In my youth I had never really thought about writing a book or becoming an author, though I had always enjoyed reading. As a youngster my mum was often telling me to “get my nose out of that book” and do something useful. However, I’d always enjoyed writing essays at school, so it’s fair to say that I like putting pen to paper.

In 1990 I obtained a busy part time job which worked well around my three sons and their school holidays. In 1992 I was asked to take a full time post working as a personal assistant/secretary for the Chief Executive of an organisation. At times this job was frantically busy which was fine as it made the day pass quickly, but there were also periods when I had little to do and the time dragged. I couldn’t very well sit at my desk and read a book or a newspaper, but found I could quite easily write.

I’d always been a fan of Catherine Cookson novels and of history and so I decided that this would be the genre that would suit me best. However, I wanted my books to be set in the Devon countryside and not the north of England. My favourite Catherine Cookson book has to be “The Dwelling Place.”

So it was that I started writing my first historical novel, “The Mazzard Tree.” With three teenage sons and a husband, not to mention a keen interest in walking, gardening and family history, I had little other time for writing and work on the book was spasmodic for a number of years.