A Love Affair With Iona: Quickfire Q+A with Barbara Sellars

Join us as Barbara Sellars, author of Iona With Love, takes part in our series of quick-fire Q&As!

What is a quick-fire Q&A?

We have our interviewee pick a number at random and we ask them the general question listed next to it.

Shortly after we switch to asking book-specific questions, to give you a brief insight into our wonderful writers and their books.

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Who is your favourite author?

At the moment – Robert Macfarlane. 

Have you always wanted to be an author?

Yes, I have. When I was a wee girl, I loved writing stories. My mum used to get really irritated because I'd stay up late into the night writing all sorts of things, which she wasn't terribly happy about. So, I suppose yes, the desire to be an author has been with me for as long as I can remember. 

What are you currently reading?

I've just finished a Macfarlane book, Is a River Alive? And I’m just about to have Helm: the novel by Sarah Hall sent my way. 

Where's your happy place?

Easy for me to say that it's on Iona! That is the place I am writing about, and I do love it, but I do have other happy places. My garden would be the most immediate thing that comes to my mind – it’s my soul place. I absolutely love it. 

What is the first thing you do when you sit down to write?

Drink tea. I've always got a cup of tea on my desk when I'm about to write. That's my first go-to thing.

What motivates you to keep writing?

For me it's something that calms me. When I put pen on paper – I tend to write by hand – I find it a really comforting thing to do. It's nurturing.  I often journal or just free write – morning pages particularly. It keeps me alive – I need to write, and so that's what keeps me going.

What job would you be terrible at?

Being a waiter. I've always known I could not do that at all. Despite also being a dancer and having a certain grace when I'm dancing, I can be quite clumsy when it comes to serving food. I think I’d be terrified balancing plates and placing them in front of customers!

Why did you choose the book title that you did?

I think it just came to me, the idea that I love this island and that, in essence, the writing was something that really celebrated this place, that reflected what I loved about it. I did have other ideas, but Iona With Love really resonated with me.

How do you feel now that the book is out in the world?

I feel relief, but also nervous that it's a reality out in the world. I also feel really joyful. It still feels a little bit like a dream. 

How did you decide which photographs to include in the book?

Well, partly I knew what the themes were that I wanted to work with, and so I was choosing photographs that met the essence or each section of the book. That was the principal reason. Inside of that, I was choosing images that I like very much, they were photographs I enjoyed myself. Of course I wouldn't choose anything that didn't resonate with me. And I wanted variety in there, of colour and form, so they were influencing factors, but mostly it was meeting the theme of each chapter. 

What's your personal connection to Iona?

It goes back a long way. I've been going to Iona since 1978 so I am a long-time visitor to this island. That is my connection. I don't live there, but I go there often and have done for many years. 

What was the most emotional part about writing this book?

I think because I’ve been going to Iona for such a long time, the writing brought back a lot of memories of times when I was younger, when I was there with my family – myself and my mum, my two sons, my husband. It made me reflect on some very magical moments that we had together. A time that you just know could never be repeated, of my boys being small and their joy of being out on the beaches. They were special moments and writing the book took me back to all of that. So, there were times when I was putting things on the paper that actually made me feel quite tearful.

What was your favourite chapter or section from the book, and why?

The one that I called ‘A Green Cap and a Floral Carpet’ – and it really surprises me that I'm saying this is my favourite chapter. It was the one that, after I'd written the essay, I had to go back to Iona, because I didn't feel that I got enough images that I wanted to work with to meet that essay. The writing itself, I love reading it out loud, which I have done now on a couple of occasions for people. I wonder whether it's because of my botanical background – I have a strong interest in the subject of that chapter but I just love the joy of it. It's a joyful chapter, I think.