I am a strong believer in fate. I believe that things happen for a reason and I believe that you should take what life throws at you and turn it into a positive. This is exactly what happened to me in February 2010.
I am not your stereotypical writer. I haven’t been writing stories since I was knee high and I haven’t read all of the classic stories that, probably, I should have. I didn’t grow up dreaming of being an author, or a journalist, or anything writing related actually. I grew up wanting to be a physiotherapist, and then later, a dancer. I left school, went to college and received a diploma in performing arts. I then secured a place at University and was set to train and become a dance teacher. A couple of months before starting the course I realised it wasn’t what I wanted to do; it wasn’t my dream. I didn’t know what my dream was, but I knew it wasn’t that. So I cancelled my place and cancelled my student loan.
But then it dawned on me – what do I do now?
I flitted between lots of office and retail jobs, never really feeling truly at home. I hadn’t yet found my ‘place’. In 2006 I fell pregnant and had to re-think work. I couldn’t continue where I was so I became a stay-at-home mummy to my daughter (LO).
Whenever LO napped, I began to jot things down, little stories here and there, but it never developed into anything and will probably end up staying in the folder with everything else – but it kept me going. My love for the written word was developing, and fast!
In February 2010, I was invited to a clairvoyant evening at my local pub. This is where my writing life changed forever.
The clairvoyant told me that I should listen to myself and do that ‘thing’ I had been thinking about because I would be good at it and do well. The following day I signed up to a novel writing course with the London School of Journalism.
Since then I, have completed the course, enrolled with the Romantic Novelists’ Association on their New Writer’s Scheme every year, completed novels and short stories, entered writing competitions, attended numerous writing events, became a Romaniac, released an anthology, was offered representation by an agency, secured an agent and in 2013, won the Festival of Romance’s New Talent Award.
And for the first time, I feel I have found my true passion. I am home.
The Romaniacs 