My English teacher (8th grade/year 9) told me that I would be a writer one day. I believe, then, as now, that we are all writers in our own way, but my personal journey took me through women’s magazines in the UK in my 20s, evaluating fiction for serialization, and eventually editing my own section in a monthly magazine on topics that were important to women at the time, before becoming an editor. My teacher’s confidence in me has been a beacon; never underestimate the value of teachers who see far beyond the classroom.
Bailing from the corporate world at the age of 27, I went on to write several nonfiction books on social history, then married and moved 4,000 miles from the UK to New Orleans, Louisiana, where I spent the next twenty years.
An interest in home decor led to the co-founding and subsequent leadership of a retail home decor business with stores in 14 states across the USA, until a serious health issue necessitated a change in direction.
I defaulted to familiar territory: writing for online magazines, interviewing architects, designers, restaurateurs, and personalities while helping small businesses with their marketing, sales, and product development.
After a break of over 30 years, I published 2 anthologies in 2025, with contributions by women from the USA, Canada, and the UK, whose appreciation for life itself is both humbling and inspiring. These nonfiction books helped me realize that there is scant fiction for women in their 60s and 70s who might want to read about women of their own age.
My first novel, Groundsman’s Cottage, decided for itself to be set in Southern England. It is a novel of old vows and new desires, of 1st loves and 2nd chances, and all the main characters are in their 60s. I am working on my 2nd and 3rd novels, both about people in their 60s and 70s. Thank you for reading.