I always written stories, ever since I could physically pick up a pencil and put words down on paper. As a child, I filled notebook after notebook, escaping from the struggles of everyday life into my own imagination. I aspired to be a writer, but it felt like an impossible dream. I left school at 16 and carried on writing, but rarely showed my work to anyone, harbouring a vague sense of shame about my strange little poems and stories. I returned to education in my mid 20s, discovering a whole new world of literature to read, but still
