Jessica Blair reveals how important Mother’s Day is to him . . .

Bill Spence, aka Jessica Blair, gives us a fascinating insight into his writing and as Mother’s Day approaches, reveals just how special the women in his family are to him . . . 

Mothers’ Day – Mothering Sunday. Steeped in long tradition to honour Mothers, this day is set aside to visit our mother. I know of one man who, in the ages before cars and public transport in rural areas were common, cycled twenty miles in hilly countryside, no matter the weather, to spend the day with his mother before cycling the twenty miles home again. He did this year after year until he was in his late sixties.

I was never able to do that – sadly my mother died when I was twenty-two and far away in Canada, during the Second World War, training to be a Bomb-Aimer in the RAF.  But her influence has lingered throughout my life and I have always been pleased that she met and approved of Joan, the girl I would eventually marry.  I regret my Mum did not live to see our three daughters and son. I can see something of her in them along with their influence on our family life.

That influence has stretched further for they, along with Joan, have been staunch supporters of my writing.

When I first put pen to paper in the 1950s, Joan gave me every encouragement and support. She made time for me to write while I held down a ‘bread and butter’ job. Her interest spread further for she would offer constructive criticism, ease the load of research and take much of the weight off  mundane letter writing.

Her efforts to support my writing became even more significant when she suggested that I gave up my ‘bread and butter’ job and have more time to concentrate on my writing. ‘We’ll manage on my wage from my work for the Post Office,’ she insisted. I have always believed she saw the possibilities before I fully did, and that the incentive to prove I could expand my writing would pay off. She lived to see that happening with the birth of Jessica Blair in 1992 but sadly died in 1999.

My children then stepped into her shoes and offered advice whenever I needed it to solve a particular problem or incident within the story. Although over time men and women have come closer in their attitudes and outlooks there still exists nuances that need a feminine touch. I am fortunate that my daughters are ready to offer their advice in spite of their own busy lives. Along with them their brother will offer his input on relationships as he sees them.

I value that too because, after all, romance, in all it forms, is about relationships, something that at times is over-looked by would-be readers searching for a good read.

Knowing I have this support enables me to tackle a new book with confidence. I look at a background for the subject, place it in the time I think best suited to the story, impose on that my leading female character and her male counterpart. I will have a beginning in mind and very rarely have to alter it. I know where I want to end and have a very broad outline of how I will get there. Much of that passage depends on how characters react to each other and to the circumstances they have created. I have to be all characters and have to react as THEY would react, NOT as I would react, to people and situations.

I have an interesting and exciting journey, which draws much from the feminine influence of my mother, my wife and daughters and the observations of my son.

Thanks Mum for what you helped create.

Jessica Blair‘s latest novel, A Tapestry of Dreams, is available from Piatkus now. Jessica’s Christmas novella, Whispers in the Snow, is out on Entice in December.