Hello, and welcome to my very first post.

It is a very exciting moment as I begin to share my writing journey with you. Although I have written many books and drafts over the years, I’m pretty new to writing in a more public way.

How I wish I could find all those ‘books’ I had penned as a kid! I had some really good story ideas that could be developed now. I had my first book ‘published’ when I was 12. I was part of a children’s writing group at a local library, and I remember well the day our writing was ‘published’, and our words were made into a volume of short stories. The book was put on display in the library for visitors to read. We even made it into the local newspaper!

Since then, I have written books that have never made it through the editing phase. Ideas that are hidden away on an old laptop somewhere. I really should look those out and see if there is anything worth salvaging. However, I feel I am at a different point now in my writing journey.

I abandoned writing for a while. My career became my focus and took up so much of my time. Then I got married and had children, and the usual home life responsibilities took over and became my priority. It became about working to provide for my family and ensuring my children had everything they needed.

It was only in the last few years that I began to delve back into writing. My career was well established, and I was settled in my job. Although still young, my kids had their own interests and hobbies, and I felt the pull of yet again putting ideas on paper. The pandemic was when I found the time to begin writing again.

I penned some short stories and a few ideas for a children’s book. Again, these remained saved on a laptop, and there were months when I didn’t even look at the words. Two years ago, I began to read over some of my work and decided that maybe it was worth redrafting and editing to see if some of the ideas could pull in an audience.

I looked at how this could be done and discovered that self-publishing was an option that I could give some serious thought to. The pandemic had brought people back to reading as an avenue for filling their time, given they were stuck at home, and there seemed to be a surge in people like me trying their hand at self-publishing. This became a real avenue to explore in reaching an audience for my writing.

I had been reading a lot over that time and had found joy again in the slower pace of life. Reading really became an escape, and I developed an appetite for fantasy novels. They drew me in and allowed me to explore new worlds and fantastical characters with gifts and powers we could only imagine. I loved it!

And so, my passion for reading and writing returned to me. I was excited by everything I read and my words becoming alive on the page. I hadn’t shared my work with anyone, and that didn’t matter. It was an accomplishment for me to get them down on the page and see a draft through to completion. I had stories written and completed, and that felt amazing!

My task now was to get those stories well organised and ready. I was planning to share my ideas with the world, and it all seemed very exciting… and overwhelming! And so, it began….