I grew up as an only child, often with just my overactive imagination for company. In the early days, I penned some great unpublished works, such as, Mouth Monsters (a particularly detailed comic-book story about dental hygiene) and The Friends and Foes of Troggy (the blue-haired, yellow-bellied troll). As such, I'd say I’ve been a 'writer' ever since I learned to hold a pen.

Equally, I used to spend a lot of time immersed in books, from Blyton to Carroll to Dickens to Seuss. I loved nothing more than being whisked away on a private adventure from the comfort(?) of my makeshift tree house – an old gate precariously wedged into the crook of an apple tree. Despite these early literary foundations and a promising creative writing flair, my education, and later career, steered me down a different path.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I got serious about wanting to share my scribbles with the world. Inspired by a post-lockdown trip to Scandinavia, my imagination fizzed and I tapped away at my keyboard until a whole novel had poured out. All of this inspiration and perspiration resulted in The Weight of What Was – a story about a delightfully dysfunctional family, who go on a snowy Arctic adventure. There are lots of twists and turns and a Sapphic romance at the heart of it all... because representation matters.

To quote American Civil Rights activist, Marian Wright Edelman, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” I slightly disagree as I’m living proof that you can, but that doesn’t mean it was always easy to be me. Thanks to Section 28, when I was at school LGBTQ+ people and their history were effectively erased. With no visible role models, past or present, it’s hard finding your feet in a world that doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of people like you and spending a childhood feeling ‘other’.

I’d love to be able to go back and reassure that little gay kid struggling to figure out her place in the world. I’d tell her that one day you’ll be proud of who you are. And that you’ll not only write a novel with a lesbian protagonist and a sapphic love story, but you’ll publish it and tell the world. What a win for visibility!

So with my debut novel now released into the wild, I am turning my pen to number two. I can’t promise another Arctic adventure, but there will be LGBTQ+ representation, heartache and humour… this time a little mystery woven through too.

Website: www.pipwritesfiction.com

Books: The Weight of What Was

Instagram/ Facebook: @pipwritesfiction