Meet Carrie McGovern
Romance author Carrie McGovern
Sunderland-based romance author Carrie McGovern first discovered her love of writing while she was in sixth form in her hometown of Mirfield, near Huddersfield, where she began writing reviews.
That early passion led her to study Communication Studies and Journalism at the University of Sunderland. As editor of the student newspaper, she transformed it into a magazine, broadening its appeal and increasing readership.
Although she had hoped to build a career in journalism, things didn't work out as planned. Writing was forgotten about when life swept her up, she got married and started a family.
Everything began to change after Covid lockdown when Carrie’s teenage children found secondary school challenging.
She said: "During this time I became very anxious about a whole range of things and began to read avidly to calm my brain down. Previously I had only usually read a couple of novels by people like Marian Keyes on holiday, but suddenly I was getting through around 130 books a year. My favourite authors were, and still are, Ali Hazelwood, TL Swan and Rosa Lucas.
"Reading made me feel something again. I know now I’m neurodiverse and, with hindsight, it makes perfect sense. Rediscovering my love of reading also made me realise I needed something that was just for me, beyond being a mother. So, like many authors, I bought a lovely notebook and some pens!"
Inspired by the books she was reading, Carrie decided to create stories featuring older, independent women rather than the younger protagonists she often came across.
She said: "I knew I wanted to write about women who were older than many of the heroines I'd been reading about. I began planning stories and inventing scenes in my head because I wanted to write about strong, independent women.
"The result was my first book, Hello Happiness. Writing it was so cathartic. Every frustration I'm sure many women feel found its way into those pages."
Carrie also drew inspiration from seeing some friends settle for relationships that gave them ‘the bare minimum’.
She said: "It made me furious and those feelings definitely fed into Hello Happiness."
The novel was completed in just six weeks before self-publishing it in 2023.
She said: "People wanted to read it, which was wonderful. I followed it with Hello Mr Beckett and then Hello Handsome. Those three books allowed me to develop my style within the romance genre.
"I then wanted to challenge myself and wrote The Other Mr Beckett, a novella that follows on from Hello Mr Beckett. It was the hardest book I've ever written because it's a one-sided phone conversation, with the other half having appeared in the previous novel."
Encouraged by the response to the series, Carrie decided to pursue her writing ambitions even more seriously.
She said: "The first series was well received, so I decided to take a more planned approach to my next one, however, I’ve learnt that is just not the way I write.”
Carrie has since launched her On the Wharf series. The first novel, The Clause, follows a lawyer who temporarily leaves the North East to work on Canary Wharf, where she meets the story's love interest. A second novel, The Accident, focusing on a character briefly introduced in the first book, will be published in March 2027, followed by a third, The Agreement, completing the trilogy.
Romance remains at the heart of everything Carrie writes.
She said: "I always try to find a love story in everything — even a TV crime series. I just love a happy ever after."
Like many independent authors, Carrie believes self-promotion is the biggest challenge of self-publishing.
However, one of her proudest moments came when someone she had never met visited her website and bought every one of her books.
For aspiring writers, Carrie believes there is no single formula for success.
She said: "There are often no right answers. People say you can't edit a blank page, but I do a lot of editing in my head before I write anything down.
"You have to find your own route to self-publishing, educate yourself about how the industry works and be aware of scams."
Carrie has several author events coming up, including Once Upon a Tyne at the Hilton, Gateshead on 26 and 27 September and Authors at the Coast on 14 November in Whitley Bay.
For more information, visit www.carriemcgovern.com.