The first thing I ever had published was a letter to a ‘countryside’ magazine about a bird I’d seen – when I was aged nine. I was overjoyed when it was published. I was best in the class at ‘composition’ (as creative writing was called back then), and by the time I was a teenager I was writing stories for my friends in little notebooks which got passed around the class.
Sheila Norton
I’m one of those people with ‘lopsided brains’: Although I won prizes at school for English, and was reasonably good at foreign languages, I failed really miserably at maths. Numbers still scare me.
My first published short stories were for children. I also used to write poems for my own daughters and last year reproduced them as a poetry book for my grandchildren.
For most of my working life, I was a medical secretary. I loved the job. For years, a colleague and I wrote an unofficial staff newsletter which was popular for its gossip and jokes but was eventually banned for being politically incorrect! I’m still a passionate supporter of the NHS.
Although it was my lifelong ambition to become an author, I was over fifty when my first novel was published, after years of short story writing for women’s magazines. I continued to work at my day job, writing my first eight novels in my spare time. I’ve now had eighteen books published.
Things I did earlier than average: Met my husband when we were teenagers, and married two days before my twenty-first birthday. It’ll be our 50th wedding anniversary next year. We had three gorgeous daughters within four and a half years of each other: they are my proudest achievement.
Things I did later than average: Learnt to drive at thirty-five (after several attempts); Went back to piano lessons when my kids were young (having previously given up at the age of 10), so that I could get to a good enough standard to teach, as a part-time job I could do from home; And went to swimming lessons in my late forties to learn the strokes properly and become more confident.
Writing my current books with animal backgrounds is so much fun; but I don’t have pets myself now because my lifestyle isn’t suitable – we travel a lot. Over the years, though, my family have shared our lives with a cross breed dog called Honey, a Devon Rex cat called Misty, a Springer Spaniel called Sophie, and finally, Burmese cats called Oscar and Charlie – not all at once, but we always had at least one pet. Their memories are with me all the time now as I write my ‘pet’ stories.
I hate: fish; milk; working with figures; people leaving litter; motorbikes; wasps; cold wet weather.
I love: writing (obviously!); reading; the sea; sunshine; Devon; chocolate; cheese; tea; wine; my wonderful family. But of course, not necessarily in that order!
Sheila Norton – www.sheilanorton.com