My Story
Even the gods love jokes. Plato
People often say -- whoever these people are -- that everyone has a story inside them and I tend to agree. One's story is important: it holds the key to who you are, what you think and where you're going.
But only one story? Surely not.
I believe we have endless stories inside us, most autobiographical, some fictional -- and a handful too indelicate to share.
Life-Lit, that's my genre.
Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine. Lord Byron
Who
I'm an avid observer of people and the world around me. I love to overhear conversations, little snippets that can fuel ideas for my characters. I always say my work is like me, dialogue driven. I have the ability to talk for hours without seeming to draw breath.
Music has always been a big part of my life I write with my iPod or Spotify on shuffle; silence doesn't focus my mind. I find music helps me to lose myself in my creative mind.
Growing up I had the freedom to discover myself. Yes there were mistakes. Bad behaviour, minor lawbreaking and playing truant led to years of rebellion, anarchy and hair dye. I was always an oxymoron, I am a devoted fan of traditional disco music(1970's) but also found myself embroiled in the punk scene (75-76), hence the hair dye and to date I'm still a disco bunny with the edge of an ageing punk.
What
I searched for so long to think of the genre that I write, mostly saying it was up-lit. But now I say I write, Life-Lit.
After I gave up writing for the theatre, I chose to become a freelancer. I wrote for various magazines and contributed a few articles to an international magazine. They offered me a features job and I stayed with them for three years.
I wanted to write fiction and had a vague idea of what I wanted to write. It must have humour and because of my theatre experience be dialogue driven.
After experimenting with genres, most of which faltered with some failing miserably. One day a Twitter post caught my eye. a male author tweeted, 'men cannot write from a female point of view'. Because I love to challenge perceptions, my writing from a female POV was born. I prefer to write from this viewpoint as women can be more interesting and complex characters to inhabit. Maybe my being surrounded by strong females throughout my upbringing is the reason this sits so well with my writing psyche.
Why
I told someone the premise of my book, 52 and they asked me what was funny about cancer? My reply was, 'cancer isn't funny but if you look hard enough you'll find humour in every situation.'
Why do I write what I call humour rather than comedy? I think it's because when you say, you write comedy, the initial reaction is, 'okay make me laugh.' I love to find the humour in most situations be it light or dark. I featured it heavily in my book, Widows' United where each character had lost a husband but not their sense of humour. My Novella Willow and the Motorway Horses, takes a surreal and quite frankly at times, bonkers story and injects humour into the narrative.
Asked recently why it's taken me so long to self-publish some of my work I realised that I could spend eons waiting for that traditional publishing deal only to give up control of much of my material, and so although I wouldn't say I was a control freak I wanted people to see my original ideas etc.
When
When I was restoring my house in Italy I had an idea to write a novel about a hotel restoration and (loosely) tie in the mystery of the Florentine diamond. Although I found it difficult to concentrate in the hot Italian summer the novel was completed and is now available after publication on 1st May 2024.
Finding the time to write is a problem for many authors, but I think having worked for a magazine and being used to deadlines has helped me to develop a routine when it comes to putting ideas down on (virtual) paper.
When writing, be it a novel or a monologue I find it invaluable to have the support of my peers and belong to a writers' group where the feedback I get is honest and constructive rather than fawning appreciation that some groups offer. It's better to be told something doesn't work rather than false praise that prevents my development.
©Copyright. All rights reserved
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.