How exactly did I get here?

A few years ago, when I finally mustered the courage to take my writing seriously and devote some serious time and effort to it, I had no idea where my journey would take me. I first began writing 'publicly' for the local parish magazine, (Gardening Tips, a Hen Keepers Diary and finally Country Notes) and then attended a few local creative writing classes and various writing related events.

After that I spent a couple of years searching, experimenting and reading even more avidly than before, (I wrote short stories for Shortbread Stories, the beginnings of a fantasy story for children set around spooky Gleden Hall and my first novel), before finally settling into the genre of women's commercial fiction.

My metaphorical Writing Path

Then along came quirky, flame haired Lizzie Dixon and The Cherry Tree Cafe gang and I was finally able to relax into my writing because I knew I'd discovered my 'writing home'. I'd finally found the place where the kind of story I loved to write most, would fit. What I didn't expect however, was that my arrival in Lizzie's home town would spark off the inspiration for what, at the moment, seems like endless plots and stories.

Currently editing my recently renamed second novel, Summer at Apple Acre Farm, which just happens to be set outside the little market town where The Cherry Tree Cafe is situated, I already know that the third novel will feature a minor character from The Cherry Tree and that the Christmas novel that will follow will be set in a grand hall on the outskirts of the town and feature a family as yet to be introduced.

Each of the novels can be enjoyed as a stand alone read as the plots are independent of one another but it seems that there are certain characters and places that are refusing to be left behind and that is something I never, ever expected.

If someone had told me that I would be writing novels set around a small East Anglian market town I would have been amazed and yet now, immersed in actually doing it, it feels like the most natural thing in the world. To be honest, some days I feel that I'm merely the conduit for telling the stories of these wonderful characters who are so much a part of my life they could be family.