How I got published
The historical novelist tells Dolores Gordon Smith that writing what was most comfortable to her led to her first publishing success
Dolores Gordon Smith
MERRYN ALLINGHAM
‘For as long as I can remember, I’ve needed to put pen to paper. As a small child, I wrote poems. At grammar school there were short stories that I never dared mention – creative writing was definitely not encouraged. Then the long letters home while working as cabin crew (pre internet and mobile phones) and at least two ten-year diaries.
‘Deep down, though, I knew it was a novel that I had to write. But between family, pets and my job as a lecturer, there just wasn’t time. At least, that’s what I told myself. Really I think I was scared. I’d worked as a secretary, supervisor, cabin crew and for the last 25 years had a background of academic research and teaching. What I didn’t have was a clue how to begin writing popular fiction.