Tell us about your book, Pyg, and the inspiration behind it?

A loose sapphic retelling of Pygmalion, Pyg is a story about transformation and hope, with a side of romance. At forty-two, Alice is a hot mess… She’s left her toxic lover, she’s about to lose her job and ruin her expensive heels… when a chance encounter changes the course of her life. Whilst I’m not Alice, I know what it is to feel a bit lost in life when you should have it all figured out, so the inspiration for Pyg  was a little about my own struggle to figure out what was next in life when I hit a milestone birthday (minus the toxic ex… and the heels). It’s a story about getting a grip of your life – letting go of the bad stuff to create space for the good. It’s also about the impact of kindness and compassion, not just towards others, but yourself.

What made you take the leap to start your writing career?

In the post-pandemic dawn, I woke to find I’d lost my sense of purpose and was struggling to grasp my sense of self. Maybe it was burn out, maybe I just needed a change, either way… I took the brave (some would’ve said stupid) decision to step away from a fifteen-year career in retail-banking, not really knowing who I was without it, or what was next. After a couple of weeks moping around, navel gazing, I pulled out my laptop and started to write.

Writing became the spark that lit me up, and it was all I wanted to talk about. My first story just seemed to pour out of my fingertips onto the screen, and I finished my first draft in four months. Somehow, my debut novel was simultaneously the best thing I’d ever done and cringe-worthy bad… and I spent another nine-months meticulously taking it apart, putting it back together, and learning the craft, because I owed it to myself to invest in the thing that brought me back to life.

What has your experience of the self-publishing industry been so far?

I queried the traditional route to publishing, but after a couple of nibbles from agents (and one reality bite where the agency rejected me on the basis that they already had another queer author on their books – yes, really!) I made the very conscious decision to self-publish because I didn’t want to wait for permission anymore. Thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing, there was already an accessible platform that gave me the creative control to tell my stories, in my way. It’s been a hard slog with some pretty steep learning curves, but it was the best decision I could’ve made.

What’s your take on the importance of representation in fiction?

Whilst I broadly badge my writing as Contemporary Fiction, it’s specifically Contemporary Sapphic Fiction. My stories will always feature sapphic main characters, and here’s why…

I spent my formative years in the nineties – Catholic, closeted and confused. There was a drought of sapphic representation in mainstream media. Looking to my TV screen, I saw only the very intense lesbian vet from Emmerdale, and on my bookcase sat a well-loved copy of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Neither of these quenched my thirst. Finally, a drop of hope… Bad Girls arrived just in time to inform my queer awakening. Around the same time, the legendary Sarah Waters shouldered up to the lonely Jeanette Winterson on my bookshelf. Regardless of whether the characters depicted were people like me, I drank it all up… thirsty for anything that made my queer existence more acceptable, plausible even. Nowadays, I’m grateful that the pickings aren’t so slim. I can scroll through dozens of sapphic movies and TV shows before settling on something to watch. I can even mood read sapphic fiction. You don’t have to look hard to find sapphic representation in all its glorious techni-rainbow-colours, spanning genres and smashing stereotypes. And thanks to the rise of indie-publishing, it’s easy to seek out nuanced, relatable sapphic stories. I love being able to add to that with my own voice because representation really matters!

What has surprised you about the process of writing Pyg?

How different it was to writing my first novel! When I wrote The Weight of What Was I didn’t have a clue about the craft, I just had time on my hands, a good story and a burning desire to tell it. After finishing it, I basically put myself through a nine-month critique group boot camp, meticulously sharing a couple of chapters a week, and learning the craft from peers and mentors in the process. So when I sat down to write Pyg, I was able to come at things very differently, I expended far less energy on getting to a polished end result. I’m only two novels in (the third is underway) but I’ve learned that I can solve almost any plot problem by stepping away for a bit. I now trust that the answers will come to me, and I’ve learned to accept that it will be either in the middle of the night or in the shower, when I don’t have a pen. I fall a little more in love with writing the more I do it; I’m still fascinated by my own ability to surprise myself, and my capacity to laugh at my own jokes.

Do you have a key writing habit, routine, or exercise you use to get things flowing?

Whilst the dream is to become a full-time writer, I still have a full-time job. My current routine involves creating space between work and creativity… I mainly work from home, but I rarely sit at my work desk to write; I like to be in a different space (usually on the sofa, being squashed by a space-invading cocker spaniel). I also need quiet to concentrate and coffee, lots of coffee… which I almost always let go cold.

What does winning the Kindle Storyteller Award mean for you?

Since I started my writing journey, I’ve had this overwhelming feeling that I’m doing the thing I was always meant to be doing, but I often get dunked by big waves of imposter-syndrome and self-doubt. Winning the Kindle Storyteller Award has given me a huge shot of validation. What an honour to be recognised for the thing I love doing the most… writing! The prize itself will be a hugely helpful investment into my writing career.

What’s next for you?

Three exciting things:

• The audiobook of Pyg, narrated by the incredibly talented Marisa Calin, will be released next month. I’m so excited to share Pyg with the world in this way.
• I’m two-thirds of the way through my third novel, which I hope to release in Spring 2026.
• I’m going to continue taking the opportunities that come my way, and learning what I can from the incredibly inspiring people around me… except now, I think I’ll have a bit more confidence about my place too, I’m meant to be here.