Weekend Read – Rosa’s Cookery Club for Men by Sarah Scally

Welcome to another Weekend Read. This week’s featured book is the romance novel, Rosa’s Cookery Club for Men by Sarah Scally. Sarah has dropped by to tell us more about her book and her writing life. So grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Sarah.

Back cover blurb

Rosa Roberts, an expert cook with years of experience, has returned to quiet Simonton to care for her poorly mother. She’s secretive about her life in France and seems in no hurry to return. When she takes on a new project, teaching men to cook at the community hall, she soon looks forward to the weekly lessons – and to seeing one student in particular.

Maurice Longley, newly retired and recently widowed, feels adrift without his old routines and businesses to run. When Mike his meddling neighbour signs him up for a new cookery club in town, a long-forgotten dream flickers back to life.

As they connect and form friendships, the future looks brighter for everyone. Until an unexpected visitor arrives and all plans are thrown up in the air.

Rosa’s Cookery Club for Men is a heartwarming novel of unexpected friendships, second chances and finding your way … one recipe at a time.

Available on Amazon, along with the other books in the Happy Wanderers series.

Welcome to my blog, Sarah. Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I have always written down ideas for stories and have many unfinished manuscripts languishing in my drawer at home. But it wasn’t until I undertook a ‘Writing for Radio’ course and subsequently won a competition to have a 45-minute radio play recorded that I started to take it more seriously. Having someone to mentor me through the process and then to hear my words brought to life by actors was a real thrill, and I enjoyed every moment of it. But what I hadn’t banked on was that the characters would have more to say as I continued to think of ideas for them and tricky situations for them to get involved in. At that point I decided to continue writing their adventures down as a manuscript.

What do you like writing most?

I like writing humorous stories, about communities and friendship, and these elements certainly feature in my Happy Wanderers series. My aim with all my books is to entertain the reader with a good, fun story that leaves them uplifted by the end.

With regards to the writing process, I love writing the first draft when I’m telling the story to myself. I can really let my imagination run riot as I try out various ideas. The many different drafts after that are certainly less exciting, as I then hone the story and the characters and nail down the details.

Do you have a special place for writing?

My writing place depends on where I am with the story. If I’m sketching out the first draft, I find that I can work anywhere using my laptop or paper and pen. Ideas tend to come to me when I’m outside or on a walk or visiting somewhere new. If I’m on holiday, when others are reading or sunbathing on a lounger, I’ll be the one sitting in the shade and scribbling ideas in a notebook.

If I’m well into the story and editing a full manuscript on my laptop (going through it for the hundredth time!) I’ll be at my desk in my study with a second screen. I need peace and quiet for this stage. I’ve recently discovered white noise recordings and listen to them through a headset to ensure I remain focused.

Are you a pantster or a plotter?

I am definitely a plotter, but a ‘light’ version! I need to know roughly where the story will go before I start. I don’t write down every detail in each chapter, but I do map out the key turning points before I begin. I also need to have a picture in my mind of what each character looks like – eye colour, height, hair style etc. – and sometimes for fun I imagine which actor could play them on screen.

What are you writing at the moment?

At the moment I am just about to complete a standalone manuscript; it is a humorous, cosy sci-fi story with a chick-lit feel. It centres around stressed-out, business-owner Lexi who dreams of a world without men … only for that to become a reality.

After writing three books in the Happy Wanderers series in three years, I wanted to try something a little different, and this idea had been niggling at me for a while. It is currently out with beta readers so I’m apprehensive about getting their feedback, as it is a little left-field and a big change from the Happy Wanderers.

What time of the day do you write best?

I like to be at my desk after a quick breakfast and find that I work better in the morning with coffee. I take part in a virtual office with a friend on one morning a week. We both work from home, so it’s lovely to connect over Zoom and have a quick ten minutes catch up, before we then go on mute and work for the morning. It’s great for productivity, as we have to give a round up at the end of the session to say what we’ve done, so there’s no slacking off!

What advice would you give to other writers?

I would encourage people to just write. Concentrate on getting words on a page and doing the first draft. It will be imperfect, but you can’t edit what’s not there. No one writes a good first draft. Make a commitment to write regularly even for a few minutes a day, and it soon begins to add up.

Meet Sarah

Wise words, Sarah! Thanks for dropping by to talk to us today. Wishing you lots of success with your fab books. 🤗

Bio

Sarah lives on the south coast of the UK and until last year worked for the NHS. She now writes full time, in between drinking coffee and eating snacks and getting distracted on social media.

She has written in a freelance capacity for magazines and business journals and co-writes comedy sketches with two friends which have been performed at arts centre and venues across the south.

The Postcard in the Window and It Started with a Shoe were both longlisted for the Comedy Women in Print prize 2025 (CWIP) in the self-published category.

Contact Sarah

Sarah is on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sarah.scally.author

and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahscallyauthor/

She also has a webpage – sarahscally.my.canva.site

https://sarahscally.my.canva.site

More of Sarah’s Books