Aside from my regular work, I also enjoy creative writing. I have written numerous short stories, one of which was recently shortlisted in an international writing competition. Last year I was lucky enough to combine business and pleasure when I was commissioned to ghostwrite a children’s fantasy series. I also dabble in flash fiction and am currently working on a YA fiction, Dazed.

As a member of a local writers’ group, The Tunbridge Wells Writers, I have recently been involved in a number of different projects, including a literary advent calendar and a Halloween anthology, Fright Night, which you can download for free.

I also collaborated on our first filmed poetry project – Lipschtick. Poetry is a relatively new type of writing for me and something I was persuaded to try by friends (go on, it’s just like songwriting but even easier!) but it’s something I have really grown to love and I am lucky enough to have performed at several festivals and events over the last few months.

This poem was written for the Lipschtick project.

Untold Wealth

So small a speck, such a humble beginning
Invisible, yet already sparks are spinning
Into firmament inside the shell
Where you lay, curled.

You grow strong, lacquered with layers of love
Like coal, pressed into diamonds from above
By weighty expectations till you
Emerge. Luminous. Pearled.

And I wish I could shut you in a jewellery box
And keep you safe with a thousand locks
But you must be free to go forth
And adorn the world.

A slightly more recent offering written for a local event:

Finally You

You lay on my bed; inviting, enticing
Daring me to join you there.
I bury my nose in you, breathe you in,
Inhaling your so-familiar scent
That makes my heart race.
Savour the expectation
Taut with anticipation
And want to hold back
But feels I’ve already waited an age.
Curl up on my pillow next to you
Trace my fingers softly over your face,
Run my nails down your spine
A shiver of pleasure at knowing you’re mine.
Until at last it’s time
To turn to your first page.