Quoyloo Quill

  First of all, thank you Babs for inviting me on to your blog to speak about writing. I never set out to be a writer. In my youth – a long time ago now, I wrote stories of The Faraway Tree that Enid Blyton didn’t know about, and even illustrated them. I thought it was brilliant! At work I progressed to writing policy documents and stodgy reports for council meetings and was so busy, writing for pleasure was never in my mind. When I took early retirement and made the move to Orkney, one of the first things I did was go to Stromness Library and ask if there was a writing group somewhere in Orkney. That was in 2005. Joining Stromness Writing Group provided the key to unlocking my creativity. I started writing short pieces, stories mainly. I was never any good at poetry. It was during the first year with the Group that I wrote a short story, based loosely on my Grandma, that became the basis for The Girl from the Workhouse published earlier this year, as part of a two-book deal, by...