under your pen name Rose English. Intriguingly it features an A-Z of herbal remedies! What inspired you to write this? 

– First and foremost, I am a read~a~holic. I devour books on all subjects and my local library has been a source of unusual books. I think I picked up an old book on ancient remedies and somewhere along the way I was inspired to write a story. Because it was a short story, I thought it might be nice to expand the book to include the A-Z of herbal remedies. I already had lots of research so I put it to good use. For each plant I included a piece of ancient poetry. I also added the history and features of the plant along with its ancient and modern medicinal use.

Finally – the one that I have to ask! What have been your lockdown saviours?

– Lockdown, what lockdown? Only kidding I work in the NHS so like many keyworkers (not just in the NHS but elsewhere too) we have been working flat out and to be honest I barely noticed much difference. The biggest thing has been wearing a face mask almost all the time and being extra vigilant ‘Hands, Face, Space’. I have great admiration for Independent Authors and small businesses that have adapted through the hard and challenging times. Wherever possible I have tried over the months to help #SpreadTheWord on their behalf. Oh – and there is always cake!

Miss Ruby Heart on WordPress https://missrubyheart.com/

@MissRubyHeart1 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

I also share lots of Indie Author news on Instagram under Indie Book Banter https://www.instagram.com/indie_book_banter/

 🌹📖🐾 Su with her ‘talking’ Miss Ruby Heart character!