I can pinpoint the exact moment when I started writing: I was aged eight when I began a novel in a yellow notebook.  Thereafter my gifts languished until an Epiphany on December 23rd, 1980 on a coach in Austria (I had no notebook and when the coach stopped I had to rush to the shop and get one).  Since then I have kept a diary and written stories, poems, novels, novellas and latterly radio plays.  My influences are too diverse to mention - I wll read anything good, but my current heroes are Proust and Ian Rankin.  I admire anyone who can write a complex plot (J K Rowling is God) since I can do everything but.  Still I'm learning.  Writing for me is like breathing - can't survive long without it - and I have recently devoted myself to doing it full-time.

Watch this space

Lizardyoga's blog
My daily blog including updates on writing and life

Word! Leicester
Live spoken and performance poetry event in which I participate every month