I was a slow starter at reading. The teacher at my primary school, a spinster with a very large bosom, scared the life out of me. A nice old lady who lived opposite helped me learn and the first books I remember reading and enjoying were the Narnia books by CS Lewis. I loved that fantasy world and the adventures that fired my imagination. I didn't understand the religious symbolism until much later. For me, it didn't add or detract anything from the excitement of the stories.

I've always been an avid reader who wanted to write. Over the last few years the changes in the publishing world have been extraordinary, in particular the control writers have in how and where they want their work to be seen. I think the ability to publish and market a book of your own is a liberation. A lot more work is needed from the indie author, learning how to market your book for example, but the thrill of seeing one of my books published online, available to the whole world, is pretty amazing.

I write every morning between nine a.m. and one p.m. I begin by re-reading the work from the previous day and often make small changes. Sometimes these changes will have an impact on an earlier part of the story and I will either make a note of the changes that need to be done or, if their not too major, do them immediately.
I aim to complete five hundred new words every day. I manage this most of the time and often write more, which I think of as a bonus and treat myself to something nice. Chocolate usually.

I have a small modern wooden desk with a drawer that pulls out. My laptop is just the right size to fit onto the drawer. My laptop is on a plastic pad that has a fan that runs off the laptop's battery via a USB port. There is no effect on the battery as long as my laptop is plugged into the mains. On top of the desk is a television and a DVD player, a black book that holds all my passwords and a small notepad.
My printer is on a shelf under the desk and so is my broadband router along with a selection of envelopes of different sizes.
In the drawer around my laptop is a plastic tub of elastic bands, a wire tub of paper clips, a hole punch, a memory stick and a dynamic duster, which is a soft brush to wipe the dust off the keyboard and the screen.

I don't remember the first story I ever wrote, but I do remember the first story that brought me success. I was twelve, at school and my English teacher announced a forthcoming short story competition for all the schools in East Anglia, UK. Three top prizes, first, second and third, who would receive Book Tokens and then ten runners-up, who would receive an honourable mention. My class was expected to participate. I can't remember if we were given the subject or I just chose it. I wrote a story about Hereward the Wake: an outlaw who lived in the fens around the Isle of Ely during the eleventh century and harried the invading Normans. I included a ferocious battle during which Hereward was wounded and then an exciting escape to reach Ely before Hereward died or the Normans caught him. Hereward made it back, just, and a lot of Normans died with arrows sticking out of them.
I came second in the competition.

A kindle. Easy to navigate around and an excellent way for storing lots of books in one place. You have to dust bookshelves, you just re-charge a Kindle.

I started writing in earnest six years ago. It was always my idea to write at some point in my life and I thought I'd better start before I grew too old. I'd spent ten years, on and off, writing a Victorian thriller, The Russian White and the satisfaction of completing a novel spurred me on to keep writing. I concentrated on writing shorter works with the determination to learn basic writing techniques and so far I've written over twenty short stories. Some deal with elements of the supernatural like Twisted: Four Paranormal Stories, others include contemporary themes as in Gifts: Four Poignant Stories. I enjoy tackling a genre that I haven't tried before. For example, The Pensioner Pirates of Marine Parade in Quirks: Four Humorous Stories is set in the future.

I enjoy delving as deep as I can into the psyche of my POV characters. Many characters in my short stories are women, some old some young, and the fun of letting my imagination roam as they pit their skills against the situations and events I subject them to is fascinating. I like inventing characters that I'm unfamiliar with in everyday life and I like the variety of scenarios available for them to inhabit from Steampunk to that very British tradition of afternoon tea.

Authors who stand out include JRR Tolkien for fantasy, PD James and Ruth Rendell for crime: Peter Ackroyd for his biographies that include Charles Dickens and London. Bill Bryson for the fun of whatever subject he chooses to tackle. I enjoy ghost stories very much and MR James is a favourite as is Edgar Allan Poe. The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James never fails to give me the shivers. I like reading about history too, in particular the books by Tom Holland. He brings the ancient past into very clear focus.