About Me

This is me, doing my best impression of a potato. Photo c/o Maverick Publishing

I've always enjoyed creative writing - I sent my first book off when I was just thirteen years old. I kept writing into my twenties, but it wasn't until I hit thirty that I decided to take things seriously and really put the effort into taking writing from being a hobby, to a career.

The picture below is Matthew - the eldest of my three sons. Matthew had severe cerebral palsy and required 24hr care. He was the driving force behind me putting the work in to become an author. 

On Roker beach - when Matthew was small and I had hair.

I got my first break with a Young Adult crime thriller called Clash. This was followed up with three others. Unfortunately, it didn't pay anywhere near what I was expecting. Writing was still a hobby. Nothing more.

Matthew passed away when he was sixteen years old. I wrote Buttercup Sunshine as a kind of therapy. I wanted to write something Matthew would have enjoyed. When book 2 was given only a very limited print run, and the rest of the series canned, I took a step back and decided to write what I enjoy and see where it goes. 

I'm currently doing a degree in Creative Writing at the University of Falmouth. At the moment, I'm writing adult fiction under a different name. 

That's enough about me. Here's a few random pictures.

Me and Matthew at Wooky Hole

Matthew at Seven Stories - one of my favourite pics.

Having a blurry head day

Appearing on The Weakest Link.
I got kicked off in the 2nd round.


I've put up lots of posts about Matthew over the years. Some I've archived, some I've kept. But I want to keep a link here to the last post I wrote about him so I can always find it.




BA in Creative Writing - post mortem

Three years ago, I started out on a part-time BA in Creative Writing. This was an accelerated course, meaning a minimum of 37 hours of work ...