About

I have always enjoyed writing. As a young person, I wrote many poems and had several published. At school, I studied English Literature at Advanced level and passed an additional Creative Writing option but as I entered the world of work and started to develop my career, the only writing I produced was work-related. This writing focused on event/report synopses, project briefings and reports. As my career progressed, I wrote and co-wrote papers which were published in various journals and I produced/oversaw the writing of many guidance/policy documents. I also edited and proof-read documents for colleagues across a range of subjects. In recent years, I have written or co-written briefings for Government Ministers and formal responses to Parliamentary questions as well as national reports and articles for UK and international publications.

The writing of Jasper and Milo’s New Home came as a complete surprise both to myself and all who know me. It was not planned or intended. I always thought I would, one day, write something but, when we adopted two older dogs, in an emergency situation, one weekend, I had a reason to set words on paper to tell the story I did not know. It was a way of me trying to accept the dogs and an attempt to understand their lives to-date and the issues they had potentially faced.

The words flowed quickly and soon I began to appreciate that Jasper and Milo could explore issues and feelings which others may benefit from. Keeping a simple story but one that can elicit empathy and a greater understanding seemed to be the approach I needed.

Many people have questioned how I moved from a style of writing that demands succinct and accurate use of language into a simple story for children. Well actually, the skills needed are transferable; in-order to convey a story in a few simple words, so that not only the young reader can understand and create their own imaginative mental images, but the illustrator has to be able to interpret it too! Luckily, so far this has not been an issue for me.

Jasper and Milo have now established themselves as characters. Jasper and Milo’s New Home has reached many people and touched them in different ways. The second book, of what I hope will be a series, Jasper and Milo’s Walk in the Park was published in November 2017 and is widely available.

Watch this space.