I guess I've always been a writer and a reader, a reader and a writer. I don't understand writers who don't read. Or don't think it's relevant. I sent my first book off to a publisher aged eight and three-quarters. And received my first very positive rejection slip. Until recently I've been more of a professional reader than a writer (and I use 'professional' in its literal sense - meaning getting paid for it). I did a PhD in Literature at Warwick, specialising in autobiography (New Zealand writer Janet Frame), then taught Literature at Oxford Brookes Uni until leaving to look after little kids at home. That's given me the excuse to stop reading and start writing. Now I have a tailor-made job - which I love - running creative writing workshops for adults and children in London - and residential writing retreats at beautiful Duncton Mill in Sussex. I still get paid to read - and am hoping soon to bite the bullet and get paid to write. I have nearly finished a novel - about a woman who falls down the stairs and bangs her head on a radiator....and I have lots of short stories kicking around. I just need a teacher, like myself, to kick me into sending them off somewhere! Procrastination....
