Everest of the Writing World

Gazing out of my window on the world outside, it has that surreal quality of looking at a dream inside out. Winged seagulls keep a watchful eye on their young, nesting high amongst a clutter of chimney pots; a light breeze stirs white blossom on the bush reminding me fleetingly of weddings, while net curtains twitch in the bungalow behind, a face peering through the pane filled with such longing and despair it tugs the heart strings, wishing I could take away the pain of losing his wife.

I press the pause button on my world in the here and now, reflecting on the way months have passed in a blur of words and images, a screen scrolling to and fro, as I try to make sense of the futility of war. It was just before Christmas 2013 I signed a contract with Red Kite Publisher to climb the Everest of my writing career - the challenge: to complete a work in six months, drawing together a collective of voices of those who served during WWII in the very secret mainly still unknown world of RAF No.100 (Bomber Support) Group. 

As a founding member, for the past 20+ years it has been a huge joy and privilege to meet and talk and share with these wonderful people. We are in touch daily, very much a supportive, actively-involved Family. As Secretary of the worldwide RAF 100 Group Association, and Editor of our Association quarterly magazine: 'Confound & Destroy', I cannot imagine life without them. Between the years 1939-1945, as young men, they put their lives on the line to bring an early end to war, introducing new and highly secret equipment fitted to their aircraft to counter-act the number of bombers being brought down. In a war that stole so many young men from their families, shattered the peace of many countries, enslaved, tortured, mistreated individuals and groups trying simply to save their country from the enemy; RCM - Radio Countermeasures - was something very new, very different, so secret that even all these years on since the war, those involved have never spoken about the part they played in bringing about peace, saving so many thousands of lives which would otherwise have been destroyed.

RAF 100 Group - Kindred Spirits

Voices of RAF & USAAF on secret Norfolk airfields during WWII

by Janine Harrington

Almost every single day this year, I have stepped through the portal taking me back in Time, to when Merlin engines could be heard overhead, flying steadfastly towards the enemy, determined to save what is rightfully ours, to set free those oppressed and held, bringing freedom, restoring warmth and compassion and life to a world which teetered on the edge of a dark awesome chasm. Brave men brought us back from the brink. And for the past six months, my heart has been right there, fighting beside them, a part of the dog-fights in the skies, chasing the enemy from our shores, rejoicing when we won the fight, grieving for those who did not make it home.

Every day the post has brought more and more stories from veterans around the world, many who have never shared before, not even with their families. It has been a privileged position to be indeed, and a humbling one ... and I thank you one and all from the bottom of my heart. In sharing, you have brought alive the ideals you fought for ... and these are stories I very much want to share with the rest of the world.

The publishers assure me that the first 100 copies out will be collectables.

The first 100 copies will contain the signatures of veterans. These are the names we must remember for the future, and their stories take to our hearts, and share with our children and their children in the hope that this must never happen again.

'We are the forgotten heroes', claims one veteran of WWII.

Why?

Because despite everything they achieved, they were never included in Churchill's post-war speech, nor were they given any form of recognition or a medal.

This book is about trying to do right by them. They sent me their stories that they might teach us what it was really like, the truths of war. And I thank Red Kite for giving me the opportunity to reach a wider public, and to share the lives of these wonderful brave people who gave so much that we might have the freedom we have today.

I consider this book the greatest challenge of my writing career.

I have tried to bring it to life by sharing the words of those for whom war became an everyday way of life ...

Ordinary people living in extraordinary times!

This work is now complete. Shortly it will be on its way to the publisher. Their aim is for it to be published in time for November, for Remembrance Day ... in memory of those like my mother's wartime fiance Vic Vinnell and his Canadian friend and pilot Jack Fisher who served at Foulsham under 192 Squadron in Norfolk. They went out on a secret operation on 26/27 November 1944 and were never heard of again. For them there are no known graves. We still have no closure. Sadly, it is a familiar story for many, who lost loved ones, and who because their work was so secret, never had a place to remember them.

My world for the past six months has existed through the portal in a time out of Time ... the year 1944 when, in my mind's eye, I have caught a glimpse of a young WAAF smiling up into the face of her RAF Officer fiance, listening as they share their wedding plans, knowing their dream will never become a reality because, one day, he will fly off ... and she will never hear from him again.

Slowly I am returning. 

I have been on a long arduous journey, seen so much, shared with so many different people from all walks of life, gazed into the void, tasted death. With a sense of shock I realise we have moved on from winter into spring into summer. The days are warmer here, the world at peace ... or at least our corner of it. But the lessons I have learned are still fresh in my mind, and I watch the news with a growing sense of awareness of what it means to live in war-torn Europe, every day offering a glimpse into the unknown. We take freedom for granted. And yet, it comes at a price which we only seem to realise if it is snatched away from us, putting someone in control, demanding we live by the rules of another.

My perception on the world has shifted. A part of me is still living the war years which brought this country to its knees, taking homes, destroying lives in a heartbeat. I cannot easily let it go. But alongside it there is at least a future that offers hope ... 

I look forward to the day I hold my first copy of this book, knowing I have put body, mind, spirit, soul, into its completion. I have no more to give ... 

And yet, just as I thought I had reached the peak of my writing career, there is something unexpected just around the corner already calling my name, reaching for my attention, asking if ...

Watch this space to find out more!

SLIPPING THROUGH A PORTAL ...

Imagine for a moment ...

It is night. You are staring up at the skies, seeking out the stars set on a black velvet cushion, needing to hold, for a moment, thoughts of a daydream, wishing it were true, aching for the promise of hope that might bring.

Dark shadows flit across the heavens. Light dims. Stars glitter and fade. Suddenly, the roar of Merlin engines can be heard, getting ever nearer. Sirens raise an endless tuneless motion of sound breaking wide open the silence, while the sound of running feet pound the pavement ... children wail, afraid of the unknown ... adults startled like rabbits are caught in a frenzy, dragging loved ones close.

When did it begin?

Where will it end?

And then ... years rush by. The tunnel of Time whisks me back to the present. I open my eyes. It is evening, yes. Outside the last call of the gulls are crying like tiny babies seeking out their mothers. But there is light. And all around us are people talking and laughing, pausing for moments to gaze at our unexpected display, asking questions, wanting to know what it's like when such a night as this is in wartime ... and freedom is but a dream away ...

GA11ERY ELEVEN within Filey Post Office, North Yorkshire; hosted an Art Evening on Friday evening, 28th March. Tony and I displayed books, memorabilia and posters together with other items of interest relating to WWI with my book 'Brothers', the wartime experiences of my two great uncles; 'Nina & Vic: A World War II Love Story' about my mother's wartime love, featuring Navigator and Special Operator Vic Vinnell with Pilot Jack Fisher of RAF 100 Group; and 'Stone Cold Dead', my first published thriller, with a mystery set in wartime.

 

The Gallery is hosting another evening in the Autumn when it is hoped I will have two new publications on display ...

 

I would like to thank Fiona and Ben for all the nibbles and drink that went with the evening, and the many people who turned up despite the weather. It was good to have the books on display, and to meet others in the 'art' world ... and a good time was had by all!

2014 - YEAR OF OPPORTUNITY!

Hello World!

When opportunity comes knocking at the door, who are we to say 'Hang on, I'm busy right now, come back later!' or 'It isn't quite the right time ...' This opportunity might not come again, and we need to seize the chance when we can, grab hold of everything this life has to offer ... and go with the flow, willing to see where it might take us.

This is certainly the case for me right now. Doors are popping open right, left and centre, until I get dizzy just thinking about it. But then, I need to 'Do' not 'Think', and bring my scattered emotions together to use in the writing to come.

The year had hardly begun and me still getting used to being a married woman, while still using my maiden name for writing; when out of the blue, I'm asked for an interview by 'Living North' magazine following up the publication of my first thriller: 'STONE COLD DEAD' by Austin Macauley in October last year.

Living Magazine, Spring edition 2014

I have my second Joe Maddison thriller steeped in myths and legend, with plenty of clues for the hero to uncover truths buried in time - UGLY TRUTH, BEAUTIFUL LIES - coming out shortly.

Watch this space!!

*   *   *   *

Meanwhile, as Secretary of the worldwide RAF 100 Group Association made up of veterans of WWII who were part of secret counter-measure operations committed to keeping Britain safe, I continue to feel humbled and privileged to serve these wonderful people in whatever way I can. Nothing gives me more joy than to receive the many letters, photographs, shared experiences, and daily emails they continue to send to me, each one an absolute treasure ... choosing that special moment to savour everything it has to offer. 

These are people now in their late eighties and nineties, and yet their memories remain crystal clear of those bygone days when they came together like a Family, to push the enemy back to distant shores. I hear also from their loved ones and family who, once they pass on, have no idea what to do with the material they find in attics crammed with cardboard boxes filled with Log Books, Flight Sheets, official documents and papers, writings, poems about which the family know nothing at all. Suddenly, they have so many questions. And the more they learn, the more they need to know. It becomes a quest for the future ... and in turn, they join our Association to meet with those their loved one might have served with and who can share that part of them they never ever knew. 

As Editor of the Association magazine, more and more it becomes obvious that there will never be space to share this priceless material. And yet I remain passionate that it should not be relegated to decaying boxes in the attic where it risks being lost forever, together with the names of these already forgotten heroes. The name of RAF No.100 (Bomber Support) Group is still not known today, 70 years on. And yet it was these very people who helped shorten the war to keep our country safe, losing so many of their own. We meet each year in May in Norfolk where they were based on secret airfields and emotions run high as they come together once more with those they knew like brothers. It is a time for quiet reflection, for remembering those who gave their lives in service to their country, and offers the opportunity to talk openly amongst those who shared the experience, knowing what it was to fly high above the clouds, alert, fearful, without warning being attacked by the enemy, seeing best friends perish ... 

I remain determined that these people and their memories will be remembered long after they are gone. And to this end, I brought together material collected by a schoolboy at the time, Len Bartram, who cycled around his home area, watching and learning, talking to airmen and writing notes, drawing maps, leading him in adult years to become a speaker; to create a series of 12 booklets. Each centres on one of these airfields, with the Squadrons that came and went, the aircraft, and the people for whom it became Home.

These booklets provided a taster.

Now I am bringing them together under one cover for the future, together with so much more information recently come to light, including people's shared experiences who have been inspired at the thought of being published in a book ... somewhere finally to safely lay their memories to rest, and where people for the future might learn from them.

RAF 100 GROUP: KINDRED SPIRITS

personal experiences of RAF & USAAF on secret Norfolk airfields during WWII

with a Foreword written by Wing Commander K J Dix OBE, AFC QCVSA, RAF (Ret'd)

will be published by Red Kite in time for Remembrance Day 2014, a year which marks the 70th Anniversary of the death of my own mother's wartime fiance Vic Vinnell, and his Canadian friend and pilot Jack Fisher. They served at Foulsham, Norfolk, in 192, the lead Squadron of 100 Group during the war, and on whose information other Squadrons acted. On the 60th Anniversary in 2004, I had published 'Nina & Vic: A World War II Love Story'. That book focused on the love shared between a WAAF (Nina, my mother) and Vic, her sweetheart, an RAF Officer in 100 Group. This book I am writing now, focuses on the history and work of RAF 100 Group and the shared experiences of those who served, together with the USAAF who flew in partnership with them on so many wartime operations.

This book is set to become an aviation collectable.

Within its pages will be the original signatures of veterans who served under this very secret Group.

The first 100 publications will become the collectables, with those that follow still holding so much new and vital information for all aviation enthusiasts ... and yet, at the same time, written in a language understood by all, aimed at readers with no previous aviation knowledge, and absolutely priceless in terms of emotive personal writings of what it was to serve in this very secret Group.

Needless to say, it presents a huge challenge to the author. I have likened it to climbing the Himalayas in that there are so many peaks and troughs, so much material coming at me from all parts of the world. More than anything else, I want to do right by these brave forgotten heroes who deserve so much respect, admiration and gratitude for what they achieved, and who never received a medal from Bomber Command under which their Group served. Not even on Remembrance Day do you hear their name mentioned. It remains a travesty of justice. These are such wonderful, giving, loving patient and caring people ... the best in the world. Many of them are legends of their time. I count them amongst my closest Family. They will always have a place in my heart. And yet so little is known about their experiences. It is as if they were simply airbrushed out of history. Which is the reason I remain committed to bringing this material together ... dedicated to them and the memory of those who did not return ... like my mother's fiance Vic Vinnell, and Canadian pilot Jack Fisher.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!

 Mosquito Mark IV

Vic & Jack disappeared on night of 26/27 Nov 1944

in Mosquito DK292 after an operation over Germany

FLYING HIGH ...

Norfolk Airfields - under RAF 100 (Bomber Support) Group

Writing is something I do each day. It has become such a part of everyday life I miss it if something gets in the way. I remain absolutely passionate about writing.

My other passion in life is the RAF No.100 (Bomber Support) Group Association. For almost 20 years now we have been a Family reaching right around the world. And again, it is a vital part of my life. As Secretary it remains an honour to serve in whatever way that might be, these remarkable people who served in this very secret Group during World War II. Their main task was to identify and jam enemy radar. But they did so much more and in very dangerous situations. Working with them, I have learned so much more about my mother's wartime fiance Vic Vinnell, a Navigator and Special Operator with them, who flew with Canadian pilot Jack Fisher. Along with so many others, their final fateful journey happened on the night of 26/27 November 1944. For 10 years, my mother and I followed their journey, trying to understand what became of them. To this day, they have no known grave. It is believed they had engine trouble and went to land on the French coast, with no idea it was mined. My mother never got over his death, and until her dying day, worked with me on a book about their love against the background of the war, which was published on the 60th anniversary of his death, 27th November 2004. My mother passed away with cancer before that came to pass.

However, she was able to write and talk and share with people her fiance had known. To see her eyes light up as she spoke about him, to hear the things they had shared, and the passion which pulled them together as if by an invisible cord ... love is unending. My mother taught me that. True love never dies.

Now their best friend, Phil James MBE, together with so many others who served alongside them in RAF 100 Group's lead Squadron, 192, has become very special to me, that same invisible cord drawing us together each year as we come together for our annual Reunion in Norfolk where the airfields of RAF 100 Group were based. Their names live on, as do the memory of who they were, what they achieved, and the courage they showed. Through their Service and death, they gave us the freedom we enjoy today.

It is humbling to hear these people's experiences. Vic and Jack will be forever young.

It was an honour when I was asked to re-produce a series begun at the start of the Association by Len Bartram. His widow, Evelyn, remains a very dear friend. I willingly took on the task, and it has led me on a journey, stepping through a portal in Time to see the world through their eyes, lifting up into the skies in a Mosquito, a Spitfire, or any one of the aircraft used by them, using their words to describe what it was like, making history a part of today.

I have continued the series on, wanting to include those airfields Len was unable to write about before his untimely death now ten years ago. And these booklets are now a way of bringing alive the past, showing readers the path to take so that they too might enjoy the experience of climbing through the portal in Time and seeing what life was like in war. We can hear about it, but never really know. And these booklets, written in the words of men and women who were there, give them voices from the grave, kindred spirits, sharing what they knew of the world, and the war which cut down so many men in their prime.

These booklets are available only through me, and all monies go to charity - The RAF 100 Group Association, Help for Heroes and The British Legion, to help continue on their good works. They are £5 plus postage and packing. And you need only to write to the email given below for a copy of any one of those listed here -

RAF No 100 Group Bomber Command, 1943-1945

RAF Foulsham, 1942-1954

RAF Oulton, 1940-1947

RAF North Creake, 1940-1947

RAF Langham, 1940-1958

RAF Matlaske, 1940-1945

RAF Docking & Bircham Newton

RAF Swannington, 1944-1947

RAF Little Snoring

RAF West Raynham, 1939-1994

RAF Great Massingham
RAF Swanton Morley, 1940-1995

JANINE HARRINGTON: raf100groupassociation@gmail.com

Each of these booklets contains snapshots of the past, unique and never-before-seen photographs taken at the time. They offer a glimpse into a world rarely seen, never talked about today.

Many of the secrets of RAF No.100 (Bomber Support) Group still remain today under a 100 Year Rule. The first recognition of Bomber Command was made last year, on 28th June 2012, when a Memorial was unveiled in Green Park, London, dedicated to all who served under Bomber Command through WWII. And yet the name of this special secret Group is never spoken, not yet recognised, while the veterans who served pass away, taking their secrets to the grave.

It is the reason I remain passionate about collecting their stories, writing about their past, so that we who live today might know and understand what they lived through and the Service they gave to their country.

It is with great humility and yet great pride I remain dedicated to this Group of people I call My Family ... as Secretary, and also as Editor of the Association magazine: 'Confound & Destroy'.

Membership is just £15 per year, and is open to anyone who served in any of the Squadrons under RAF 100 Group during the war. It is also open to their family and friends, and indeed to all seeking to know and to understand the secret work in which they were involved.

My aim is to bring these booklets together under one cover for the future.

NEW PUBLICATION 31st OCTOBER 2013

STONE COLD DEAD is my first historical thriller, the first in a series featuring Joe Maddison. Published by Austin Macauley, it will be released on Thursday 31st October 2013.

The next in the series, which will be published by Austin Macauley next year, 2014, is already written. Entitled: UGLY TRUTH, BEAUTIFUL LIES, again, it features Joe Maddison in an intriguing mystery reaching back through Time, in a story running parallel to today.

I was asked by the publishers to complete an interview for promotional purposes which I include here:

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Please state your name and title of the book:

STONE COLD DEAD

Historical thriller introducing Joe Maddison as the unlikely hero

When did you begin writing, and did you always envisage being an author?

I began writing as a child, inspired by stories my mother told at bedtime. Each story was like entering a portal in Time, stepping through into a new and very different world … and once I began writing, it meant I could take control for the first time in my life of all the dragons and beasties, unlike in my real world where I was being bullied and abused.

Yes, always I wanted to be a writer. Born disabled, it was like I had to go that extra mile … expected to be ‘less-than’, initially accepting my limitations, but then ultimately wanting to be so much more than was expected of me. Somehow, I needed to turn things around, to use all the bad feelings I had stored up inside, creating something warm and fuzzy and positive out of all the negativity I was caught up in … making good come out of all this bad.

I remember the Careers Teacher at school thinking me crazy. From when I was a small child, I would walk hand in hand with my father each Saturday morning to the local library, gazing in wonder at all the books surrounding me, wondering if one day I too might find my name on the spine. ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ The question was always asked with a touch of sympathy, a look which said: ‘Bless! She’s not going to go far, but hey, give the girl a chance to dream a little …’ And I’d always say ‘A Writer! I want to become an Author … to create stories, to let people see the world through my eyes and understand a little of what that’s like’. Always, the answer would come back as the Careers Master looked up with an echo of surprise at my mother standing protectively close behind: ‘Ah well, the girl has her head in the clouds, right enough. She needs to get a bit of realism, put her feet to the ground …’

Well, hey there Mr Careers Teacher, the school bullies, the dragons of my world, and all those out there who thought I’d always be a less-than … I achieved my goal! I survived … but more than that … I truly am living the dream!

What is the novel about and what inspired you to write (title)?

STONE COLD DEAD is my first thriller. I wrote so many stories in previous years but always they lend themselves to books. I’m not a short story writer. There’s always so much more to tell. And I let the story lead me. I’m not one to plan beginnings, middles and ends … heck, I never really know quite where it’s going to lead me. Like starting out on a journey, I prepare, I have the basics, but then it carries me along … in fiction anyway … but then again, there’s really no such thing as true fiction because every writer uses and is inspired by life experiences, people they meet, things which happen to them, for good or bad. And this will come through in their writings.

This book began on the premise that one day you come across your name on a grave stone, and underneath, the dates of your birth and death. How might that be? What would it feel like? Are you a ghost, some spirit of the past, living now because you have unfinished business in the world? My husband Tony and I bantered back and forth possible scenarios whereby this might happen. But from the moment I actually sat down and began to write, it started to flow, as if from some other place, filled with twists and turns, using raw emotion culled from true life experience.

I didn’t immediately realise, it took time; but ultimately I knew I was being guided by the wartime experience of my mother. I wrote her story which was published back in 2004, on the 60^th Anniversary of the death of her wartime fiancé flying over the coast of France, not knowing the beach was mined when forced to make an unexpected landing with his friend and Canadian pilot. They had been on a secret op, one of many under RAF No.100 (Bomber Support) Group. I was a founder member of the RAF 100 Group Association now almost 20 years ago, and today am worldwide Secretary and Editor of their Association magazine.

STONE COLD DEAD is about the draining of the polders in The Netherlands and the discovery of an aircraft, its pilot still in the cockpit and the secrets that surround it. Past and present run a parallel course as the mystery unfolds. And Joe Maddison is unwittingly caught in a battle to save, not just his own life, but that of those he loves most and others connected with events that happened against the background of a Second World War.

What is the main purpose you hope people will gain from your book?

I hope the book will inspire readers to want to learn more. I want it to feed their appetite, to go in search of truths intimated through their journey of reading. Because of my mother’s wartime story, her fiance’s dangerous flights across occupied territory and the secret work in which he was involved, plus the very real heroes I meet today, the veterans of WWII who had to live as if each day might be their last; I write with a passion. I can’t wait to climb through the portal to another age when danger lurks around every corner. No-one knew the outcome. And young men and women risked their lives to preserve the England they knew and loved.

In my growing years, the signs were always there to see in the little ways in which my mother would glance at the clock at nine in the evening, looking quickly down, a tear in her eye. I know now she was remembering that time past when she and Vic, her fiancé, had stood alone at Blymhill Church reciting to one another their vows, looking forward to the day they would say them for real surrounded by people who loved them … I grew up with the unworn wedding dress hanging at the back of the wardrobe. The unshared story. Secrets. Family secrets. And yet a story just begging to be shared. And that done, there were so many others yet to be told … as in STONE COLD DEAD.

STONE COLD DEAD is a historical thriller because it is firmly based in the present, and yet the past is still very much a part of today … there are lessons to learn for us all, because the past is a vital part of us in that it makes us who and what we are … who we can become for the future.

What advice would you give to other budding writers?

Know where your strengths lie. By that, I mean find out what kind of writing is shaped around your abilities. Not everyone can write a book. Often people write short stories, or poetry, or remain in the genre of fact and documentary-type work. Try them all if you remain uncertain. You may find different moods dictate what kind of writing you do. I write poetry usually during very low, bad, depressive periods which I find therapeutic … and after, I can look back on and realise the changes taking place within. Don’t be afraid to put something of yourself into your book and share feelings and emotions, good as well as bad. Feel it. Know the very real power of writing. Use experiences life has given you. Make them work for you instead of against you. Write about things you know.

I am always being told: ‘I could write a book, I just don’t have the time!’ ‘I might write a book someday …’ ‘I could write a whole series of books given the things I’ve lived through and seen!’ So … don’t just talk about it. If you want to write … WRITE! Begin with a blank page. Okay, it can be awesome, sitting with that blank white sheet staring back at you. But then, start to write … anything … each and every day, set time aside for you to do just this. The main thing isn’t getting published. If you are an aspiring writer, there is an urgency, an ache, a very real sense of purpose that drives you forward to create on whatever scale that might be … something you need to address and give time to every single day of your life until it becomes habit, like cleaning your teeth.

I write a limit of 2,000 words a day. Sometimes yes, you have days when you feel empty, confused, disorientated even, and depressed maybe when inspiration just won’t come. But write. Write a letter to yourself. Keep a diary. Keep it going … the main thing is to feed the need to write without life getting in the way. And read. Reading other works is important. Try to understand their methodology … compare … that doesn’t mean plagiarism; it’s about understanding the different ways in which authors write, and there are many. You need to find your own niche, a way of writing which works for you, and which is unique to you.

There is only one further thing I guess I would add, and that is to write the complete work initially without going back to correct every other sentence. Read back the chapter you wrote the day before to climb back through the portal because different moods and other thoughts crowding your mind can cause your writing to change. Ensure you’re still on the same path, and then work on. Only when your book is complete does it become time to begin reading it through. And again, if/when you break off, ensure it’s at the end of a chapter, and when you resume, read back the chapter before so that your editing doesn’t alter what has gone before.

I am very led by emotion. It’s just the way I am. I know that I write in a stream of consciousness. It just comes. And I let it flow, hating to be interrupted when I’m on a roll, because if you stop suddenly, you’re going to lose that pace, that pattern, whatever was going to happen … it never comes again. Like writing that comes to you in the middle of the night. It’s important to keep a notebook by the side of your bed and note down what you thought of. Or else it really is lost forever. It never comes again … never quite in the same way. And my best inspiration comes at the most inconvenient times! Always!!

What other books/authors inspired you to write?

As I child I was heavily into fairy stories. I hated it when good didn’t triumph over evil. So all the classics, together with compulsive reading set by GCE and A Level Literature courses at school … like Wilkie Collins and ‘The Woman in White’.  It is vital that we shift the current trend for children from techie games back to books. You gain so much by making a good book your friend … and it’s the feel, the touch, the turning of the page, the placing in of a bookmark that makes that book personal to you.

I moved quickly into Enid Blyton books, and loved best The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. I even ran my own club where, to become a member, everyone had to accomplish three good deeds. My two younger sisters were drawn into my spy games where we’d follow and copiously note the activities of Mum and Dad … then set our own coded messages and traps! It’s not the same thing today when children don’t use their imagination! Cardboard boxes were always my pirate ship sailing the seven seas in which I played for hours, together with the planks of wood made into a wigwam, playing cowboys and Indians with the boy next door.

Imagination is a natural part of play … of childhood … of using instinct and gaining confidence from within without the outside influences that always come with television and techie games.

Then it was John Creasey who wrote under many pseudonyms. Today it’s Lee Child who remains at the very top of my crime list. But there are other good ones around. I love the immediacy, the quickening of the pulse as action takes over from description and words. The ability to place a reader at the heart of the story, becoming more than an onlooker, but rather a very real part of the journey, is where the gift of writing lies.

Do you see yourself as a one genre author or are there other elements in your writing that you can see yourself developing further into future novels?

My first book was unexpected published after two years in 1984 and took off in a way I hadn’t expected. I was then commissioned to write two further books by Thorsons (now HarperCollins) in the genre of abuse. The book actually took just six weeks to write … it was an outpouring of my life as a battered wife, and all I could remember of my life experience at the time given the trauma and my consequent amnesia as a result of what was done to me.

Following a series of three books in the genre of abuse and self-help which came into the spotlight in short time during 1984, 1988 and 1989 … which I have recently updated and re-published … I went on to write my mother’s wartime story using the hundreds of letters shared between her and her fiancé, together with the facts as I knew them then about his final fateful journey.

My fourth book was a fantasy …

But now I know for certain that my genre is on two different levels. On the one hand, historical thrillers … the second following STONE COLD DEAD is already written and, featuring Joe Maddison, will again come out published by Austin Macauley next year, 2014. I also write factual books about the history of the Norfolk airfields which were created under RAF No.100 (Bomber Support) Group during WWII, and the stories and writings of those who served under its Squadrons. I feel passionate that these voices of the people who gave so much that we might have the kind of freedom in this country we enjoy today should neither be neglected nor forgotten. Their stories need to be told and brought into the public domain.

What inspired you for the title of your book?

The title for a book isn’t the first thing which comes to mind. It is the premise by which the story is born which is first. The writing follows … the ideas which flow back and forth between my husband and I often to the extent where he takes the male role, and I become another character in the book, and we mould the conversation around what comes between us. The title is often suddenly there … a spark of inspiration from either one of us.

STONE COLD DEAD became the title of this historical thriller because it summed up the idea of being confronted with a headstone with your name, date of birth and death inscribed beneath.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

Most of my time is taken up fielding letters, emails, telephone calls, messages from members of the RAF 100 Group Association to be honest. I am passionate about each and every member. We are like a family, very much involved on an everyday basis in one another’s lives. And there is also a magazine which I create which comes out every quarter to be sent out around the world.

However, given my severe disabilities, there are days which are completely wiped out with attacks which render me helpless. I write around them. It’s frustrating. But I remain determined to be defined by something other than ill-health. And there is so much more to life. However, it is depressing. I also have Post Traumatic Stress from past abuse.

Do you feel that your background has helped you with your new career as a novelist?

Past experiences has definitely helped my writing. It has given me somewhere positive for my negative feelings to be used and stored, it also offers the chance to help and support others who are also disabled and inspire them to create, to use the arts as a way of pushing the negative vibes out of their system. I can honestly say there isn’t one emotion I let go to waste, however hard and unbearable it might be. Even the breakdowns I have had, the last in 2009, allows me to climb back into that pain and write it as it was, using it for a character in a book, empowering me through past pain. It sounds crazy, but it’s just the way it is. And it works!

Do you do a lot of research before you start writing?

Research is crucial. It is a necessary part of preparing for the journey. And I see every new book as a journey … a journey of self-discovery as much as anything else because always something new emerges that I never knew about myself or something else in the world. It challenges. It empowers. It increases the chances of creating the correct background for a story … like a painter prepping his tools, setting up his canvas, choosing his colours, knowing what he might use, and at the same time be willing to experiment.

All the while I am saving sheets from newspapers, facts from books and The News, daily encounters, even snippets of conversations and quotations. They will all be used some way, if not in this book, then the next, or the one to follow after.

Nothing in life should be wasted.

How do you write pen and paper? Computer?

For many years I painstakingly wrote each book by hand, very suspicious about machines, convinced they would either alter or destroy or disastrously lose my work. In fact, the first time I actually wrote a book on computer I was three quarters through and the computer crashed irreparably. My worst nightmare had come true! The words wouldn’t come again. It was lost forever.

Today, with Tony working in the industry, yes, during good days, when health allows, I write immediately in a stream of consciousness onto a main computer. If we’re away, I have a laptop I transfer the book to, or else have it as a backup.

Do any of the characters in the book relate to your own life?

Yes, of course they do, although I’m not saying quite how or who. That would be telling! But as I said previously, it’s impossible not to encompass true life experience and people you meet into your storyline. It’s often the case that I introduce a new character, and only some way after realise who it might be, or who it’s based on at least. But sourcing negativity I find particularly beneficial, as I do basing baddies on bullies in my past … a kind of revenge I guess, but more using the feelings that came with them and from them and the pain they caused much more so than the person.

What feedback have you had from family and friends or other people who have read your novel?

Good.  Encouraging. My husband particularly is always right there from the beginning. A true inspiration! He’s in truth a part of the book just as much as me, although I’m the one who writes it ultimately. After being together a few years now, we finally tied the knot at Gretna a couple of weeks ago and took off for France, replicating the journey of the first book I wrote as we came together. It was like a dream come true! He knows I like to write from experience. He even arranged a first flying lesson so that I could appreciate the dynamics from a personal viewpoint for this particular book … although it didn’t come off in the end. And the conversations we’ve shared, especially on sourcing technical data for this book has been tremendous. Otherwise, my younger sister and daughter are particularly encouraging. My daughter, Jo, travelling the world, ‘looking for others ways of living and being’ (her words), writes a blog about the things she sees, people she meets, etc. But her long terms aim is to write a book, carrying on the tradition. Both my father and mother were writers … sadly unpublished, although it remained their dearest wish throughout their lifetime. And it is as much for them as for me that I am writing today, living their dream as much as my own … wishing with all my heart they were alive to actually see the journey my books have travelled, the ways in which my writing developed, and to share the sweet fruits of my labour.

Book your copy of STONE COLD DEAD now to ensure a good pacey read!