I always wanted to be a writer, and I always wrote something – stories, poetry, articles, newsletters, letters. Most writers can't help themselves! It's a compulsion. Getting published, though, is something really special, and having been so fortunate myself I now try to help aspiring writers by handing on tips which it took me years to work out.
I've been published in full-length books for 50 years, with over 85 fiction titles, both under my own name and under several pseudonyms, some in the USA and translation, most also in large print and other editions. Also several non-fiction books.
I graduated from Keele University in Politics and Economics. I've lived in the Midlands, Hampshire, central London, Buckinghamshire, Shropshire and Northamptonshire with my husband, Chris, and we have had a holiday home in Madeira. We have four grown-up children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchilden. Our eldest daughter Jackie is an accountant. The next daughter Debbie, who helped me write the How To Book Starting to Write, manages magazine production with Bauer Media. She also designs the covers for my Ebooks. Cindy, the youngest daughter, worked as a district nurse before she had her three children. Our son Simon is a computer specialist.
Teaching
To begin with I taught economics, and have written many articles on the subject of education. As my writing career took off I gradually moved to combine my teaching skills with what I had learned as a writer.
For a while I taught short-story writing and journalism for the London School of Journalism, and wrote several articles for The New Writer and other magazines and newspapers.
I was also asked to contribute an article on writing romantic fiction for the BBC's web page, for Valentine's day.
I have given talks to all sorts of groups – WI, Probus, Round Table, library readers' and writers' groups. I also ran lots of courses, talks and workshops at the Cheltenham Literature Festival and other major writing conferences, Winchester, Swanwick, and Caerleon Writers' Holiday which was by far my favourite, along with the RNA. I've helped to run three weekend courses for Arts Council England, and I helped to set up the Romantic Novelists' Association annual conference.
I've given many talks and workshops in the USA, UK and on Cunard cruise ships, on a wide range of writing topics,
including The World of Romantic Fiction, Getting and Developing Ideas, Studying the Market,
Plots & Characters, Dialogue, Research, Revision, and Writing Historicals.
Judging and Reviewing
I have judged short story and novel competitions, and was a final judge for the Harry Bowling Prize awarded every two years for a first chapter of a novel with an urban setting and a romantic element.
I reviewed published novels for the Historical Novel Society, and was an adviser to the 3rd edition of Twentieth Century Romance and Historical Writers 1994 (St James' Press Gale International). If you want to find out more about your favourite authors, consult this book or look at www.FantasticFiction.co.uk.
I have read and appraised dozens of scripts, and have had many years of experience assisting new writers by providing constructive written critiques of their work, through the Romantic Novelists' Association, the Arts Council, and commercially with an appraisal agency I helped to establish, StorytrackS.
All this contact with aspiring writers has helped me to identify common errors, to see what is required. Both the workshops and the critiques led to my writing four non-fiction books for How To Books' Successful Writing Series.
Publishing in Print
From 1965-68 I published my own magazine, DEBATE. This provided a platform for serious discussion of the sort of issues, many relating to women, which were rarely tackled those days in newspapers and magazines. I learned a lot from editing articles written by dedicated people who were not primarily writers, but had important messages to convey. It's a truism that one can see mistakes far more easily in someone else's work than in one's own! This is where an informed critique can be invaluable for less experienced writers.
While having no ambitions to become a publisher, I ventured into the realms of self-publishing when I wrote A Century of Achievement, a 290 page history of Queen Mary's High School, Walsall. The publishing and printing is easy, the marketing fiendishly difficult! But here we had a book of very local interest, with a defined market of present pupils and old girls. It would not have been viable for a big publisher, but it worked for me and the Old Girls Club which commissioned it. This book sold out within three months, and was reprinted as a paperback edition.
To publish this history I set up a publishing imprint, Tudor House, and with the option of Print on Demand I published a new edition of Starting to Write.
I was commissioned to write a book on Castles and Corvedale, a guide to accompany a newly developed circular walk in Shropshire. And I recently researched, wrote and published a history of Dallington Hall 1720-2020, where we lived.
Epublishing and Print on Demand
To self-publish today you don't need to print a lot of books. The Print on Demand technology means you can print just one copy at a time, although this is obviously more expensive than spreading the cost over hundreds of copies.
Or you can publish directly as an Ebook and sell copies through sites such as Amazon or Smashwords. Both have guides on how to set up your book and submit it. See our Notes on Epublishing for some details of what we have learned.
Editing
I've edited educational books and newsletters. I edited novels for Transita, featuring women 'of a certain age', and for Choc Lit where gorgeous heros are the norm.
So perhaps I can help other writers. I've had years of experience tutoring and critiquing, as well as learning from my own mistakes, discovering what works and what doesn't. If you are a writer, I hope you'll find something useful here. If you are a reader, perhaps some of the information about how writers work, how some of my books were born, will interest you.
Contact with other writers
Talking with people who understand your work, your problems, and the publishing industry, is very important. Much of my time has been spent with other writers. I belonged to several writers' groups and organisations, including the Society of
Authors, Romantic Novelists' Association.
I ran the Association's New Writers' Scheme for three years, helped organise RNA Conferences, and edited the Newsletter for three years. I was Chairman of the Romantic Novelists' Association 1991-93 and to my delight was elected as one of their Vice-Presidents.