The Week that Changed My Life

Each year, I approach this week in February with mixed feelings - for it was in the half term week of 2011 that my life was to change in a way I couldn't have predicted.

This blog post I wrote two years ago, gives more details.

The Day My Life Changed Direction

In a nutshell, the end of the school holiday would see my teaching career come to an abrupt end after the sudden closure of the school I was teaching at. On the following Monday, when the new half term began, instead of walking into my classroom and starting the day's English lesson, I would find myself walking my dog along the river bank, wondering what on earth I was going to do with my life.

That day, as Bonnie and I stood watching the swans that had gathered at the edge of the water, I remember how adrift I felt. I was no longer a teacher but it would be another year before I could call myself a writer. 

Of course, on that first day without a job, I had no idea that an exciting new phase of my life was about to begin - that misfortune would turn to opportunity and that it would be the start of a new career. All I knew was that something I'd loved had come to and end. I felt let down by the way the closure of the school had been handled and I had difficulty coming to terms with it. 

If only I'd known, as I looked for answers in that flowing river, that it would all turn out just fine.That, seven years on, I would be writing fiction for some of the best national women's magazines. Not only that but I would go on to write two novels (one of which would win a major competition) and publish three story collections of which I'd be immensely proud.

These are my two stories in The People's Friend Spring Special, which is in the shops as I write.

But, of course, I didn't know any of this at the time. it was something yet to come. 

As with most things, the new path I've taken hasn't always been a smooth one. Just last year, I had a major setback that shook my faith in my writing. I had two choices. I could let it get me down or pick myself up and use it as an opportunity to make something even better happen... just as I did before. I did the latter.

I'm glad I did.

My novel is now with agents and publishers. It might lead to something big... or it might not. Whatever happens, it's another turning point.

And it's exciting.