I have put this photo in mostly for fun - here are my two early novels, which I wrote twenty years ago, freshly published on the Smashwords home-page sandwiched around a short book called Blessings, Protection and Angelic Help - let's hope that is fortuitous.
But the serious point I want to make is that I have wanted to write novels and be a published author since I was 7 years old, and I have finally achieved my dream at 54. A lot of life got in the way, but underneath it all I never quite gave up.
I could talk about some of the reasons, many of them are not unusual: lack of family support when I was young; need to do something sensible (teaching) to earn an income; lack of confidence; the usual rejections from agents/publishers; the demands of single parenting; workplace stress from government staff cuts, the odd health issue etc etc The details of it all are irrelevant. What did matter was that I never stopped wanting to write novels and I never stopped wanting to be a published author and I never stopped working at it whenever I could.
I finally took long-service leave from my teaching job to make it happen. Most people I know use their long-service leave to travel somewhere exotic, but instead I have put in long hours and been very focused on getting my books published.
Now that my two early novels have finally seen the light of day I can concentrate on my fantasy series - both the writing and artwork. The first one in the Lygon Island trilogy The Rock Ring I hope to have finished by early August and the second one The Undersea should be ready early next year. In the meantime I am enjoying an unexpected but deep sense of calm from having finally realised my dream . . . So whatever your dream is, have faith in yourself. It may take time - it may take a lot of time - but if I can make it happen, so can you!