What is your romantic inspiration for the series , and why did you focus on four sisters , each with their own book in the series ? I love happily ever afters . I used to love reading the wedding stories in the New York Times when I was in college because it would tell the stories of how couples met ! Ask anyone how they met their love , and they glow . My romantic inspiration for this particular series , and all of them to come , is my own love story . My husband is one of the most romantic guys in the world , so I love adding in pieces here and there from our own lives . I decided to base my series around four sisters because I have four sons . I just thought it would be fun to write a series based around a family because I wanted my readers to get invested and truly wonder how each sister found their own happily ever after .
Q + A >>
Romance Novelist Audrey McClelland
The local mom of five and national lifestyle influencer is making her mark on the romance genre with an independently published paperback series . By Jamie Coelho
Audrey McClelland wrote five romance novels and released them all in a year . She started writing nearly every day since October of 2019 and hasn ’ t stopped since . She ’ s an Instagram personality , guest TV star and contributor to the “ Today Show ” Parents Network and “ The Rhode Show ,” as well as the founder of momgenerations . com , an online destination for mothers . Her books are like Hallmark movies between pages .
When did you first know you wanted to write books ? I ’ ve always loved creative writing . I actually have notebooks in my office that my mom gave me filled with stories that I wrote as a teenager . They were all young adult romances based in high school , so I guess that romance piece has always been in me . But it became
Did you base any of the novels off of real-life experiences or people ? What I ended up doing was taking personality traits from people I know and love and using them as inspiration to build out some of my characters . For example , Mrs . McKay is based on my own mother . All of my leading men are loosely based on my own husband and his personality , too .
I recognize restaurant names and landmarks that are familiar . How much of Rhode Island is in the books ? I love Rhode Island , so I wanted Rhode Island to be another character of sorts . Barrington is the setting for my first series and I did that because it was easy for me to write about it . I plan to make all my books Rhode Island-based because of my love for Rhody !
How are you able to write with five kids and a career ?
I feel like where there ’ s a will , there ’ s a way . And I also felt that it was the time to finally just do it , so I held myself accountable . I set aside time every single day to write . I didn ’ t care what time it was or where I was . With COVID last year , my daughter wasn ’ t eligible for a bus , so I would have to pick her up every day . I would have to get to the school an hour before dismissal just so I wouldn ’ t be in a long line down the street . I took advantage of that hour all last year and ( literally ) wrote two of my books in that pickup line !
After publishing all five books , what ’ s next ? I ’ m in the beginning stages of writing a young adult romance novel . And the biggest goal of all : Trying to get one of these books on Hallmark ! instagram . com / audreymcclellan
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