Alison

I grew up near the city of Norwich in the south east of England. It is a medieval city with a castle and two cathedrals. There are cobbled streets and lots of old buildings that look like they may have been built by people who had enjoyed one too many ales. Growing up with all that history surrounding me made a great muse for my imagination. In the village I grew up in, there is an ancient church. An urban legend surrounding the church sparked the initial inspiration for my books. Hence why I use churches in my storyline...it has nothing to do with religion :-)

I was a late starter. I first started writing in 2006 when I was 37. It had always been a dream of mine to write a book about my backpacking adventure around Australia, taken when I was only 20 yrs old. I had always held back, thinking that no one would want to read a memoir about my trip. I had a light bulb moment after talking to a friend and decided I could write it as a piece of fiction, using my adventures as a back drop. A Summer Down Under was born. It was originally titled What's a Jilleroo to do? and I printed a few copies from Lulu.com (about all that was available back then) It sold well locally and I had some good feedback, but getting it any further was proving fruitless.

After I started writing The Amulet, I took down my Aussie book and it languished on my hard drive until 2012 when I decided to revisit it. I had 3 books in the Custodian novel series under my belt by that time and had learned A LOT about writing. I was relieved I had taken the Aussie book down. I admit, it was horribly written. I gave it a revamp; changing it from 1st to 3rd person POV, sent it through 6 beta readers, had it professionally edited, changed the title and worked with a professional cover designer. I was thrilled with the result.

Having built up a wonderful readership for my YA series, a majority of whom just happen to be adult women, I had a good cross over readership for my debut romance.