Hello!
I’m a writer of poetry, short stories and lately a novel, Kitten Heels. I have a short story collection, Havoc Shore, due to be published in June 2025.

My publisher is Ringwood Publishing, Glasgow.

Ringwood is an independent publisher of Scottish themed books which suits my work as I often write in Scots, in variations of the dialect I was brought up with and still speak.

I am a retired social worker and other than a few scribbles as a teenager and report writing for committees and courts I hadn’t written creatively until I took a creative writing course at the Open University in 2011. This developed my interest and I gained a Master’s Degree with Distinction in Creative Writing in 2015 from Lancaster University.

Since then I have been published in various anthologies and magazines. I won Primers, a competition run by the Poetry School and Nine Arches Press, to select four poets to feature in Primers 1.

I also have a poetry pamphlet, Sherry and Sparkly, published by The Hedgehog Press, a collaboration with my good friend and fellow writer, Patricia. M. Osborne.

I also achieved much success in short story competitions, winning several and being shortlisted in many more. This was a useful exercise in helping me grow my reputation and keeping me on track writing every day.

Much of my work is humorous. I’m not a funny person, can’t ever remember a joke, but when I write, mischief pours out of my pen. Kitten Heels will make you laugh and cry, or so the feedback says. It makes me laugh and cry so I’m glad I’m not alone.

Havoc Shore is a little darker, but you will find some comedians in there.

I look forward to sharing my stories with you.

Maureen