Please give a warm welcome to author Dawn Patricia Bolton, pen names Toni Bolton and Alexie Bolton

Tell us a bit about yourself…

I am a former business and law university lecturer who left and ran a tutorial agency and a guest house.

Have you always wanted to become an author?

I wanted to write when I was at school but didn’t start seriously until I left university and started writing stories for the children I tutored.

What was your inspiration for your current book/series?

An administrator was murdered on her doorstep and this started me writing Escape from fear a romantic suspense thriller. I am partly through book five of this series, Men of valour, Women of steel. I have also a series Dreyda’s Men, a post Napoleonic war romantic suspense series. That was inspired by Georgette Heyer’s These old shades, a historical romance.

What are you working on now?

I have nearly finished a paranormal romantic suspense mystery set in medieval times. This a wonderful period when people still believed seriously in God and witches and there are opportunities to delve into interesting customs from this time.

Do you have any quirks while working?

I cannot work on one project at a time. I don’t like working much in my house and tend to work in the cafe at my gym. If I am at home I like my cat to sit behind the computer on the window sill keeping me company.

What are your hopes for the future?

I hope to develop books for children and to illustrate them. I am also drawing a wildlife calendar with poems from other authors for an animal charity. I hope to improve my marketing and achieve good sales with my paranormal series.

Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?

Get a very good editor and proofreader. The former may give you good advice about publishing. Develop  a website and platforms like Instagram to create a reader base before you publish your novels. Use a book blog to publicise your new novels and try to get ARCS reviewed before you publish them.

Do you have anything to say to your followers?

Thank you for following me and I hope you enjoy my books. Your opinions about my books matter a lot to me. Please email me with feedback.

I love communicating with readers. To receive my newsletter and details of competitions, discounts and free books, please go to my sign-up page.