Blog Tour: How Not To Be Starstruck by Portia Macintosh

 

Today, I'm pleased to be taking part in the How Not To Be Starstruck blog tour, with an interview with the author, Portia Macintosh

 

  

 

Can you tell us about your book?
After years of touring and working with bands, I wanted a way to tell my tour stories anonymously, so I decided to write a novel inspired by these real events. 'How Not to be Starstruck' tells the tale of Nicole Wilde. Nicole's life is one of sell-out gigs, bunking on tour buses, trashing hotels and partying with the band all night long. But she’s not in the band. She is a music journalist, paid to be the world’s greatest groupie. Thing are going well until she finds herself thrust into the limelight, and she finds out what it's like to be on the other end of bad press.

What was your inspiration for 'How Not to be Starstruck'?
I want to make clear that it isn't based on real events, but it is inspired by them. I have been touring with bands for years, and being friends with these people grants you a certain level of access. I would never tell my secrets, but writing fiction seemed like a great way to give people a glimpse into the lifestyle.

What has been your greatest experience of being a published writer?
I love the feedback. You can't beat the feeling when someone sends you a message telling you how much they enjoyed your book.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Be careful what advice you take. I've been given a lot of advice and people always mean well but it won't always be right for you individually.

What was the first book you ever bought yourself?
I can't remember which exact one I bought first, but the first book I bought myself was a Goosebumps book.

What was the last book you read?
The Only Way Is Up by Carole Matthews. Another great one.

Finally, what are you working on at the moment?
I'll have another book out in July - and this one won't be about the music industry, but I can't say too much about it yet.

 

When she was fifteen-years-old, Portia MacIntosh fell in with a bad crowd… rockstars. 

After disappearing on tour and living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle for a few years, Portia landed a job in the music industry – but only so that she didn’t have to join the real world just yet.

Now in her twenties, Portia is ready to spill the beans on the things she has witnessed over the years. Well, kind of. If her famous friends knew that she was borrowing their lives to inspire her fiction, they would stop inviting her on tour and banish her from the inner circle. Then she really would have to rejoin the real world, and she’s still not ready.

Portia only started writing novels to share her secrets, but then she realised she actually quite liked writing – maybe even more than she likes living on a bus with a bunch of smelly boys – and has since tried her hand at writing about other things.