One Author's Story

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to be a writer.

I grew up an only child with my grandma, who was wonderful, practical, and fiercely protective. She also believed that writing wasn’t a real job. Bless her. Coming from very little herself, she wanted me to be safe and financially secure. So I took her advice and went into advertising instead.

I still got to be creative, but the dream of writing stories—the kind that had captivated me my whole life never really went away.

I wrote my first book when I was twenty-six. It was called Finding Cassandra Lane, an adult thriller, and it was… not great. The heart was there, but I hadn’t practised my craft enough, and it showed. Thankfully, it never saw the light of day. But I had done the thing. I’d written a book from start to finish. And I’d caught the bug.

A few years later, after a lot of reading, learning, and rewriting, I wrote a Young Adult novel. I loved it. I believed in it. I had no idea how publishing worked, though, and after a long line of rejections, I self-published. The feedback was wonderful, and that story eventually became a trilogy. More importantly, it taught me something vital: writing made me happier than anything else.

Then life changed.

I had my son and suddenly, I couldn’t write at all. I’d always written from a place of pain and emotional intensity, and motherhood shifted everything. Despite being a single mum, far from home, with no family or support network—I was happier than I’d ever been! And... creatively stuck. I sat on a half-written YA novel for nearly eight years.

One day, watching my son devour books the way I once had, I wondered if I could write something for him.

I sat down, and something clicked.

The story poured out of me. It flowed in a way writing never had before, and I felt a deep, electric certainty: this is what I’m meant to be writing. I realised that middle grade stories come from joy, adventure, curiosity, and hope—and that felt like home.

My son loved the story. That alone would have been enough. But he gave me the confidence to try again.

This time, I did my research. I learned how publishing worked. I braced myself for rejection—and I got plenty of it. But then, one day, I got a yes.

And one yes is all you ever need.

I’m beyond thrilled that The Lost Defenders will be meeting the world very soon. It’s a story about bravery, found family, and discovering that what makes you different might just be your greatest strength. I loved writing it, and I hope it finds the readers who are waiting for it.