Writers are supposed to have tortured, unhappy backgrounds but I grew up very happily in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire.
I wrote my first book aged four about a teddy bear called Glug (why the name? I haven't a clue!). When I was twelve my father brought back a typewriter from his office and I began my first novel. I was, however, hampered by the fact that he insisted that I learn to touch-type, covering all the keys with sticking plaster and buying me a copy of "Teach Yourself Touch-Typing". In retrospect, I am so grateful to him - touch typing is the most useful skill I have ever learned, apart, perhaps, from driving a car.
Secretarial training followed and then a succession of jobs, temping in London in the 'seventies, selling furniture around the country in the early 'eighties and then a drift into the insurance industry and subsequently into information technology. All good fun and a constant source of background material to my writing.
In 1998, my husband and I were living in Newbury but decided it was time for a change, so we threw in our jobs and bought a run-down guest house in Swanage, Dorset. Part of the plan was to give me more time to write but the hotel needed complete renovation and time was short. Now complete, the hotel is increasingly successful and busy so time is still at a premium, but I have to write - it's what I do.
We also have Irish Terriers, breeding a litter a year and giving us a great excuse to go walking in the beautiful Dorset countryside.
