It sounds like some good advice. “I always start with the location and Venice is full of places where you can hide secrets. Then I dream up a story with a cast of celebrities. I love showbiz,” says Carol.
Her fourth novel, Once Upon a Time in Venice, is a sweeping saga set in that most romantic of cities, with Hollywood heartthrob Brad Redford, beautiful Venetian Gina Lombardi and Italy’s biggest opera star, Lucia Bruni, who is the ultimate diva.
Carol says: “I work out the story before I start writing by dictating into a machine that prints out the words on my iPad.
“As the characters become increasingly three-dimensional, the plot can change. But, throughout the whole process, I carry the characters around with me in my head.
“They seem very real to me until I write the last full-stop and then I let go of them.”
Carol has settled into an established routine after her three previous books but says she could never have dreamed that the first book, Under a Greek Moon, would be an instant bestseller.
“It took me completely by surprise. I remember having lunch with my publishers and they were gently managing my expectations.
“I told them I’d love it if the book got into the Top 100 bestsellers but, as this was my first novel, it probably wouldn’t.”
A few days later, the phone rang: “My editor, Kate, asked me if I was sitting down. ‘Your book,’ she said, ‘has done better than we thought.’
“So, I asked if it had made the Top 100 – and she said it had. You’re not kidding! It had entered the chart at Number 2. I just burst out crying.”
She was pipped to the top spot by American writer Danielle Steel, one of the bestselling authors of all time with global sales of more than 800 million copies of her 190 books.
Carol, 62, admits that her TV fame after presenting the weather for more than 25 years has helped her book sales.
She says: “I think being on telly so regularly helps. Perhaps people were curious to see what I’d come up with.
“But look, I don’t claim to be Tolstoy. My books are a mix of intrigue and entertainment. The chapters are short and usually finish on a cliffhanger, perfect summer beach reads.”
Her time on BBC Breakfast has made her a household name and opened many doors, but she adds she still struggles with the early starts.
“It’s a killer shift. It’s not natural to get up at quarter to three in the morning. You never really get used to it.”
But on the plus side: “I’ve broadcast from the royal enclosure at Ascot, from Centre Court at Wimbledon, where I’ll be for its fortnight. I’ve flown with the Red Arrows, sky-dived with the Red Devils.”
She loves the weather because it changes all the time but says the lack of a summer this year has made her job difficult.
Carol says: “People blame me. I get heckled because there’s been so much rain. My best tip is to take an umbrella with you at all times.
“It’s good if it rains and you can use it as a parasol if it’s sunny.”
Carol also pops up regularly on The One Show and uses her five weeks’ holiday a year to give talks on cruises – most recently, a tour of the Western Isles.
“I joined the ship in Oban and sailed up to the Kyle of Lochalsh.”
She also performed on a cruise to the Scilly Isles – “and the weather was fabulous. Tresco looked like the Caribbean.”
Born in Inverness-shire, Carol is number six of eight children – two boys, six girls – to mother Nancy and father Callum, a hotelier in Morar, Scotland.
Coming from such a large family she wanted to have children but wasn’t able to conceive with her first husband, Scottish businessman Jimmy Kirkwood.
She says: “I’d wanted to be a mum since I was a child. And we tried everything. But it just never happened and nor could anyone tell us why. But I’ve got lots of nieces and nephews who I adore.”
Her 25-year marriage to him ended in 2008, with Carol saying: “Sadly, it just ran its course and we both moved on.”
About seven years ago she met serving police officer Steve Randall, 48 and fell in love again: “He’s kind, intelligent, he makes me laugh – and he’s very handsome.”
They married on December 27 last year: “It was so romantic, a small intimate wedding. I wouldn’t have changed one thing about it. Best thing I ever did.”
She adds: “If our ages were the other way around, nobody would ever mention it. I’ve had a few comments but I don’t care. We’ve moved on from the days when he might have been described as my toyboy or people might call me a cougar. We’re happy together and that’s all that matters.”
● Once Upon A Time In Venice by Carol Kirkwood (HarperCollins, £16.99) is available to order from Express Bookshop for £16.99 by visiting www.expressbookshop.com or calling 020 3176 3832. Free UK P&P on online orders over £25.