Born in Surrey in 1958, she came from a working class family, where she was encouraged to be creative through art, dancing, crafts and writing. This is her first published book and has two others currently in the pipeline. Her writing began when she was nearly 40, having completed a creative writing and a magazine article course. More recently she attended a writing workshop with the author Julia McCutchen who founded the International Association of Conscious and Creative Writers, from which Gill still draws inspiration. She now lives in the North of Scotland having built an ecological home near the beaches of the Moray Firth, 10 minutes’ drive from Findhorn. Walking on the miles of sandy beaches with her husband and two dogs it is the ideal location for furthering her love of the written word. Luckily she has discovered Moniack Mhor an excellent writing school nearby in Inverness and has taken part in one course so far.
Gill says “I turned to writing, picking up on my love of it which developed at school. This was following a long illness that resulted in me having to retire from being an HR Manager. Writing has helped me reconnect to a passion I had all but let go with the ‘busyness’ of life and to find something that has allowed me to not only express myself but to literally ‘write myself well’.
“I have a personal reason for concentrating on children’s books. It comes from the sadness of being unable to have children despite numerous attempts to do so. Writing books for children is a way for me to engage with them, which I hope is positive for them as well as me.”
