Shirley
About Shirley Wells
EARLY DAYS
I was born and raised in the Cotswolds, attending Mickleton
Primary School and Chipping Campden Grammar School. Although
I didn’t know it at the time, my writing career started while at
school - I wrote, edited, printed (in my best pencil) and
distributed (conned friends out of their pocket money) my
own magazine - which was all about my pony, Zac. I was 8 years old.
Various teachers spotted a writer in the making - at least, they said I was content to dream my life away - but, first, I studied for an OND in Business Studies at the North Gloucestershire College of Technology, Cheltenham, gave that up half way through, and embarked on a variety of jobs. I worked for several estate agents, was a building society cashier, a wages clerk and then spent 3 years working for the BBC.
ME? A WRITER?
In 1983, my husband took a job in Cyprus and I found myself surrounded by cleaners, gardeners and sunshine. My daughter, Kate, was a few months old but, bless her, she was a wonderfully happy, placid child. So, having been cruelly robbed of my favourite hobbies - slaving over hot vacuum cleaners and racing round with dusters - I decided to write a short story. When this first story was accepted for publication, and the cheque really was in the post, no one could have been more surprised. I kept waiting for someone to tap me on the shoulder, remind me that I wasn’t a proper writer, and demand the money back. I've since had several hundred stories published in UK magazines as well as in Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark and no one - yet - has demanded their money back.
THE LONG SHORT STORY
In 1988, I moved to Orkney and spent 12 years living on the beautiful island of Hoy. It was then that my lovely editor at D C Thomson suggested I write a
I was born and raised in the Cotswolds, attending Mickleton
Primary School and Chipping Campden Grammar School. Although
I didn’t know it at the time, my writing career started while at
school - I wrote, edited, printed (in my best pencil) and
distributed (conned friends out of their pocket money) my
own magazine - which was all about my pony, Zac. I was 8 years old.
Various teachers spotted a writer in the making - at least, they said I was content to dream my life away - but, first, I studied for an OND in Business Studies at the North Gloucestershire College of Technology, Cheltenham, gave that up half way through, and embarked on a variety of jobs. I worked for several estate agents, was a building society cashier, a wages clerk and then spent 3 years working for the BBC.
ME? A WRITER?
In 1983, my husband took a job in Cyprus and I found myself surrounded by cleaners, gardeners and sunshine. My daughter, Kate, was a few months old but, bless her, she was a wonderfully happy, placid child. So, having been cruelly robbed of my favourite hobbies - slaving over hot vacuum cleaners and racing round with dusters - I decided to write a short story. When this first story was accepted for publication, and the cheque really was in the post, no one could have been more surprised. I kept waiting for someone to tap me on the shoulder, remind me that I wasn’t a proper writer, and demand the money back. I've since had several hundred stories published in UK magazines as well as in Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark and no one - yet - has demanded their money back.
THE LONG SHORT STORY
In 1988, I moved to Orkney and spent 12 years living on the beautiful island of Hoy. It was then that my lovely editor at D C Thomson suggested I write a
serial. (She clearly hadn’t sussed that I wasn’t a real writer.) I told her I couldn’t possibly, she told me not to be so silly and that it would be just like writing lots of short stories with the same characters. Hm. So I took the plunge ... and have written ten. These have been published by Ulverscroft/Magna Large Print Books and settings include the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, the Cotswolds, and 1920s Shanghai.
A REAL WRITER?
After a brief spell in Staffordshire, I moved to Lancashire in 2003. It was here, in beautiful Rossendale with its hills, old quarries and disused mills, that I thought maybe - just maybe - I was a real writer after all. And if I was a real writer, I could possibly attempt a crime novel set in the area, couldn’t I? The result was Into the Shadows which was published by Constable & Robinson in 2007. And the rest, as they say, is history.
TODAY...
I’m writing crime novels in the Lancashire home, with its amazing view of the Pennines, that I share with my husband and a selection of deranged pets.
A REAL WRITER?
After a brief spell in Staffordshire, I moved to Lancashire in 2003. It was here, in beautiful Rossendale with its hills, old quarries and disused mills, that I thought maybe - just maybe - I was a real writer after all. And if I was a real writer, I could possibly attempt a crime novel set in the area, couldn’t I? The result was Into the Shadows which was published by Constable & Robinson in 2007. And the rest, as they say, is history.
TODAY...
I’m writing crime novels in the Lancashire home, with its amazing view of the Pennines, that I share with my husband and a selection of deranged pets.
Evidence Label Case No. :
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wells
Shirley
