Interviews with Writers Big and Small on Wattpad

A Touch of Magic with Lina Hanson

I would like to introduce you to Lina Hanson who a few years back lived in good old blightly in leafy Kent, as she is married to a Brit but now resides in Germany but travels extensively and pops back to see us funny lot when she can.

Reply: Blightly? And I never lived in Kent, it was Buckinghamshire.

You've never heard of Blightly? Well it's all those war films and suchlike that I watched on Sunday afternoons when I was a kid with my grandparents, along with those fifties extravaganzas lol. Oops, sorry I thought you said Kent, isn't Buckinghamshire very leafy and grand?

Reply: Very leafy for sure! Lots of old beech trees. I love Kent but I never lived there. I probably missed out on the Blightly as I never watched war films. Okay, apart from the Carry on series and Blackadder. Not sure if those count...

So Lina how did you get to meet your husband (the romantic side of me always loves to hear how people met especially if there is a funny story attached to it} and end up back in Germany?

Reply: Why did I go back home? Well I was still studying, so i had to. But once they gave me a degree I found a British employer, worked in tourism and got back all the time. So it really became my second home.

Husband? Oh I found him in the newspaper. He had placed a dating advert in there (as you will imagine, we've been married quite a while. No apps back then. He had an English headline for his ad and it literally jolted me into hopping from the sofa and responding. I used to read those ads for a lark, not because I was actively looking. But given that I was single at the time I was of course a bit more responsive. Still read them. Still find them funny.

I remember reading those ads in the paper, you don't see them as often now as the free papers have stopped coming through the door. I always thought they were entertaining. So was your first date like? Funny or memorable? Did it make page one of a real newspaper?

Reply: Na it didn't. First date was very sedate, we went to a café full of grannies as nothing else was open!

Well he must be special. I guess you created your own magic as he didn't notice the grannies in the foreground. 

A fellow Ambassador, Lina is a Wattpad featured author (twice!), professional editor/business writer/freelance journalist and critic. Winner of the 'Wattys 2015 - HQ Love Award'!

What are we drinking? Coffee? Tea? Or a glass of wine?? Are we having curry first or are we going straight to cake? If so, which cake is your favourite?- Is there a memory attached to it that you would like to share?

Reply: Curry with cake? Urgh! But definitely wine. Must have wine. On the other hand, must have curry and cake as well. Uh. Well, there's a place for everything. As long as it serves food. I'm a foodie. I guess, you would never have guessed *grabs cake*

Well, good, I suggest we start one step arrangement, let's start with a glass of wine, have a curry, move onto somewhere else and have cake, it's always great fun to find another venue for pud! Especially, if they have comfy chairs and a selection of coffees and delicious assortment of sweet delicacies. :-) I don't want to have you disappointed now do I? Ha.

The first question I have to ask you is, what are the things you miss most from living in UK and what are the things you definitely don't!

Reply: I love the people and I believe the UK has some absolutely stunning landscapes. British villages are something really special. I know what I'm talking about, a long time ago, in another life I worked for the British tourism industry. I also adore British humour, it's special. What don't I miss? Mh. The hire and fire mentality? The NHS?