I found school very difficult when I was young, especially reading and spelling I would cry saying I can’t do it but my dad kept on trying with me even as an adult it was hard, but in my late twenty’s I took it on myself to go to English classes, and this is where I got a lot of confidence from.

Later in my thirties, I did study  communication and word power City and Guild course, which really helped, as I always thought that I was no good at anything, then in my later years I realised, this was not true, and I could write,

On my way home from work I was listening to a radio 2 interview about two very naughty ravens from the Tower of London, on how mischievous they are. When I got home I told my husband about this and said that it would make a good children’s book. I didn’t do anything about it for some time until I told my mum, she said that it would be a good story, but I would have to do some research, so I went and done some research about the Tower of London, after that, I, thanked mum and my husband for giving me the encouragement to write the book.

When I had finished the book (Henry the Naughty Raven), I sent it off to many publishers, some of them did not get back, and some did saying that it was not for them it was a bit disappointing, but it was my first book, I had forgotten all about it for some time, then all of a sudden I got an email from Olympia Publishers saying that they were interested, we were so happy with this news, but I did keep it a secret from the family for some time.

As this was my first adventure into publishing we found Olympia very helpful,  they guided me through the procedure, yes we did get some things wrong but as we were new to this it was a good learning curve. When the contact came through and I had signed it, we told my mum and sister who were very happy for me and excited. When the first books were delivered we could not wait to open them for the first time.

Sadly mum has now passed away and never got to see the book, but I know she would have liked it, so when we visited the grave I took the book with me and read to her. I have had my second book published and it has now been released (Henry the Naughty Raven Stories) this one has three stories in it and Henry and Gordon are still very mischievous.

I find writing these children stories good for me, as I am mildly dyslexic, and have had depression, but this also shows even if you have a reading a spelling problem you can still achieve, in this world. My late mum, dad and sister would have been so proud of me.

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