Welcome To My Website!

Welcome! You have found your way here one way or another and I hope you find something you like. If you haven't read my bio, pop over and have gander to get an idea of who I am and what I'm about but for now I'll dive right in to a little about my writing and what you'll find here on my site if you check back in regularly.

I've always written stories. My first was at the age of five and it was called Sally's monster. It was about a little girl who keeps getting visited by a big green monster and every time it comes around she tells it "Go Away, big green monster!" Eventually she discovers it only wants to be her friend and it is, in fact, a friendly monster. I feel now there was a deep meaning to that little story even if back then I had no idea. Since then it has been one story after another.

“It was a massive manuscript. It was an epic fantasy full of high stakes and cliches and most of all, it was rubbish.”

I've written many little stories over the years but finally completed a full length novel at the age of seventeen. It was a massive manuscript. It was an epic fantasy full of high stakes and cliches and most of all, it was rubbish. It's still tucked away somewhere as a reminder of how far I've come since then and of the sheer accomplishment of finishing my first novel.

The Start of Self Publishing.

“To create something from scratch and watch it come together, like self-publishing a book, is some kind of magic.”

The next story I wrote that is worth noting was "The Clock Struck One," a paranormal horror that while still full of cliches and writing evidently done by an inexperienced young adult (eighteen at the time), was still rather spooky and well done for what it was. It received loads of great feedback and reviews on Goodreads and Amazon when I self-published it and sat at an average of 4.5 stars.

The next book I wrote at age 19-20 I also self-published. "Behind Blue Eyes" too sat at

around 4.5 stars on Goodreads and Amazon with over 50 reviews and while that's no amazing feat in comparison to best-selling authors, it was an accomplishment I was proud of.

Why Did I Self-Publish?

I think a lot of people believe the main reasons writers self-publish is because they couldn't be bothered putting in the hard yards to gain traditional representation and publishing or because they've submitted and queried their hearts out until there was no one left to reject their book so they put it out there themselves.

For me it was just the love of everything self-publishing is. I love to create. Whether it is stories or images, digital designs or crafts such as the crochet and sewn creations I have made and sold successfully online for over ten years. The idea of taking my story, creating an actual book all by myself from formatting the inner pages to designing and creating the cover was beyond exciting. I loved it! I especially love designing covers for all my stories.

I was proud of what I had achieved. It wasn't the writing career I was aiming for (not yet anyway) but I was taking baby steps and baby steps is how it all starts. I was advertising and marketing my work, running it like a business just as I run my online store. I was even featured in a local newspaper for my work and invited to do some author talks at local libraries and although I'd never done public speaking before, I did it and I did it good!

After a while I had to take a step back from committing myself to my writing as much as I had been. It is my passion but it wasn't what supported my family and as my job as a casual on-call teacher aide became more demanding as I started working full time hours, and my online business picked up and my orders increased to bring in a steady income, I had to prioritise what was earning money to help support my family.

I still wrote. I wrote short stories and another novella that turned into a short novel. 'Prescient' is a contemporary fantasy about a recluse with the curse of foresight who is on a journey to discover herself while also uncovering the truth behind the disappearance of a teenage girl. It is available to read for free on Wattpad.

I also worked on another novel, (which I wrote out as 365 handwritten A4 pages in just over a month) 'The Ruined Ones' a post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy that I absolutely love because I am a huge apocalyptic fiction fan. 'The Stand' and 'Cell' by Stephen King is in the top of my favourite books list and 'The Walking Dead' is something I binge watch over and over (I am up to my 7th or 8th run through now).

I have now also finished another novel, currently titled 'Within These Walls' but that is just a temporary title and it is my goal to submit it to agencies in the hopes of taking my writing career to the next level. I love self-publishing and all that comes with it but this one is meant for something else. It is a contemporary novel about a woman who suffers with a severe form on anxiety and agoraphobia, brought on by a terrible experience in her past. When her only child is kidnapped, it starts her down a path to discover the inner strength needed to battle her fears and regain her life, helped by a man who she finds herself falling for. It is quite different to what I normally write but it still has some dark and emotionally laden elements that are akin to my usually style.

I did previously have a website with links to my books and reviews and many blog posts but here I am starting a fresh. Why? Partially because I wanted by books and all my work to have my new married name on them and to do that I had to completely remove them from Amazon and publish new versions (sacrificing all my amazing reviews I might add), and partially because this time around I'm doing things a little different and the best way to do that was start from scratch.

So here I am. This is basically my story so far but it is not done yet. I will always continue to write, whether if be for the flash fiction competitions I enter, the novels I have to get out of my head, the poetry I sometimes feel the need to write down or some simple little blog posts to share here. I will write, and I hope you will read it. I hope you will enjoy it and check back regularly to see what's new and follow my journey.

But until next time, ta-ta for now, but not for long.