Wellington mother and daughter ditch TV to write novels
For mother and daughter Petra and Keely Hawthorn, nothing was going to get in the way of their passion of writing.
The aspiring authors decided to get rid of their television at their home in Wellington so they could spend more time working on storylines.
It has proved a shrewd move – now the pair have had their new novel Shimmer: Werewolf's Curse published by YouCaxton and it is for sale in paperback and Kindle format on Amazon.
They plan to write an entire series of books together under the pseudonym Petra Thorn, and college student Keely, 18, has started to write her own Gothic and fantasy novels. The pair started writing their book about three years ago and it was published in February.
Petra said: "My daughter reads a lot of books, a lot of Gothic and vampire books and other things.
"When it came to changes, because she reads a lot, she said what we didn't need, what parts were a bit boring and we changed characters that didn't gel.
"Now she is also working on her own things."
Petra and Keely also worked together on all aspects of designing the finished book, working with artists to come up with the cover.
Petra said the pair had not regretted getting rid of their TV.
"It gave us more time to ourselves and helped us to enjoy life," she said.
The pair hope that Shimmer will be the first in a series of novels and say they have already started work on a second, which they are also writing together.
She said: "The second one is part-way finished but we have some changes to do.
"My daughter is writing a vampire book and is also working on a few different fantasy things with magic."
