I live in Essex in the UK with my son and two cats, Puzzle and Bud.  I've always written and a couple of years even managed to win an Arts Council award to help me develop my writing skills.  I was very excited but the reality was that I found the process very discouraging - all the experts kept repeating just how difficult it was to get published and, like so many aspiring authors before me, I sent out hundreds of scripts to agents and publishers only to have them rejected.  I'd resigned to myself to writing just for the sheer personal enjoyment but then earlier this year everything changed. In January I helped to establish a group for writers (Writebulb) with some friends.  Our very first guest speaker was Penelope Fletcher.  Until she came I'd never even heard about indie writing!   As she talked to us I remember being totally blown away by the concept of self-publishing and thinking 'I can do that' - so I did!  Although my writing is normally aimed at the YA market I had children's story that I'd written some years ago for my son, so I decided to self publish it just to see what the process was.  The first book of the Burly and Grum series, Beyond the Forest, was published (after a bit of tidying up!) just a couple of months after the meeting.  I feel proud that I've become part of such a great community and that I finally have managed to see my work on Amazon and other sites.   I'm looking forward to the future and continuing my writing and publishing!  

Arts Council Award 2008