As an author, my ambition is to sell lots of books and encourage the enjoyment of reading in children.

As an avid reader myself, encouraging reading is relatively easy. It is true, books really can take you away to anywhere in this world and out of it. In my childhood I went to Canada, Northern Ireland, boarding school and Narnia long before I travelled, although admittedly I still haven’t been to Narnia, and only went to boarding school as a visitor. (Extra points for anyone who knows the stories that took me to Canada and Northern Ireland.)

There really is a book to suit every child. If a child hasn’t been inspired by reading, they just haven’t found the right book for them. It might be an exotic story of far away places, something closer to home or a non-fiction book. One of my daughter’s favourites when she was 4-years-old was “Cows” which was a mixture of fiction and factual pieces all about, you guessed it, cows. We didn’t need to live on a farm for her to learn and care about cows. This is what books can do for you.

As for selling books, that is much harder. I would much rather stay at home writing or reading, than go out in to the big wide world. Although saying that, the thought of going out is much worse than the reality. I do enjoy meeting children and working with them on school visits. This year I have the excitement and pleasure of working with the Essex Book Festival. I really am looking forward to this, and have applied to other festivals to be featured elsewhere. I’m sure as the time draws closer I expect I will start to panic and wish I was someone with more confidence. However, on the day, as usually happens, I find some courage and all is well.

If you see me out and about, please come over to have a chat. Despite being an introvert, having conversations and hearing others experiences is heart-warming and you never know, you might inspire the next story. My stories are often inspired by a random comment, so you really never know.

If you’d like to purchase any of my books, please head to my website shop.

I’ll be at the Essex Book Festival again in 2022 – all the details on the Events page.