A question that is often asked is, “Why did you want to become a writer?” Many authors say it’s their passion, it’s all they’ve ever wanted to do, they feel they were meant to do it. It’s not something I ever asked myself, because I never expected to be a writer, yet recently I published a book of poems, one of short stories and am currently working on a novel. How did that happen? Well, it seemed to have happened all by itself, by-passing any decisions on my part. It started in late 2014 when my mother died, followed by my little dog, Ruby, a few weeks later. This double dose of grief swam around in my heart and dribbled out of my eyes for most of the day, and I wondered how I could bear it.

Over the years, I had written a few poems, but apart from essays and a few articles for magazines, that was it. Most of my energy went into performance. I’ve been a playwright, a juggler, a singer, I performed my own One-woman Shows, and taught many subjects on the development of different aspects consciousness, such as intuition.

Whilst floundering in this charged emotional state of sorrow, a huge urge to write poetry burst forth in a torrent of feelings in words. All else was pushed aside, and I had no choice but to go with it. I wrote about many things, some light, some dark, some personal, some metaphysical and I am gratified at the positive reviews my work has earned.

I thought the poems would be it, but the Muse had other ideas, so out poured a book of short stories, also getting great reviews. Then came the idea for a novel, a psychologic/supernatural thriller. This writing Muse won’t leave me alone now, she is already planning a sequel and I woke up a few days ago with three more short stories in my head, having dreamt them. I think the house can kiss a fond goodbye to housework for the moment. So in answer to the question “Why do you write?”, all I can say is, I had no choice in the matter. That Muse is a sneaky one, she saw me in a vulnerable state and grabbed me before I knew what was happening. Wish me luck in handling her!