I grew up in Chelmsford, Essex.

Many years ago, a famous author called Charles Dickens said that Chelmsford was ‘the dullest and most stupid spot on Earth’. The nerve! No wonder he hasn’t dared to publish anything for over a hundred years.

As a child, I wrote many stories, the greatest of which was called ‘Merominse and His Adventures’, although ‘Mummy’s Book of Cats’ comes a close second.

I stopped writing stories when I went to university, because I didn’t think they were any good. They probably weren’t, but that’s not a good reason to stop, is it? I didn’t start again until I was in my late 30s. In the meantime I had various jobs: I worked at a boarding kennels, in a hardware store, a doctor’s surgery and at two publishing houses.

Then I decided I didn’t like commuting and spending so much time in an office, and began working from home as a copy-editor. That’s someone who reads books before they’re published and points out mistakes that need correcting. Authors need editors because it’s really hard to spot mistakes in your own work. Like trying to see your own face without a mirror.

In 2012, I was a winner of a children’s story competition judged by one of my favourite authors, Michael Rosen. That made me think that maybe, just maybe, I should carry on writing and see what happened. So I did. And it went pretty well!

In October 2020, my first novel, The Orphans of St Halibut’s, was published, followed by Pamela’s Revenge. They are both illustrated by David Tazzyman, a legendary art wizard.

You can visit David’s website to see some of the other amazing artwork he has done. I love his pictures because you can see the characters’ personalities shining out of them, and there are so many funny details to spot.