We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachael Wright. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachael below.

Rachael, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I believe that the best way to learn how to write comes from reading voraciously. Throughout my life I have read widely and then re-read my favourites. I’ve always been drawn to fantasy and myths and legends and I recognized early on that great stories were made up of two elements: an immersive plot and beautiful sentences.

I don’t believe a Masters in Fine Arts is necessary to be a great writer. I was privileged to be able to get two Bachelor’s Degrees in History and Political Science and the training that I received in research and essay writing has translated seamlessly into writing novels. It’s about leading your reader from point A to point B with appropriate evidential support along the way.

When I began my journey I had a three year old daughter and it was difficult to find enough energy to be creative. Becoming a mother had expanded my life experience hugely and made me more passionate for the work. Obstacles only need solutions and then to be made habit.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Let me introduce myself. I’m Rachael Wright. Writer, mother, tea-obsessed devotee. I believe in the power of the written word and the healing that can come from reading and writing a good book.

I BELIVE:

In big ideas. In stories that transport. None of my stories are small in any way. They touch on issues that we all face, the pain the joy and the mistakes that are often made during life.

In helping and guiding other women. And being guided myself. I’ve been on the receiving end of so much knowledge and guidance that I want to give back. Book Clubs, Other Writers, Moms who just want to read a good book at the end of the day.

In soulful conversations. In meeting other women (and men) who love my characters as much as I do and being a part of their conversation.

Author of the Captain Savva Series set on Lesvos, Greece
Brash streetwise, Captain Alexander Savva of the Hellenic Police is called to investigate the crumpled mess of a car, and the body inside it, being battered by the sea. With the brakes compromised, John Fitzroy had no chance of surviving the steep roads along the coast. Where many investigations struggle for suspects, Savva has no lack of them.

Davonna tugs the thorny weeds, the purple hand-shaped bruise on her neck screaming. Had it really been ten years since she sat in a cushioned chair in the Palais des Nations translating Hebrew to German? Now she meticulously plans her days to avoid disaster. It’s so common, so very common for a woman to find herself captive, where escape only comes in dreams after her husband leaves her bruised on the bed.

As secrets are revealed, Savva is drawn to John’s widow, Davonna, questioning her every word. He hovers around the periphery of her life, discovering that behind the doors of her pink mansion and its manicured walled garden, a sinister secret rots. It all begs the question: who killed John Fitzroy?

A gritty, emotionally-charged, mystery, Mrs. Fitzroy is a profound exploration of the lies we tell ourselves to survive.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think it’s difficult for non-creatives to imagine someone taking a big risk with their career, and college education, to write novels. The book market is at the same time expanding, with more and more books published, and shrinking, less readers by the day. Writing novels has often been likened to gambling on a sick horse at the racecourse. With how difficult it is to be signed by a literary agent and then signed with a publishing house, those sentiments aren’t far off.

But I believe that stories connect us. I believe that by supporting a fellow author who happens to be Indian and writing about a place I’ve never been to, I can gain a small amount of insight into the problems facing that area of the world and I can learn to be kinder in my everyday life because I’ve spent a week in the shoes of an exotic dancer and a Mumbai police officer.

Books reach us when we are at our most vulnerable and when we have no friends or can’t find the words to express our pain, we can lower ourselves between the pages of an old friend. I grew up reading The Lord of the Rings and Sherlock Holmes and the Brontë sisters. I still read them today.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I am still on the journey and still on the upward climb of finding readers who connect with Captain Savva and the hardships both he and his island and county face. Every day I tell myself that I’m not the only one struggling. JK Rowling once told an interviewer that if she wasn’t writing she would be depressed. I fully understand that sentiment.

I think it’s important to be honest that the life of a creative isn’t easy. It’s rewarding at times and when a new reader emails you out of the blue and begs you to come to her book club-the feeling is beyond words.

I now have two daughters and one of them is quite young and I’ve had to relearn how to manage to write while also being a present mother. A lot of it entails working while the rest of the household is asleep. Some days I don’t manage that. But I haven’t stopped writing. I recently told an old family friend just how much I was struggling in the path to success. She told me it didn’t matter if I didn’t have all the things I wanted to have today, all that mattered was that I was still writing and pushing and creating.

If you’re reading this, I’m right there with you, and I’d like to say that your struggle is worth it-whatever you’re trying to accomplish, it’ll be worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: authorrachaelwright.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorrachaelwright/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Authorrachaelwright
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-wright-26b2a3105/

Image Credits
Courtney Jacobs Photography — for headshot