Exciting times...

De-dah! I have finally updated the 'About Me' page of my website. There are a couple of books (non-fiction) almost ready to come out and a new crafting business in the pipeline and it was time to make some changes. I can't wait to get my little online shop up and running. Anyway, it read like a blog piece so I thought that I would post it here as well. 

​"Where to start?
​Not at the beginning, that's for sure. It would take way too long. Besides, I spent many years in an office doing serious things and drinking a lot of tea and who wants to hear about that? (Actually I'm hoping a few people as I'm thinking of turning it into a radio comedy-watch this space...) So I'm going to take the advice of many writers who say you should begin at the furthest point possible, where the action really starts, and run with it from there.

I began writing several years ago, teaching myself from books, magazines and so forth. During that time I  have met some amazing and supportive people and I am gradually finding a way forward which does not involve me returning to an office any time soon. I self-published a book two years ago - a collection of eight supernatural stories with the title 'Into Dust and Other Strange Tales'. It is available via Amazon and has been a valuable learning experience. Further information can be found here. I am currently working on two non-fiction books with a friend which we will also make available via CreateSpace. Details will be posted here shortly and I am very excited. Working with someone again has been great and I hope to find more opportunities for collaboration in the future. It's an excellent way to learn and having someone else to bounce ideas off is fun. This year I  am also judging the NAWG ghost story competition and administering three of the organisation's other competitions. I am looking forward to it all.

Baby Sam joined the family in February 2016 so I've had much less time this past year to move forward with my novel and even my second collection of short stories has suffered but I intend to get on track with that and also revive my slightly tired blog. I've also discovered a new hobby - crafting! With the sleepless nights and demands of two small children it can be difficult to find decent slots of time to write but I do find the odd ten minutes to half an hour here and there. So instead of firing up the laptop only to find that one of the kids needs me before I have even logged on I have been setting up crafting projects on the kitchen island and dipping in and out of them over the course of the day. And I love it! I love it so much that I have decided to keep it going alongside my writing and hope to start selling a few things on this website and on Etsy later this year. I have been working up an inventory designed to appeal to readers, writers and parents and I can't wait to share it with you. Drawing and art was one of my first loves and it has been incredibly rewarding to return to it.

I need to decide whether to incorporate my new business venture into my blog . My current thinking is to continue to focus on books and writing but to drop in the occasional post about the new business. I'd also like to include more author interviews so I'll work on that and no doubt this second round of self-publishing will throw up some new material as I discover what has changed in the past two years and also deal with the challenges of including images within a book for the first time.  

As I write this it strikes me how much my life has changed over the past few years. Whilst I have put a lot of hard work into it, I couldn't manage without the people who support me. Thank you.

Bernie x  "

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