Born in Pembrokeshire, West Wales – perfect beaches, narrow lanes, banks of primroses. There, and later in Brecon, I enjoyed a splendid Famous Five - or maybe William and the Outlaws - type childhood, with a freedom that seems astonishing today.

 

After Brecon Girls’ Grammar School, I studied English at the University of Bristol, where in between a lot of 1960s-type activities, I read voraciously, anything and everything from Beowulf to Brian Aldiss, an incredibly privileged three years.   Joined the BBC as a secretary in Radio Oxford, moved into publicity in Birmingham and London, and as Senior Press Officer at late-lamented Southern Television in Southampton. As well as the day job, was a Radio Times writer too, interviewing people such as WH Auden, Elspeth Huxley, Dennis Potter… Even at the time, I think I realised how lucky I was.   On a press trip with forty men on a goods train from Ipswich to Glasgow (don’t ask…) I met my husband, brilliant journalist Mike Amos of The Northern Echo.

I moved north, got a job on the Echo, and we were married two years later.

Since our first son was born, I have been a freelance feature writer, writing for anyone who pays me, national and regional, home and abroad, but principally for The Northern Echo in Darlington and the Eastern Daily Press in Norwich, for whom I write two opinion columns a week. Being paid for your opinions is a great privilege. On the other hand, it’s a bit tricky when you have a deadline, a thousand words to write, a blank screen and an even blanker brain…

 

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No work, no pay, is a great incentive and so I don’t believe in writer’s block. For many years I also wrote a Mum At Large column, about the trials of life with two teenage sons. Complete strangers used to come up to me in supermarkets and exchange horror stories. My sons, Adam and Owen, were very laid back about being written about. They are fantastic and life with them, even now, is never dull. Among the many things I do is to review books, interview authors and judge novel writing competitions, so, finally, once the boys left home, I thought I’d better get round to writing one of my own. This is out in July and I’m now working on the next one.   I’m still writing all those columns and features too, so I have a head buzzing with words. This could sometimes explain my totally baffled expression.