How does one become a writer? By writing of course and:

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own.

Let me tell you my journey to this room of my own.

It all started with reading at an early age with no television to entertain or distract me. My parents read to me every night. When I discovered I could read a page faster than they could read out loud, I fired the bedtime readers and read my own story. From then on I gobbled up books and had a library card. The encyclopedia for children was also my sickbed reading. I was sick a lot in industrial Birmingham with all its smog. There was no television in my house until I was eleven. By that time I was reading Jane Eyre. So as a single child I had to entertain myself. Worlds inside the two covers became my escape and my joy, for the rest of my life.

I grew up in England, with an education that insisted on writing. It was important for everything. English compositions, history, geography, science reports and exams were all in longhand. There were no multiple choice exams or computers or email or computers for preparing papers.

Writing was part of my professional life. I had several careers. After graduation from Keele University in U.K., I moved to Canada. I was a science teacher, then a fundraiser for various projects for my children’s schools, and for Wildlife Preservation Trust Canada. Then I became a psychologist, writing notes and reports. That was eye-opening, and an education in various personalities and crises that probably surface in my books. I learned some marketing using the internet. So I can market my own work and help others do the same.

Writing is a personal and creative experience. Plots and personalities emerge as I write. Some of myself and some of my experiences, real, or vicarious, seem to show up on the page. I fictionalize of course. Three countries have been my homes, so I write in three languages: British, Canadian and American English!

Now I am retired. I live in Florida, in The Villages, with my husband Charlie, who guides me with the technical aspect of computers and websites, and makes me laugh, and our miniature schnauzer Bella who takes me for walks.

Read My blog and follow the progress of my writing, and the support that has helped others and me along the way.