I always have a lot of great fun with readers of The Greek Village Series books over on my Facebook page.

To get to know each other a little more, I have decided that every two weeks I am going to select a Facebook friend at random and ask them to tell us three things about themselves, and then ask me three questions in return.

These questions and answers will be featured both on my Facebook page and here on my Goodreads blog, so you can also get to know me and readers of The Greek Village Series a little more.

If you want to come and join in, then come and find me on Facebook here! And who knows, it could be you being featured in a future blog post. https://www.facebook.com/authorsaraal...

For my very first Ask Sara Alexi, I selected the lovely Susan Kilkelly who told us the following:

I am the third youngest of eight children and when I was the baby ( three at the time) my family were holidaying at a then famous holiday camp in North Wales. We got stuck on the cable car at the highest point and had to be rescued! We were on the front pages of a Sunday newspaper! To this day (50 years later) I am still afraid of falling from a great height.

The second thing that I can think of is we once lived two doors away from an actor who has appeared as long standing characters in two British Soaps. This was when my children were young. Since then my son is now the Soaps editor of an entertainment website. Very ironic!

Thirdly as you can guess I am crazy about Greece and all things Greek. I have visited Greece 24 times in 15 years and hope to make that 25 shortly! I like to think of myself as an honorary Greek as that adds up to several months of my life.

And here is what Susan asked me along with my answers:

Do you have the characters in mind before you sit down or do you create them as you go along?

Hi Susan, It is always the character that initiates the idea for a book, usually it is based on someone I have met or watched and questions begin to form in my head. What has 'made' them that way? How does their character alter how they see life? What are likely to do that I am not? What can they teach me? And this starts the process and their life story comes to mind and everything unfolds from there. It is very exciting.

Also we know that you are also an artist. Which of your gifts do you enjoy the most?

Writing is proving to encompass everything. It is inclusive of my experience and my knowledge in psychotherapy and it feels as creative as painting or drawing. The one thing I thought was missing, which I used to find in playing music, was that feeling of creating with other people, being a team. However with social media I am now finding that my reader friends are so creative in there input and feedback I no longer feel like I am doing this alone!
If I ever need time out though I turn to my love affair with ceramics.

Lastly how many months of the year do you spend in Greece and what home comforts do you miss the most when you are there?

I spend as many months of the year in Greece as I can. That's the short answer. I am usually here from June to Sept/Nov and then I visit three or four times during the other months. But the most beautiful times are Spring and Autumn so next year I might move my timetable around a bit and split my time more evenly with the UK.

As for what I miss of Britain when I am in Greece, well my friends are an obvious one, also my ceramic class is in the UK, but I am working on making something happen in that line in Greece. I also miss trees, I really miss trees.

Keep an eye out for the next Ask Sara post, and don't forget to come and join in over on Facebook too!