At last, I am retired and can concentrate full-time on writing. Inspired by my work as a psychotherapist, my novel, Raven's Wing, is now complete and is submitted here. It's very loosely based on a true story and set in 1980s Scotland, during the final years of the large psychiatric hospitals and just as women's groups were emerging around the UK. Forty two year old Heather is still living with and under the control of Mother. It's a psychological domestic drama.
I live on the north coast of Scotland, where the sky is far and free and the two 'Bens' of Hope and Loyal and the shifting sands of the Kyle of Tongue are my inspiration. I'm so lucky to live here. After years of caring for other people, I'm getting used to the idea that it's my time, now, and there's an awful lot going on in my head that I must get down on paper and laptop! Some works to complete and others to begin.
Looking through my half-completed novels one theme runs through them. I'm fascinated by people who don't quite fit in and my main characters, although very different, are acutely aware of how other people respond to them. I'm currently working on a historical novel set in 700AD. The Vikings have settled in the Scottish Highlands and Bron, a twelve year old Seer, is fearful for her tribe's future.
To keep my promise to my twelve year old self; that one day I would tell my grandmother's story of her life in China, this non-fiction book, Slender as the Willow, is the result of 20 years of research. The Churchill Fellowship are keen to see this published and will help in any way they can with publicity, and it's possible that the Foreign Office would host a book launch in London. I have given talks as a Churchill Fellow about my travels to interested groups and schools, to inspire others to follow their dream. My nearest book festivals are in Ullapool and in Tain, Ross-shire, and Orkney, although I'm more than happy to travel further afield.
