Merrilyn Williams

FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS TO BESTSELLER. I didn't fit in with my family - how about you? I wasn't sporty enough or sociable enough or academic enough - but it turned out that was no bad thing. An introvert, I retreated to the attic where the books were kept, and thus began my writing career. With my first rejection slip at the age of fourteen, I went on to work for Paul Gallico, American author of Snow Goose and the oft-televised Poseidon Adventure, and eventually achieved commissions of my own from some of the top publishers in the UK. One of those books, The Last Mountain, published by Hodder & Stoughton, became a No. 4 Bestseller on the Sunday Times list.

Having to work for a living is a pain, isn't it! After some years of non-writing, I'm now back to doing what I love - writing novels under my pen name, Mel Menzies! Time to Shine (first in the Evie Adams series) is a psychological mystery with counselling practices taking the place of police procedures. Thus, it is Evie, quirky and unpredictable but caring and compassionate, who helps her client to uncover her husband's murky past. And in helping Julia to achieve her potential, Evie finds that it is also her own Time to Shine. I'm delighted to say that the book has won a number of 5* reviews and is available from Amazon, bookshops, and my website www.melmenzies.co.uk

Not only do I love writing, I also love public speaking. Does that surprise you? Being an introvert, I can't cope in the midst of a crowd. But give me permission to stand alone and speak one to one to those who are seated before me, and I'm in my element! And put me on the radio - I was last on BBC West Midlands speaking on Stepfamilies (the title of one of my books) - and that's a bonus.

The biggest mystery now, in my life, is whether my eleven year old granddaughter will follow in my footsteps? She's certainly doing her best, writing her 'awesome stories' and entering them into competitions. She doesn't have an attic to disappear to, but who needs that with today's technology?