Since I was 7 year’s old, I wanted to write stories. I must have written hundreds of stupid tales or imagined silly scenarios in my head (including the accidental murder of my husband by dropping a tumble dryer on his head – that, I hasten to add, was a nightmare, he’s alive and well and has not come to any harm from any domestic appliances). As I started trying to write a book (or 5, I have too many ideas), I realised that even once I finished it, I had no idea what to do next. I mean, how do you get a book in print? I wasn’t interested in self-publishing, I wanted to be Dickens or Shakespeare or more improbably, JK Rowling.

Now I can’t claim to be a writer of sensible, funny, or clever adult fiction. I have not inhabited an adult world in my head … ever. I definitely still find the magical years of 9 – 13 the most exciting of times, when you’re just old enough to have some freedom, can ride a bicycle, and are still young enough that adults don’t tell you, you should know better. Of course, not all children grow up with everything being perfect. Having taught in secondary schools for 25 years, I know that life outside the school gates for some kids is pants. But I also know that with a good teacher and friendly librarian, that child can inhabit a world with magical owls, spectacular landscapes, broken heroes, and can travel the world. Books offer escape like no other. That was my little world as a child. I read voraciously and I still do. So, as I started to write my books for the young people I used to teach, I also started reading the material that they read. It occurred to me, that it would be a shame not to review those books and share them with my teacher friends and perhaps some of the young people I used to teach who now have kids of their own.

So this blog then, well I guess it’s a review blog and a recording blog where I can write down some mad ideas and thoughts about how on earth you go from, zero to published book. I am going to be confident and assume that I will make it. I am going to get a book into print. It might be a pipe dream … but I have tested some of my tales on my former students and they didn’t know who had written them. The were received well, so … inside me somewhere is lurking something that might just make me a writer.

You can follow me on Twitter @ajsramblings … sometimes it’s about writing, or politics or other nutty things, cats, dogs, birds … So … umm well, it comes with a health warning! Enjoy!