An Interview with Jane Beckenham

Tell us a little about yourself
Hello everyone, I’m Jane Beckenham and I live down under in New Zealand, a country also known as Aotearoa, translated to mean the land of the long white cloud, which today is a misnomer as the sky is a perfect blue and cloudless. I live in Auckland the City of Sails as we’re surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and on one side, and the Tasman Sea on the other.


What do you write?
I write contemporary romance, but also time travel and historical.

Why do you write?
Because I have to. Because the characters in my head give me their story. I’ve been writing for about 11 years now. I love writing, couldn’t imagine my life without it. And it sure beats housework.

What are you writing now?
I’m in the editing stages of 2 contemporary stories and in the first 3 chapter stage of a Regency


What kind of clothes do you like to wear?
I live in jeans and shirts. But I’ve just started dressing a bit more girly, with dresses. I love jewelry and buy quite a bit of fun necklaces, actually I have a big tie wrack in my wardrobe that I hang all my necklaces on!


Are you in love? Have you ever been?
I’ve been married for 26 years, so yeah, I guess I still love the guy…but I do wish he’d put away stuff and not leave it lying around…grrr! When I am in the first throws of love I always lose my apetite, but how I wish that was the other way around and that once over that flush I didn’t eat, then I would be waif like!

Do you have a dream lover – and what does he or she look like?
George Clooney!


What kind of comfort food do you like best?
Chocolate, but I’m a cake/cookie kinda gal


What makes you laugh? Cry?
Sad movies always make me cry, things that pull at the heart strings, tales of courageousness. Laugh…things that are quite off the wall.


What do you do to amuse yourself when not working?
I am a decorating nut, I love decorating magazines and I am never more happy than browsing different rooms in the glossy magazines.


What is it in a man or woman that turns you on? The clean version please!
When I first met my man (on a blind date too!) I thought he had a really cute butt and nice legs – strong/muscular. Kindness turns me on too. When my man does something nice for me that I wasn’t expecting.

What do you hate about life?
Honest??? Well, I have a disability. And quite honestly, I’ve had it for 43 of my 52 years so I’m over it now. I really would like to just give it away. Most of my life it hasn’t held me back, I’ve backpacked all over the world, lived in many places, but it’s slowing me down now, and I’m really not happy with that.


What do you hope to achieve in life and when will you know that you have been a success?
I’m a success already. I’m a nice person, kind, loving, and that is the best kind of success don’t you think. I would like to say when I lose about 15lbs would be a success, but reality is that isn’t really important. I like to think that each time I finish a book that I’m really happy with it, and that is a success.

What are you going to write next?
I have a contemporary in mind with a hero whose father was a King/Prince and who never acknowledged him, but the exciting thing is that this book hopefully will actually spurn a few others as I write the stories of his siblings.