A long time ago! When I was about six, I remember stapling together little books about fairies that I’d written and illustrated.  I’m still at my happiest when I have a pen in my hand, or nowadays a keyboard at my fingertips. 

Like most writers, I love reading and I particularly like reading books for children.  As a child I read pony books, boarding school stories and just about anything I could find in the library.  I like any novel with a good ‘hook’ and an exciting plot – the kind of book you don’t want to put down when it’s time to turn out the light. 

I’m one of those writers who works best in one place – and that’s usually a table in my living room.  The window looks out on a huge hornbeam tree that helps transport me to the natural world where Zeta and Finn live. I’m also lucky enough to have an amazing wood nearby and I often go there, early in the morning, with my two dogs – a toy poodle called Murphy and Monty the Chihuahua.  We sit on a log and I imagine Zeta flitting through the trees with her bow and arrow.

I often find that random objects will give me the idea for a story, and Stone Arrows grew out of one of these.  Some years ago, I was digging in my garden when I saw something unusual in the stony soil. When I wiped it my heart did a flip! I’d found the flint flake that you can see on this website. It’s very small - only five and a half centimetres long -  but it’s my most treasured possession. Straightaway I imagined who the last person to hold it might have been.  And that’s when Zeta came into my life.

 I start off with an idea then ask myself questions.  I usually have the shape of the story and how it might end.  The funny thing is,  I can be halfway through writing and then suddenly the character does something I’m not expecting and the story takes a completely different turn.

Write as often as you can and never give up! I used to write magazine articles and short stories but I wish I’d got round years ago to publishing a novel.  I hope the ideas I’ll be adding to this website will help you to write something of your own.  What starts off as a short five minute exercise may end up as a full length novel! It happens sometimes.