I have been writing since I was 13 yrs old - with a break when I wanted to be a painter! I have had some small successes, a genre novel published by Robert Hale, and winner of a short story prize. This memoir has taken me almost 20 years to write and is the story of a secret I've kept from everyone except my husband and children for 50 years. I found it difficult to write honestly while my mother was alive. The truth seemed disloyal. Having cancer brought the facts of life home to me - that I will not live for ever and if I wanted to publish this story I had to get on with it. I have an MA in Creative Writing from Chichester University. A short story of mine won the inaugural Lightship Prize and was publised in the Lightship Anthology 1 by Alma Books Ltd. I have been published online by MIROnline (Birkbeck University) and @BirdsThumb. Short stories have been short-listed by Comma Press and Liars' League. I live in West London and am looking forward to setting up a card-table in bookshops in my area to sell The Baby Box. I blog on www.janehayward.blog Can be found on Twitter: @jane_hayward For a real exchange of views join me on facebook
The May edition of Writing Magazine is running an article about my writing life and The Baby Box in their regular feature Subscriber Spotlight. Do buy it if you can. The Baby Box is still selling, Ebooks well. I'm glad I had that set up. It was worth it. The cover seems popular and the book itself is a chunky 'hold'.
New blog: Writers' Block in the Lockdown https://janehayward.blog 7/3/20 Blog - The Respectable Face of Self-Publishing. See my website janehayward.blog; page 'Blog'. Wednesday 18 March at the University of Chichester on their Self-Publishing Panel. 4-5pm.
Have made 2 podcasts - links on the website and had 2 articles/reviews published on line. Just to add that a reader has told me she 'cannot put the book down.' That's nice.
The Baby Box now has twelve 5* Reviews on Amazon. Go there and see for yourself. Here's a review from a fellow writer. Only 1 of the many I have received. I was awake well past 1am this morning finishing The Baby Box. I want to congratulate you on your book which truly moved me. It was beautifully written and painfully honest. I shall be recommending it to anyone who wants to understand how our society has thankfully moved on from some of the less attractive aspects of the 1960s. Stephanie
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