Author Guest Post with Debbie Viggiano

Welcome to the blog tour for The Watchful Neighbour by Debbie Viggiano, organized by Rachel’s Random Resources. This is a publication day push, so all participating bloggers are posting today, check the end of this post for a complete list of blogger links! My stop is a guest post, so I’ll be letting Debbie take it away first and then I’ll be back with more information on the book & author.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Guest Post

Hello, and thank you so much for having me on your blog talking about The Watchful Neighbour.

This ismy first psychological thriller and very much a case of dipping a big toe in the waters of a new genre.  Usually you can find me in the land of romcom writing about scatty heroines, or a 50-year-old menopausal woman wondering if she can still ‘pull’ and then getting totally out of her depth when she attracts the local stud ten years her junior!

However, a lot of romance writers have made a transition to a different genre and many with huge success.  I’m friendly with several authors who have done exactly that, and they made the whole writing experience sound so exciting, so much so that I wondered if I could do it too.  There was only one way to find out… write it!

Usually I work on a computer.  It’s so much easier to hit the delete button than stare at a sheet of paper full of scrubbed out text!  However, at the time of coming up with the idea for The Watchful Neighbour, my husband and I were due to go on our highly anticipated annual summer holiday.  Mr V and I like nothing more than laying on the beach frying our respective skins to the colour of roast potatoes – which doesn’t happen very often in England.  Well, it does, but never when we book a UK holiday.  It always rains!  So we chose to fly off to the beautiful island of Kolocep on the Dalmation coast.  Knowing that laptops and seawater aren’t ideal bedfellows, I abandoned techie gadgets for a hefty A4 notepad plus twenty biros.  The following morning, I settled down on the beach with a happy sigh and started to scribble like a woman possessed.

35,000 words later, the sun disappeared, and the heavens opened.  The downpour was almost biblical!  Everyone screamed and scooped up their belongings, frantically running for cover.  As I charged off, unbeknownst to me, my notebook was dropped.  A huge wave washed over the manuscript and started to take it out to sea, but a kind tourist waded in and retrieved it.  I hadn’t even realised it was missing until it was handed back.  I was both grateful and horrified to be reunited with my work-in-progress… grateful because the downside of writing in long-hand means no back-up, and horrified because the pages were so sodden they were like papier mâché.  Any attempt to turn a sheet over would have had it disintegrating.  Fortunately, the notebook did eventually dry out by which point it had exploded to three times its former size! 

However, it was another four years before I was able to return to the characters.  In the interim I was approached by the fabulous digital publisher Bookouture to write several romantic comedies.  And then along came 2020. 

Wow, what a year it has been for everyone.  Lockdowns.  Fear.  Panic.  There have been some murky moments.  Maybe that is why I heard those characters from four years ago calling out, urging that I abandon ‘the glitter and sparkles’ (as we romcom writers say) and turn to ‘the dark side’ (as the thriller writers say!).

It was a welcome distraction to catch up with Jade Ferguson who, after a disastrous love affair with a married man, moves into Gresham Terrace for a fresh start.  Jade’s new home is one in a row of Victorian joined houses that crouch over a street crammed with cars.  It’s all a far cry from the cosy cottage ex-lover Tom set her up in.  But Tom hasn’t been seen for ages…

About the Book

The Watchful Neighbour
by Debbie Viggiano

Published 7 December 2020
by Unicorn Publishing

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Page Count: 272
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

When Jade Ferguson’s affair with a married man abruptly ends, she’s devastated.

There is no quick fix for a broken heart. A fresh start is required.

New job. New home. New neighbours.

The residents of Gresham Terrace seem pleasant enough.

Except for one…

An absolutely gripping debut psychological thriller.

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

About the Author

Prior to turning her attention to writing, Debbie Viggiano was, for more years than she cares to remember, a legal secretary. She lives with her Italian husband, a rescued pooch from Crete, and a very disgruntled cat. Occasionally her adult children return home bringing her much joy… apart from when they want to raid the fridge or eat her secret stash of chocolate. Tweet @DebbieViggiano or follow her on Facebook!

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Participating Bloggers

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