Were there ever five words which are heard more than once or twice. And, let’s not forget that, because the cover implies romance, the next question: “Is it like …?”. I will leave out the name of THAT book.

Actually, I am not just a writer. I am a working mother and wife as well as being a writer. Ironically, more recently, the writing came about as a means of relieving stress and boredom as my day job requires more than a few nights away from home in hotels. I had long since thought that no one would want to read what I had written. It was just a schoolgirl’s fantasy, after all …

In to my Facebook messages dropped a note from someone who ran an online role-play group related to one of my own favourite authors, Sherrilyn Kenyon. Would I be interested in writing with their group? Cutting to the chase, I started to write the part of one of the Dark Hunters of Ms Kenyon’s creations, and much to my surprise, I discovered that people liked the way that I interpreted how he might react after the story in ‘his’ book.

Unfortunately, that group imploded for various reasons, and I started my own group, the very early stages of the Hunter’s Arrow. I was delighted when my writing partner from the role-play group decided to continue writing with me, and even more so when another writer from that group joined us.

It seemed that we ‘clicked’ as writing partners, as demonstrated by us writing a first draft of what would become Volume 3 of our series over the Christmas break of 2014. Who would guess that by 2016, we would be writing the first draft of Volume 9?

And now? Where are we now? Volume 9 “Cythraul” is progressing. Volume 3 “Beta” is being edited for publication in October 2016. We have three very gifted and creative younger writers who have joined our group. I have made friends with people around the world. Yes, some whom I had called friends have parted company, but that is life.

In answer to that question above: yes, the stories do contain sex. And no, it is not like that ‘other’ book. If you want to know more, then look up the titles on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Smashwords and iTunes.

The difficult thing about writing stories which incorporate real news events is that some of those events can be fairly harrowing. As a result, this week, I needed to ‘take a break’, and do something not quite connected.

That little something was a bit more character development for what will be Volume 10. Omigosh! I am into double figures in terms of the number of volumes in the Diaries of the Cwn Annwn series.

So back to this character. Some of the author and writing sites which I use have discussed whether it is necessary to be ‘inclusive’ in your characters. For example, should you have a variety of types: white, black, Asian, American, British, European? The list is endless on that front alone. Add to that the question of should all the romances be M/F, or should you include M/M or F/F? If it is all M/F romance, is the male the stronger character or the female? Who takes the lead? Follow tradition or do something a bit different?

The character I chose to explore further this week is called Cerys. She was introduced in “Alpha”, but has not had much else to do in subsequent books. The issue I chose to use to explore her character more was related to something in the news, in that Cerys was living away from the Pack, in the UK, because of ‘something’ which happened in the USA, which meant that she was ‘revealed’ as a supernatural character. But, in “Alpha”, she is quite clearly a Sentinel, a soldier. So how would her character work if transplanted away from Pack? Would she miss them? Did she have friends elsewhere which in part compensated for her lack of Pack? Would she meet someone, her Mate  perhaps?

So many questions, and attempting to find answers has been fascinating. I have encountered a few new writers as a result, and that has been part of the enjoyment. Suffice it to say that young Cerys has a surprise or two lurking for Volume 10. Best think of a name for the book then.

Yeah, I know that sounds terribly condescending, that the writing is just some sort of unimportant hobby. The thing is, that’s how too many people do see it. They don’t see the hours spent working on a first draft, which then has to be edited. They don’t see the hours spent rewriting. They don’t see the hours spent proof-reading, and the frustration of just when you thought you had it all sorted, one glaring typo leaps off the page and smacks you in the face.

Nope, it’s just some unimportant hobby.

When I wrote my first story, I was still in school. I can remember another girl in my year grabbed the notebook in which I had been writing, and waved it around, mocking me. Yep, I wanted to curl up and die just then. I was anything but confident about what I was doing. My writing was a way of hiding, of living in my little dream-world with my hunky heroes, able to defend me against any detractors. Yet, despite that, I continued to write. That original story, scribbled down in a pocket notebook, became something much bigger. Recently, when I worked it out, I had written over 300,000 words, more than enough for the trilogy that I had fondly imagined that it might be one day.

Bear in mind that this was all in the days before the internet. My mother typed out a draft of my scribblings on a golf-ball typewriter. That’s how long ago it was. Now, the bulk of that story is stored on a computer, along with all the other stories I have written with my friends, but back then? Pen and paper and a typewriter if I was lucky.

I was in my forties before I plucked up the courage to show someone else what I had written. I still knew nothing of self-publishing then. But my friend read through what I had written and made some suggestions on how I could improve the story, which I incorporated. Still, I didn’t think to publish it. After all, who would want to read it?

The thing is, it is almost a case that it didn’t matter if no one wanted to read what I had written, because when it came down to it, I didn’t write for someone else. I wrote for me. I wrote about ideas and behaviour which was the ideal for me, the sort of ideas that I had on what would make a hero and heroine, how the world could be a better place. To a great extent, it was an idealistic view of behaviour, of a clear good guy and an equally clear bad guy.

Of course, life is not that simple. It is much more fun writing about a complex character, one who feels pain but also feels triumph when things work out to their advantage. As for the bad guy? Well, it would be too easy if the ‘baddie’ lost all the time. Sometimes you need to have a hefty degree of adversity for the ‘goodies’ to overcome. It is all about making a better story.

Hopefully, that is what I have achieved. And going back to real life? Just remember the adage:

“I am a writer. Anything you say or do may be used in a story.” Be warned!

Such a daunting statement hiding as an instruction: “This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do.”

Simple enough instruction, but then you have the whole gamut of ‘what if’ scenarios popping up into your head. What if I do it wrong? Is there a right and wrong? What if no one cares what I do?

Go for it … Run with your ramblings because you never know what might happen. That’s a good enough idea, because that’s life. Can one ever know where it will go?

When I was in school, which was where I started to write stories, I was the good girl, the one in perfect uniform apart from that unfortunate incident over the ‘wrong’ shoes. So, of course, I wanted to do what my parents thought was a good idea of a career, a good solid career that would lead to a solid income for life …

Except that didn’t go to plan. One of my favourite lines ever written was by the author Mercedes Lackey, and the principle that great plans only lead to great funerals. Instead of what my parents wanted for me, I bumbled around working in various office roles, before embarking on a career in medical sales. Twenty years later, I am about to change my life again, by self-publishing the stories I started to write way back in school.

Like me, my stories have evolved, and they will continue to evolve. I have made friends and lost some I thought were friends. One thing remains true.

I have no idea where this will lead and I relish the challenge that it will bring. Live it up and enjoy life. That’s my plan.