What made me want to help people write books?
After spending 20 years as a librarian helping all kinds of people find, enjoy and use all types of books I went into business – first for other people then for myself. For 10 years I worked as a complementary therapist running a practice and eventually teaching others either to use the therapies for their own families or learn to be therapists.
Running my own business meant I had to write, sales literature, then courses and other material for teaching. And that lead 6 years ago to my writing business Words For You. During the last six years I’ve written everything from banner ads to website text and last year to books.
Inevitable that I’d end up back with books I guess since my love for books has never wavered. When I started helping clients in 2008 edit and write books it felt like coming home. And my clients weren’t academics, just people who had something they were passionate about and wanted to share with others.
As a writer maybe I’m mad but I love shaping the words, sentences and paragraphs. I love making sure my writing captures the soul and heart of the client I’m working for. Now everything I’ve done in my working life seemed to come together to create this new business.
You’ll know with your own writing, although the actual writing is a solitary effort, researching, editing and mentoring is definitely not. Launching my first book in January 2009 was a team effort and I had a great group of people who encouraged me and gave me the practical help I needed to achieve that event.
And this same team help me put the Writer’s Little Book website and club together. What could be more natural for me than to want to help other writers, whether writing for their own pleasure, for business or that novel that’s been in your head for so long?
I’ve no idea where we’ll go with the Writer’s Little Book Club in the future. What I do know is that whatever we do will be fun and help everyone concerned to make the very best of their writing.
Long live the book – whatever its future format.