MY BIOGRAPHY

My Background

I was born in East London in 1960 of parents whose ancestors have been Londoners from as far back as the early 1800s.

After first attending a local primary school and successfully passing my 11+ exam, I went on to grammar school where I, unfortunately, didn't do so well. During my third year there the school merged with a local high school to become a 'comprehensive' school, the fashion amongst London schools at the time, and went rapidly down hill. With teachers unable to control classes it wasn't long before I'd lost faith in the school's ability to give me a proper education, and spent a couple of years bunking off, finally leaving at 16 with no formal qualifications. Life, I decided, could teach me far more than any school ever could.

However, a love of learning led me to enrol in college as a mature student, studying Norwegian, English, Maths, Modern History and Social Science at Strømsø Vidergående in Drammen, Norway. I later studied Social Science with the Open University.

Why Norway? Quite simply, I married a Norwegian. I was just 19 when I left London to make Norway my home and although the marriage failed, I stayed in the country for 18 years. Both of my daughters were born there. My son, the eldest of my three children, was born here in England before I left.

I'm now happily settled in South Cheshire with Richard, my partner since 2002, also a freelance writer.

My Writing Qualifications

What qualifies as a qualification? If we're talking formal qualifications then I have none. My abilities as a writer come through a love of words and a desire to write that's followed me ever since I was old enough to understand how several words could be put together in a way that could be used to convey ideas.

My maternal grandfather was, without any doubt, my greatest influence. He taught me to read and write long before I started school. I clearly remember the thrill of being able to understand written words and my delight at being able to read wonderful stories and learn about all sorts of things from books full of amazing pictures!

Grandad was something of a storyteller himself. He inspired me to use my own imagination and helped me write my very first fairy stories; tales of a golden goose and a shoe that walked on its own.

As a teenager I wrote stories about pop-stars, usually The Glitterband. My best friend and I would start on a story each, swap books, continue, swap again and so forth. Those stories made for very interesting reading when we were 14! If only I'd kept them.

During my time in Norway I started to understand that maybe I had a talent with language. I'd correct written work for friends and found that I could write articles that website editors and small editorials would happily reproduce. On returning to England I decided to polish up my English, which had rusted somewhat over the years, and started writing in my mother tongue again.

What now?

A medical condition has left me unable to take regular employment and finding myself in a position where I needed a way of making a living from home, freelance writing seemed the natural course to take. I started my business during the early part of 2005 and have had some very encouraging feedback from clients during that time. A few kind words can go a long way to changing a person's view of thier circumstances.

My Hobbies & Interests

My greatest vice, or so I'm told, is the fact that I find it difficult to do nothing. By that I mean sitting around, watching TV and just chillin'. I have to be doing something constructive with my time or I become irritable. Pity those who have to live with me!

As you can imagine, I've developed quite a few interests over the years, something that's helped me immensely in my writing.

My hobbies and interests include, in no particular order and not necessarily linked directly to my preferred writing subjects:

• Dogs - dogs have been kept in my home for as long as I can remember and I owned a dog of my own for the first time aged nine. I've since learned a lot about training (including agility and obedience), behaviour and psychology and am currently studying towards a Diploma in Canine Behaviour & Psychology. This is, without a doubt, my preferred subject.
  
  
• Social and Environmental Issues - one of my favourite subjects to research and write about.
  
  
• Gardening - although I can't do as much as I once did, I love to potter about and watch the plants grow and thrive.
  
  
• Metaphysics and Parapsychology - Crystals, healing, ESP and all sorts of things that often have people looking at me as if I'm not quite the ticket (who knows, maybe I'm not!).
  
  
• Spiritual Matters - I'm always asking questions and seeking answers. Is that healthy? I really don't know, but it doesn't appear to have hurt me so far.
  
  
• Writing - surprised? I love writing letters and for me, e-mail will never take the place of receiving a hand-written letter. I also write stories but I keep them mostly to myself.
  
  
• Reading - just about anything and everything I come across, from Mills & Boon Romances to The Story of O (maybe there isn't a whole lot of difference there!). Car boot sales are great places for picking up old books on obscure subjects, as are charity shops (every writer should frequent these places - I've found countless books on my specialist subjects for a fraction of the cost of their original price.) Just gimme a book will ya? Who cares what it's about!
  
  
• Travel - I've lived a very spontaneous life, just upping and going wherever my fancy took me. Although it isn't quite as easy for me nowadays, I still like to get out and experience new places whenever possible. Right now, my ambition is to once again spend a night in a tent along with one or both of my dogs. Whether my health will actually let me do that again remains to be seen but that isn't going to stop me trying!
  
  
• Conversation - sounds like a strange hobby, eh? I don't suppose it's what you'd call a conventional hobby but I do think there's plenty to be learned by talking to people. For a writer, other people are the key to countless interesting stories and features.
  
  
• Absolutely Anything That Will Break The Boredom - I can't stand being bored and because I can find something of interest in most things, boredom is something I very rarely experience. Doing anything's better than doing nothing and there's so much still to be learned!

Life's given to us to be lived. This isn't a dressed rehearsal and none of us know how long we have here so there's really no excuse for not doing the things you want to do. The fear of failure stops too many people from living a full life, but failure is surely at its greatest when we fail to live the life we want?

As my grandfather would have said, "If you really want something you have to go out there, grab it by the balls and squeeze as hard as you can!"