
I was recently asked by Tamela Lewis how I came to write about DCI Teasdale. Well Tamela, here goes...
At 72, I was left sick and somewhat disabled and quite frankly bored! A young friend called Lauren sat at my new laptop [a present from my brother] and said 'Okay say the opening lines and I'll type it for you!'
Unable to argue with her about the senselessness of me writing a novel, I came out with a ridiculous sentence, now discarded. Two pages later she left and I read what I had dictated. Six weeks later I was still thumping away; when my hands were too sore, I used a pencil to hit the keys... Now a year later, the first three stories are out as an ebook thanks to a friend who told me about VDU Publishing.
I am nearly finished the next three stories. I know the story lines are original and quite funny, but the new ones are more serious. Today I have a great sense of achievement, as I don't have a degree, I failed the 11+ and had to sit O'Level English 5 times, all due to the fact that as a left handed person, I was forced to be right handed and the resultant word blindness still affects me. I have to rely on spell check and even that can let me down. But a wonderful lady called Lynda is my fall back over my spelling mistakes. She also checks my punctuation as eyesight problems mean I sometimes can't see the full stop!
At 72, I was left sick and somewhat disabled and quite frankly bored! A young friend called Lauren sat at my new laptop [a present from my brother] and said 'Okay say the opening lines and I'll type it for you!'
Unable to argue with her about the senselessness of me writing a novel, I came out with a ridiculous sentence, now discarded. Two pages later she left and I read what I had dictated. Six weeks later I was still thumping away; when my hands were too sore, I used a pencil to hit the keys... Now a year later, the first three stories are out as an ebook thanks to a friend who told me about VDU Publishing.
I am nearly finished the next three stories. I know the story lines are original and quite funny, but the new ones are more serious. Today I have a great sense of achievement, as I don't have a degree, I failed the 11+ and had to sit O'Level English 5 times, all due to the fact that as a left handed person, I was forced to be right handed and the resultant word blindness still affects me. I have to rely on spell check and even that can let me down. But a wonderful lady called Lynda is my fall back over my spelling mistakes. She also checks my punctuation as eyesight problems mean I sometimes can't see the full stop!