As some of you will know from my previous posts, I am a teacher and an independent author. My time is filled with work, planning, and prepping for school while I navigate life with my husband. We both support our two kids, and I write in my spare time. I have six books (four adult and two children’s books) currently available to purchase on Amazon, and I have enjoyed the self-publishing route.

I first began my writing journey with the Cherry Blossom series. They are novellas that have helped me navigate the world of self-publishing. The Depths, The Cabin and The Lake, are part of a three-part fantasy series with a fourth book underway. Readers are drawn into a world of mystery as they discover, at the same time as the protagonist, Deana, a world that was always around her but hidden from view. Is the male main character, Havard, who is an anomaly… a hero or a villain? Only the reader can decide. Writing has had its challenges, but I have become more confident using KDP and designing and creating my book covers through Canva with time. It’s only now that I feel I can use Canva the way it was intended, and as a result, I am creating and using my own cover designs rather than paying someone to do this for me.

My other series, The Coven, has one book live, The Last Coven, and a prequel, A Coven Lost, due for a summer release. I have enjoyed writing these historical fiction novels and blending fact with fiction. The witch hunts which plagued Scotland for over 150 years were a dark period of Scotland’s history, and bringing the accused to life in my books, set in 1650, was a fascinating research period. The prequel in 1618 has opened my eyes to how depraved and horrifying this period indeed was. In a quiet village and bustling town in North Ayrshire, Kilwinning, featuring the ancient abbey and Irvine, is brought to life as the story unfolds. Local legends Bessie Graham, Isobel Allen and Damsel Wallas, among many others, feature in The Last Coven and Margaret Barclay, John Stewart and Isobel Crawford feature in A Coven Lost.

I am now working on completing the prequel A Coven Lost and developing my fantasy book A Curse of Power, which will also be released later this year. I love writing fantasy, and by setting my books in Scotland, I have been able to explore Scottish folklore and Celtic mythology and entwine these in my books. I hope my readers will enjoy a tale of destiny as my main character Mae discovers who she truly is and finds a path to reunite her with her unknown past.

I have begun writing children’s books alongside my adult fiction books and I have two books currently available for purchase. One is primarily a picture book with some text. Daring Donkey is an incredible story of breaking the mould and learning to love yourself and your differences. The other is for older kids, which is still aimed at primary-aged children but those competent at reading without an adult. The Curious Tales of Grim is a fantastic story about a witch’s cat who always finds himself in trouble whilst embarking on incredible adventures. It should be live in the next day or two.

But I felt I could offer more. I am a teacher, and thus, I have developed knowledge and skills over the last two decades that could help and inspire young children to learn. I have started developing educational activity booklets that encourage the skills and strategies taught in school whilst developing early literacy and numeracy skills at the Early and First levels of the Curriculum for Excellence. It is aligned with the Scottish curriculum, but given that these skills are universal, it would benefit any child learning from any curriculum or guidelines across the globe.

I have three books currently available in my educational books. My First Book of Numbers is aimed at understanding and developing the skills to work with numbers up to 10. Using number recognition, formation, and numerals placed in a sequence alongside subitising and early addition skills, this book is sure to help your child succeed.

In another number-inspired book, My Fractions and Time Activity Booklet, I help children tackle fractions and time. Typically, these topics can be challenging for children, but with examples, detailed illustrations and opportunities to practice, children will be confident with fractions of a half and a quarter in no time. As their understanding of fractions grows, the link has been made to time, and as soon as children can see and understand a half or quarter of a shape, this can be applied to time and making the link to half past and quarter past in both analogue and digital formats.

I love teaching literacy, and it is the basis of how our children develop the necessary skills in reading, writing and phonics understanding. My First Phonics Book tackles the first six letters of the alphabet and is taught in line with the Curriculum for Excellence. By taking the time to understand, learn and use the first six letters of the alphabet or SATPIN, we can encourage children to feel confident and assured in blending and later transfer these skills to reading and writing. With a mix of words related to SATPIN and the first common words kids tackle to achieve early reading, this booklet offers a great start! It has been a lot of work creating these educational books, but a privilege to share my 2 decades of teacher experience.

So I apologise for my absence of late and hope you will understand that writing and creating have taken up a lot of my time. Still, now that I have my ducks in a row, I aim to update my blog and regale readers with my plans and future endeavours. Take care,

Becca