Living character

Waikato author Michelle Holman is full of ideas. Photo / Supplied

Ideas for novels strike Waikato author Michelle Holman at the most unexpected moments.

Take the two main characters in her latest novel Knotted (HarperCollins, $26.99): "I was hanging out some stuff on the washing line and they popped into my head, this couple of smart-arsed people having an argument and trying to outdo each other's sarcasm," says Holman. "Thankfully, I live on a lifestyle block and no one could see me laughing. I call it my sock epiphany."

Holman writes what she terms contemporary women's romance. But these aren't mushy love stories, they're vibrant tales about ballsy women and they're laced with the author's Kiwi sense of humour.

Irreverent and honest, Holman is funny in everyday life. "I'm 49 and I could grow rice in the cracks in my face," she says when I ask for her age. It's the kind of thing Danny, the heroine of Knotted, might come out with.

"I didn't think the character was based on me," insists Holman. "But then my husband took the book away with him to read on a trip to the South Island and he said it was nice because it felt like I was with him.

"So perhaps Danny is quite like me. I was an emergency department nurse just like she is, I have spiky hair, too, and then there's the bolshiness ... But she's in a situation I'd never put myself in. I'd like to think I'm less gullible."

Knotted opens with Danny grieving the death of her twin sister from breast cancer, saddled with the two kids and the steep debts she has left behind and dreading the arrival of her Italian American brother-in-law Ross Fabello. When Ross turns out to be seriously hot and a multi-millionaire author, Danny really takes to him.

The love/hate, will they/won't they sparring is the story's highlight. But there's a serious message here, too. Holman works for a community-based healthcare project and she is passionate about making sure people are proactive about looking after themselves - hence the story's breast cancer theme.

"When I was a nurse I looked after a few women who had the disease and it was really sad," she says. "Some hadn't been for their regular screening. That made a big impact on me. The thing with our breasts is they're so out there and accessible. They're not like kidneys or bowels. So why wouldn't we get them checked?"

This is Holman's third novel. Her first, Bonkers, was a bestseller here and is about to be published in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. "I'm really interested to see how the Kiwi sense of humour goes down there," she says.

The first draft of Knotted was written some time ago, then Holman had the idea for her second book, Divine, and got distracted. As it turned out, having a manuscript ready and waiting to be polished up was a bit of a gift in what has been a rough year for her and her family.

"My dad died in April and my mother-in-law in July," she explains. "And my mum has been having treatment for cancer. So it was very comforting to be able to pick up this book and make it better. I liked the characters and felt like they really came alive. I did beat myself up a bit because often I couldn't give the book the time I wanted to but, on the flipside, thank God I had it."

Holman writes the sorts of stories she likes to read - light-hearted tales with happy endings. "There's enough doom and gloom out there," she says.

She tends to work on her books at night when her husband and two children are in bed.

"I fit it in where I can. Often I don't go to bed until 2am. Writing is my solace and my escape. It does take a lot away from my family but they're very supportive and forgiving."

Husband Les is the first person to read her work. "I'll hand him the first five chapters, which I always think of as the foundation for the book, and he'll go through them with a red marker pen taking out the things that don't need to be there. He's amazingly astute."

Les is also very understanding about the places his wife ends up going to in the interests of research.

Divine involved her learning how to be a telephone sex worker and the novel she's writing at present took her to a sex shop.

"I'm not obsessed with sex, honestly," she laughs. "But I needed to know about sex toys so I went along to the local shop. Wayne with the tattoos was lovely and showed me around. There I was scribbling away, my jaw on the ground. The stuff he gave me was hilarious."

Holman's dream is to some day write full-time. "I don't have any shortage of ideas," she says. "In fact, I've got seven or eight more books I want to write and I'm excited about them all. It's just finding the time ..."