Essentially I’m a writer and dreamer who loves dragons… Dragons are peppered across my flash fiction with dangerous regularity… see HERE … yes, I warned you! But despite my love of these fabled, glorious creatures, they haven’t made it into a published novel – yet. They are waiting in the wings though – see what I did there?

On a more serious note, because that’s what I am, a dreamer who probably takes herself much too seriously, my words will touch your soul.

My words began when I was old enough to hold a pencil. I etched out ideas in both sketch and word and elaborated with both forms. I was the proverbial child who lived within a dream and didn’t want to slide back into reality. I was the quiet one who drew spirals and stars where equations should be, and lost track of time in English and Art.

I’ve suffered and grown through stretches of crippling anxiety, panic and depression, and I’ve flown and soared when times are good. I understand both innately, and being a highly sensitive empath means my writing touches the wire and will swirl like an ethereal mist through your own emotions.

Being creative in my world means I need to fulfil all creative urges and not just the writerly ones…my daughter, Bekah, and I started up an Etsy shop last Autumn, and it links to my love of books through rescuing and recycling old, worn, torn and totally abandoned books. Amaranth Alchemy is a delight! I also paint, indulge in photography, and dress-up…

 

I do rather live in a different world to most, we have a cosplayer in the family and I’ve cultivated much imagination amongst my offspring…so our family photos are a bit of fun! Our last picture was Post-Apocalyptic and we had a blast dressing up and making up, and creating props! We’re open to ideas for the next family picture!

 

So, back to my words…sometimes stories need telling and my first published novel hit that button. I wrote ‘Beneath the Rainbow’ back in 2010. I’d already written four and a half books in an adventure series, but this book shelved them (and rightly so because they need many revisions and lots of work!) and I had to tell this story. When I do book talks one of the most common questions is how are you qualified to write about death and loss? My protagonist dies in the very first sentence – not a spoiler – but we follow her journey into the afterlife. She realises that her family are grieving and takes steps to help them and achieve her own dreams too. I believe we’ve all suffered grief and loss, maybe not death, but grief is universal and as a sensitive writer I’ve been able to express it. I’m very humbled by the grace with which those who have lost someone have praised my book and my interpretation.

These are my short blurbs for ’Beneath the Rainbow’:

‘It’s those silly dreams that keep us alive’ Freya won’t let death stand in her way. When she dies Freya knows she needs to move on, but is caught within her mother’s grief and the discovery of terminally ill Old Thomas. Beneath her Rainbow…Freya needs to reach her mother, wait for Old Thomas and be ready to move on.

and its sister book ‘Beneath the Old Oak’:

‘Turn those dreams of escape into hope…’ Meg thinks her mother is broken. Is she broken too? Meg’s life spirals out of control, and when she mirrors her Mum’s erratic behaviour, she’s terrified she’ll inherit her mother’s sins. Seeking refuge and escape, she finds solace beneath a huge, old oak. A storm descends, and Meg needs to survive devastating losses.

Both books tackle mother/daughter relationships. ‘Beneath the Old Oak’ covers the devastating effects of depression on a struggling family, and my third novel, also a companion to these, ‘Beneath the Distant Star’, returns to my ‘Rainbow’ family to see how Freya’s baby sister has coped as a teen.

‘Beneath the Rainbow’ demanded to be written, and having seen how it’s helped and inspired I now understand why. Like I said, some messages have to be shared and as a dreamer this one is personal!

It introduced to me an online writing community. I published it on Kindle as a true novice then joined Twitter to bombard everyone…thankfully, that’s a pattern I didn’t follow! Before mentioning my book at all I made friends and discovered how social media really worked! I know we have to market and self-promote (urgh!) but more important are the connections and friends we make. In the end I discovered flash fiction challenges, improved my writing immensely, pulled my book and re-edited, and re-released it in 2013 with a new cover and design team behind me.

So, here I am – standing before you, probably biting my lip and polishing an acorn cup (my stim) between my fingers. You can find my poetic original take on an ‘About Me’ page on my blog. Check out my words and if you like my flash, then try my books…find me on my

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