Beneath the Surface

My writing journey has been slightly different to most. I like to think of myself as a bit of a crackpot writer (hence the name of my website), but once I explain this, you may understand why.

In 2016, I was working as a travel blogger, building an audience for when my husband and I would hit the road and travel full time in 2017. But one morning, I woke from a dream so vivid, I couldn’t ignore it. I thought, ‘Wow! That would make for a great scene in a novel!’ And so, I grabbed some coffee and headed downstairs to my home office to write.

Eighteen hours later, I was still writing.

 

That dream was the start of BENEATH THE SURFACE. Thankfully, my husband kept me ‘fed and watered’ during those eighteen hours because somehow, I couldn’t stop writing.

I didn’t publish BENEATH THE SURFACE until 2021, and that scene never made it into the published version. The book started as a romance novel, but in the end, I dug deep and took it in a whole other direction. I also realised then that I really wasn’t a fan of ‘white knights’ coming to save the day of the damsel in distress. She could save herself, thank you very much. She just had to find her confidence first.

 

 

Since then, I’ve been ultra-aware of my dreams. A lot of time, while I’m deep into the drafting process, I’ll often have my characters ‘chat to me’ in that period between asleep and awake. In fact, the twist in BENEATH THE SURFACE came through in a dream, and I also thought it fitting to use dreams as an element in the novel as well.

If you’re curious about how that book ended up, check out this link which will give you more information the book. 

Do you listen to your dreams?