So, here we are, more than halfway through 2025, and our Round Robin Blog topic for August asks: When did you decide to become an author, and what inspired you?
I don’t believe I ever deliberately chose to become an
author; I think it was something I always felt compelled to do. It was
ingrained in me but it took a very long time to emerge.
I was an early reader, having mastered the tales of
Beatrix Potter and Alison Uttley before ever entering the doors of our local
primary school. I still maintain that to be a writer, one also has to be a
reader. My early writing was in crayon on a wall, not much appreciated by my
mother or grandmother, with whom we lived.
In my schooling, it was nothing for me to score full
marks in English grammar, English Literature, creative writing, or essay writing. At one of the
schools I attended, my prize-winning essay earned a full fifty points for my
house, nothing as exciting as Griffindor or Slytherin, but along those lines.
My friends and family were regaled with tales of derring-do, and at the ages of
twelve and thirteen, I began to write them down. The fact that my parents found
them hilarious was enough to discourage me, which it did for many, many years.
I admire those who have the confidence to go ahead
regardless. What I couldn’t do for myself, I did for my daughter, and I wrote a
book for her thirteenth birthday. It took me much longer than I expected, and
she received that book on her fourteenth birthday. My lack of self-confidence
was further shaken when my father commented, “You haven’t been to university,
so what made you think you could write a book?” Today, I am sure he did not
mean it in the way I took it.
What I saw as a possible career, others saw as
something of a joke, referring to it as Vicki’s little hobby. Although I was not actively writing, I was at least close to books, as I worked at an
independent bookstore. My bosses, a husband-and-wife team, were interested in
my ambitions and very supportive of them. The book I wrote for my daughter, If
Wishes Were Horses, eventually did the rounds of four children's book
publishers, receiving good reviews but no requests for submission. Somewhere in
my move from the UK to Canada, those four favourable and complimentary replies went
astray, as did the book itself.
Enter my Canadian husband, who had only two
stipulations when I became a best-selling author. First, he wanted a red
Ferrari; second, a young, blonde, and beautiful chauffeur. I agreed to the
Ferrari but declined the chauffeur purely due to insurance costs. It was not
just his encouragement, but his belief in my ability to write something worthwhile,
that finally motivated me. He more than anyone set me on my path, initially by
signing me up for a short story writing course with a local writers' group, and
later by entering me for a short story competition run by a local newspaper.
As to what I would like to write, that was easy.
Amongst so many books, I had been thrilled by the Regency romances of Georgette
Heyer, and so I set out to write in that genre. I have now written six Regency
romances, five additional historical novels, and three contemporary western
romances. Small potatoes for sure, but as my first book was not published until
2013 in time for my seventieth birthday, I don’t consider that too bad for such
a late starter.
Sadly, my dear departed husband did not survive to
share in the success for which he paved the way. I might not have become a
best-selling author by New York Times standards, although I can claim that
because a short story of mine was included in an anthology, which did make it,
albeit briefly, but I did buy the red Ferrari. Don’t get excited, folks. It was
$1.99 in a gift shop, but I bought it in his memory, and it sits on a bookshelf
close to my desk.
As families often are, mine was not overly concerned
with my writing. My daughter said she would never read any of my current
novels. My eldest son has read them all, and my youngest son most of them. I’m
sure that now, if my parents were alive, they would finally admit that perhaps
I had some level of writing competence after all.
If I didn’t write, I’m unsure what I would do with
myself these days. The ideas for stories still come as quickly as they ever did, but I don’t
type as fast as I used to, so it takes me longer to produce a book.
However, my first cozy mystery, A Murder in the Meadow, is already available in
print and as a pre-release ebook on Amazon. There are two more books in this
series, Book 2 due in January, 2026 and Book 3 in September, 2026. And after
that, who knows? I have outlines for two womens’ fiction novels, more
contemporary romances, maybe even more cozy mysteries.
Whether they ever get written is beside the point. The
writing world is my oyster. Let’s hop over and visit my fellow bloggers and
find out what pearls they have to offer.
Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooksmark2.blogspot.com
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3xy
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
