I’ve written for years and years. Always have, always will. It’s a great escape from life, isn’t it? You can be anywhere, and do anything. I used to want to be a screenwriter. I’d write screenplays and send them off to competitions, because apart from those, I didn’t have a clue what to do with them. I always did well enough to keep me motivated, but never well enough to actually get anywhere (although I did win a mug once!)

When I realised that wasn’t going to go anywhere, I turned to novel writing. Turns out it’s pretty fucking hard. I’d dip into it now and again, but never really take it seriously, or try to make anything of it. But then, at 38, I decided enough is enough. I finished the manuscript I’d been working on for near 10 years. I went over it and over it until I got it to the place I want it to be.

Then I realised there was a whole world of short story writing. I’d never thought about it. Short stories and anthology’s had never crossed my mind. So I started on the shorts. Writing, submitting, getting rejected. Most rejections are demotivating, obviously, but the first rejection I received for The Dollhouse was the nicest one I’d ever had. It motivated me, it made me believe that I actually had a good story. I submitted it somewhere else and it was accepted. And now it’s published!

The Dollhouse – HellBound Books’ Anthology Of Horror, HellBound Books

Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com

The Dollhouse:

When a young woman’s dog runs into the garden of a creepy house, she has no choice but to follow it. But what starts as a simple search quickly turns into a terrifying ordeal, as she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish world where nothing is quite what it seems.