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Liza Miles is the author of Love Bites, Murder on Morrison and My Life’s not Funny, a YA Fiction to be published by Scaramouche Press in April 2021. Liza also contributed poems and prose to the 2020 lockdown Anthology ‘Stir Crazy’, published by Whitewater Publishing and The Book Whisperers. She is a member of the Federation of Writers (Scotland) and the Scottish Writers’ Centre.
As a non-fiction writer Liza previously published “Insider Stories” for Lion (UK) and “Mummy had an Owie” for Bookerline Publishing, (Canada.)
Liza began her professional life in advertising and documentary filmmaking. As a filmmaker, Liza was interested in telling real-life stories about local people, and the challenges which they had overcome, or were helping others to overcome. One of her favorite documentary films was about the singer Helen Shapiro. She also worked regularly with Sir Harry Secombe on Highway.
In 1994 Liza studied expressive arts therapy at IATE in London and established The Arts Counselling Trust offering men and youth in prison the opportunity to participate in expressive art therapy as a means of rehabilitation. Liza is also qualified as a family mediator and has worked extensively in both Canada and the UK to support families affected by social justice issues and family violence.
In 2017 Liza settled in Scotland, the home of her maternal ancestors, to concentrate on writing fiction. She has two daughters who are the light in her life and two cats who keep her company while she spends time writing, researching and developing stories.
Can you tell us about your writing journey? How/when did it start?
I have always written and been an avid reader. I loved writing essays at school and had a journal with some pretty bad adolescent angst poetry. I was fascinated by books and stories of all sorts and would often act them out under the table in my grandmother’s living room.
When I went into advertising/documentary filmmaking as a career in my late teens/early twenties, I started by writing synopses and research proposals and then finally the narrative to documentary films I directed. In 1995 I was commissioned as an editor for a book about the spiritual lives of men in prison for Lion books.
What genres do you prefer to read? What genres do you prefer to write? Why?
The stories I write are very character-driven and are mostly about women. I like to write about the inner landscape of the protagonist, antagonist and other characters. I am drawn to writing stories about human family and intimate partner relationships – and cosy crime. Perhaps this is because I have worked extensively with people who have experienced significant trauma when I changed careers from television to become an expressive arts therapist and family mediator.
I am drawn to writing work that is humorous on the lighter side, but also the darker and more sinister side, about control and the complexity of relationships. I am also planning a non-fiction book for parents who are divorcing, encouraging them to consider the feelings of their children and not put the child in the middle of their separation.
I love reading mystery – Ian Rankin, PD James and Agatha Christie are my favourites.
Other writers I admire and enjoy reading include Mary Wesley, Maeve Binchy and Anita Brockner, each of these writers bring characters to life and write about the deeper and introspective parts of what their characters are feeling.
I am also a huge fan of Winnie the Pooh – wisdom for life in a nutshell? The Hobbit by Tolkein and The Narnia Books as well as CS Lewis’s non-fiction books The Four Loves and Surprised by Joy.
What was your publishing journey like?
I was fortunate to have worked with Lion Books for non-fiction and learned a lot about the editing process and how to put an idea into book format.
More recently I have been selected by Scaramouche Press for a YA Novel. “My Life’s not Funny”, which they will publish in April 2021.
Otherwise, I have chosen to be independent for several reasons including having a more personal relationship with my readers. So far, I have two independent books available, Love Bites and Murder on Morrison.
Love Bites is a series of short stories about relationships, and Murder on Morrison is the debut novel for Rose McLaren a female sleuth.
In 2004, I worked with a small publisher in Canada creating a non-fiction book for mothers undergoing breast cancer, who have young children, called “Mummy had an Owie”.
How do you find inspiration for your novels?
My Life’s not Funny started out from a dream I had. I saw three young men laying on a beach, they had all been stabbed.
I went straight to my keyboard and started writing the scene, then the protagonist, Amelia came alive and I ended up telling her story, what happened to her after she found out her brother had been killed. Billy was one of the young men on the beach.
Similarly, Murder on Morrison came from a review about Love Bites. They noticed that I was influenced in a couple of the stories by the mystery genre. That night I dreamed about Rose McLaren, she was older in my dream, so the books I am writing now are in her younger life, and the series as it goes on will reveal more about her.
She, like many sleuths, has a complex past, some of which is revealed in Murder on Morrison, but there is more to come.
What do you like to do when you don’t write?
I am a watercolourist, I make cards for friends rather than buying them and have several pieces hanging in my home, and I gift painting to others.
I am definitely an amateur, but some of my work has merit and the homemade cards are always well appreciated. I always make out Christmas cards, and this year I combined a watercolour with a poem.
Can you tell us about your latest project(s)?
Murder on Morrison was released on February 28th and I am now planning/writing the second novel in that series; it is once again in Edinburgh.
This time the murders happen during the fringe festival. I am hoping to have it released in June, in time for the Fringe (covid permitting) and Edinburgh book festival in August 2021.
I am also completing a dark novel which is the prequel to a short story in Love Bites called Grace. The working title for the novel is The Bastard Verdict. This story is about an abusive relationship and a dark underworld of men in power. It also takes place in Edinburgh in the late 1950s to early seventies. I am hoping this will be ready for publication in September.
My Life’s not Funny will be published in April, so it’s going to be a busy year!
Where can we find you on social media?
I am on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizamileswriter/
Twitter: LizaMilesWriter@LOVEBIT28046864, and
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizamileswriter
Website: lizamileswriter.com
I also have a YouTube Channel where I post readings: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqDeBqZp1BaSbKl1oclyb5g.
