Suspense Women's Fiction Literary Fiction BIOGRAPHY
I was born and grew up in North London, England, but was unable to attend university when young due to family financial circumstances. Instead, I worked at various occupations, including dental nurse, laboratory assistant and shop assistant.
I married just before I was 20, and travelled to some interesting places around the world, following my husband’s career. I spent much time reading, a passion, but in order to keep further occupied I took office jobs when these were available to me; I hated the work, but the money was useful.
When we were back in the UK I took evening classes at various times and gained ‘A’ levels in Psychology, Sociology and English, eventually settling in Kent with my husband and becoming a mature student and gaining Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English and Literature before training and working as a teacher.
In 2016 we moved to the peace and quiet of rural Lincolnshire, and my sporadic writing activities became more permanent. I self-published Fairytales Don't Come True, my debut novel, in May 2020 and since then have written and published four books of poetry, October Poems, Thanksgiving Poems & Prose Pieces, Poet-Pourri and Social Climbing and Other Poems. In January 2021 I published a sequel to Fairytales entitled Degenerate, Regenerate and at the end of March 2021 I published a psychological suspense story, You Know What You Did. A third book was published in June 2021 to make a trilogy with Fairytales and Degenerate, entitled All That We Are Heir To. Another psychological suspense story is now underway. I usually go for a long walk each day (weather permitting; I’m a fair-weather walker) in the beautiful countryside around us, and exercise for a couple of hours each morning, including use of a hula-hoop and stepping machine. I love food and drink and have spent half my life battling a weight problem. I managed to lose 5 stone of unfortunately-gained weight three years ago and am determined to NEVER regain it! So every other day is a diet day (for hubby too), but when not being careful we enjoy a good meal with wine. Going out to eat is something which I enjoy, although under the current lockdown conditions I’m having to cook at home every day. This was fun for a while, but I’m running out of ideas and really looking forward to the day when I can eat a meal which I haven’t prepared myself.
For other leisure activities I have taught myself to play the recorder; badly, but it keeps the brain cells ticking over. I also listen to music of many types; Tracy Chapman is playing while I write this, and will later be replaced by Leonard Cohen or Katie Melua or any one of dozens of other artists, or by some classical music or opera, another passion.
Oh, and of course there’s reading, something which I have loved since I was a child. I became a convert to eBooks and subscribed to the Kindle Unlimited programme, because although I love physical books, my bookcases are groaning under the weight and I don’t have room for any more. I review everything I read, since I became an author myself and realise the value of these in getting our work in front of as many eyes as possible; but it does mean that I have a large virtual To Be Read pile!
In late 2021 I was offered training and freelance work as a sub-editor for Best Book Editors, as well as writing book reviews and blogs for their website. Life is busy and certainly not boring. |
