Inspiration

To what extent is creative writing influenced by a writers’ life experiences? What is it that inspires, motivates putting pen to paper?

For me, reading Rebecca was the catalyst but, looking back, I was also haunted by the sister who died the year before I was born. It can’t be coincidence that all my novels incorporate a quest for someone missing? In later life, family bereavements continue to stimulate my writing splurges. Does creative writing help us to heal? 

T.S. Eliot

I couldn’t leave Dorset without nipping across the border to Somerset and paying my respects to another great poet, T.S. Eliot.

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NANOWRIMO 2020

Good luck to all my writer friends taking part in Nano this year – and why I’m taking this year out…

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Anticipation for Netflix’s Rebecca

Lily James looks as if she might be believable. The first time I read Rebecca, I was immersed so fully that I failed to notice the protagonist had no name – she was me, and I was her.

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Inspiration for Three Faced Doll

My novel Three Faced Doll was inspired by a doll my sister and I shared when were young. The plot developed from broodling about lost sisters, dead twins and madness in my family.

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beginnings

Writing through Grief

It was while I was attending the Fowey Festival in Cornwall I received desperately sad news. My little brother, ten years my junior, had died. That’s not supposed to happen. His death came without warning and really threw me.

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Granny’s Story – Jacob and George

When you’re a parent, you want to keep your children safe and happy. That doesn’t stop just because they grow up. I shared in their joy and excitement as my daughter and her partner prepared for the birth, and I shared in their heartbreak…

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