As a 10-year-old I sniffed the heady scent of literary success with an award from the RSPCA for my smart words on ‘Kindness to Animals’. Up until that point, I’d wanted to become Worcestershire’s answer to Enid Blyton, but then chose a career in journalism instead.

I went on to became one of the UK’s youngest female newspaper editors, before jumping ship into Press and PR, at one time serving as the Senior Press and PR Officer to the City of Birmingham. Since then, I have earned my living in various guises as a commercial wordsmith.

Somewhere along the way, my family upped sticks from English Elgar country to land with a herd of alpacas in Irish bog country, intrigued by the roar of that Celtic Tiger.

I live with my first husband (the one I met at a hot air balloon meet and married less than six months later) and we have two grown up children.

These days I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to prove to myself (and a few other people) I can still make a good job of putting words together.

But as well as writing, I do a lot of talking about the process. I am an ETB-registered adult education tutor and specialise in teaching creative writing for adults, particularly beginners who may not have written anything more than a greetings card or shopping list since they left school.

You can contact me at louisegcolewriter(at)gmail(dot)com.