Ask me what I believe in, and I’ll tell you: magic.

It was magic that first drew me to the theatre – where I dressed dancers at Drury Lane, and furry neon monsters on Bournemouth Pier – and television, where I worked my way up from news typist to producer/director/writer, including a spell as the Worst Floor Manager In The World, when my midriff made an unprecedented appearance behind Sue Lawley.

Writing is magic. Like all creative acts, it has the potential to transform both the writer and the reader. And dabbling in it can change you from ugly duckling to swan – and back again – in an instant. My novel, The Making Of Her (published by Linen Press in Spring 2012) is a story of physical, emotional and professional change – with a twist in the tail. Set in the worlds of television, cosmetic surgery and counselling, it explores the dilemmas faced by middle-aged women in a culture which values achievement, youth and exteriors over character, experience and intuition. And it asks questions about the nature of transformation: does it work its magic from the inside out, or from the outside in?

Following publication of The Making Of Her, I’m now writing my second novel, Reborn, a story of painting, rebirth… and, of course, magic.

I am middle-aged and prone to moving. At the moment, I’m trying out Bristol, where I write, paint, create collages, walk and wonder. I also blog, with eight fabulous writers, at Strictly Writing.