Author Sally-Anne Lomas on finding inspiration in misery, and penning her second novel

Described as a gripping and relevant read, Sally-Anne Lomas’ newly released title, Love Like Your Heart’s on Fire is the stunning sequel to Live Like Your Head’s On Fire. It is a celebration of the power of dance to drive change, and a page-turning story of teenage dreams and devastation. With a trilogy still to come, this series is destined to become a must-read for those who want to live life with passion and make the world a better place.

Sally-Anne Lomas lives in Norfolk, and in addition to being an award-winning documentary filmmaker, creative director, and author, she also runs writing and movement for well-being workshops.

Did you always want to be a writer/author?

My first ambition was to be a dancer, then a mathematician, then an Olympic swimmer, then a tennis player, then an actress. Finally, I decided to be a writer when I was sixteen.

What inspired you to start writing?

Misery. I started writing to deal with my turbulent emotions. I’ve been keeping a journal since I was fourteen. I loved reading; novels, poetry, plays, anything that transported me to a different world. So, it seemed a natural thing to start writing my own stuff. But it wasn’t until I was thirty that I committed myself to writing. I moved out of London so I could work part-time and live cheaply. That was when I started writing my first novel.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

Fiction allows us to explore unlived lives. My first ambition was to be a dancer. I started with an image of a young girl climbing out of her bedroom window in the middle of the night to dance out her emotions in the empty nighttime streets. I wanted to create a very physical and determined female character and see if she could hold onto her own identity when she fell passionately in love.

Tell us about your writing process.

I get up early in the morning and do an hour of writing, without editing, just pouring words out, before I’ve even brushed my teeth. I find that a dreamy, half-awake state is best for netting new ideas out of the air. I write by hand then later in the day with a more alert brain I transfer the new material onto the computer, editing as I go.

What did you learn when writing this book?

As I was researching this book, I talked to lots of teenagers and realised just how angry and upset they were about the climate crisis. They made me face up to it and since then I’ve become much more active locally in campaigning for change. I was impressed by their concern and idealism and remembered feeling like that myself. It’s easy for experience to make you apathetic. Writing this novel has made me more involved and hopeful.

Do you have any quirky habits when writing?

I have a giant egg timer that lasts 57 minutes. I turn it over and make myself keep writing until the sand has run through. I also have a Writing Robe that I wear to get me in the mood!

The first book you remember reading is…

The Secret Island by Enid Blyton. My Manchester Gran gave it to me while we were visiting. I was seven and I insisted on reading on the drive home until I was car sick. The power of story. To this day I have a fantasy of living on a remote island off the coast of Mayo.

Your favourite Irish author is…

Oh so hard, so many, arrgh! I am going to go with Anna Burns. Milkman was a masterpiece. Never have The Troubles been so viscerally expressed. A funny, truthful, terrifying, sad, and brilliant depiction of how politics shapes and distorts everyday lives.

The book you gift everyone is…

A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson – beautiful powerful poems.

Three books everyone should read:

Home by Marilynne Robinson

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

This Civilisation is Finished by Rupert Read and Samuel Alexander

You overcome writer’s block by…

Getting up and dancing around my writing room or going for a walk or a ride – doing something physical to get the blood racing.

Do you listen to music when you write?

Not too distracting. I need silence.

The best money you ever spent as a writer was on…

When I decided to move out of London and commit myself to writing I bought myself a ridiculously expensive Mont Blanc fountain pen. It was the most expensive thing I’d ever bought. I imagined myself one day being in a bookshop signing my books with the pen. It took many years, but that dream came true. I still love this pen.

The three books you’d bring with you to a desert island are…

I’m presuming we get the bible and the complete works of Shakespeare – so I’d take Lord of the Rings by J.R. Tolkien – my childhood comfort read – Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems, Elena Ferrante’s The Neapolitan Quartet.

A quote you love is…

‘O snail

Climb Mount Fuji

But slowly, slowly.’

— A poem by Issa.

The book you always return to is…

The Information by Martin Amis – there’s something about the energy and playfulness of Amis’ voice that I love. It always makes me smile and inspires me to be a better writer.

Seeing your book in shops will be…

I’d done that self-help thing of envisaging my book on the shelves so many times and then there it was – for real. My heart started beating so fast I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Would have been ironic if the joy was so huge it killed me! Luckily, I survived but yes, that was a very happy day.

One book you wish you had written is…

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion – this made me laugh so much on a train journey that people kept coming up and asking me what I was reading. Joyously heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny.

How do you use social media as an author?

I post on Twitter and Instagram and have a Substack Newsletter sallyannelomas@substack.com that I write weekly. I try to check in most days but I’m also wary of how much time can be lost.

Should books be judged by their covers? How did you pick yours?

I love my book covers – designer Natty Peterkin has done a great job – because this is a trilogy it’s important that the covers work together. We’ve already started thinking about the cover for book three.

Do you find it hard not to procrastinate when writing?

I find the start of a new book difficult but I’m pretty disciplined once I get started. I find it much harder to write in the summer than during the other seasons.

The best advice you’ve ever gotten is:

You learn far more about writing by getting to the end of one book than you do by writing a hundred brilliant first chapters.

Your workspace is…

I have a purpose-built writing shed at the bottom of the garden overlooking a field where horses graze, with a valley in the distance. I paid for the shed out of my earnings and I absolutely love being there. It’s my happy place.

Your favourite literary character of all time is…

Not very original but no one can beat Elizabeth Bennet.

Love Like Your Heart’s on Fire by Sally-Anne Lomas is on sale now.