Hello and welcome to the Midpoint. My guest today is a testament to sticking at it.

Alexandra Potter had published 11 books before her 12th Confessions of a 40-something

Fuck Up became a global hit. It would eventually sell over a million copies in over 28 countries,

and eventually Hollywood even came calling. So we're going to talk about what lessons she's learnt on the way to this

huge success, which came a little bit later in life. Is that better? After all the groundwork

has been done, do you enjoy it more? And did she ever feel like giving up? And we'll find out

about her latest book, so I met

this guy, the story of a middle-aged woman who goes on a hunt around Europe to find a man

who stole her heart and her cash. And maybe you think you've got a book in you, so she might

just have a few tips for you. Let's meet Alexandra. Alexandra Potter, welcome to the midpoint.

Thank you for having me.

It's great to have you here.

You are somebody, I think, who is the personification of persistence.

It would look from the outside like that.

But maybe you're going to tell me that it didn't matter that you were going to get global acclaim for writing your 12th book. And actually, the process of writing and being an author

was enough at that point. But when you get a huge hit that a million people, I said all this

in your introductions, everybody knows the book. In fact, we can say the swear word. We were just

disgusting whether or not we say that. When you get a huge hit like that, does it make it all seem very different and worthwhile?

Does it change why you're doing it?

It's definitely better, I think, if you achieve success when you're older.

I wrote, like you say, 11 books. I think my first one was

published a week before my 30th. So I'd been pretty successful. I'd written 11 novels.

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