Never give up your dreams

For decades, Louise Beech, 49, a mum-of-two from Hull in East Yorkshire, dreamt of becoming a writer. Now, with her sixth book just out, she tells us how she made it happen...

Ihad always wanted to be a writer from the moment I could hold a pen. I just always had a fascination with storytelling. I had quite a difficult childhood with some complicated family issues, so I would escape into my writing – filling notepads with my ‘books’. I took it very seriously, I had an index, pictures, even chapter titles. I wish I still had them! I’d have a little cry and a laugh.

And I loved to read, I loved the Malory Towers series, Heidi, What Katy Did.

Then as I got older I moved on to Judy Blume and, by 12, I had Jackie Collins hidden under the pillows.

When I got pregnant at 19, it changed the direction of my life. Suddenly I was a young single mum. My son, Conor, who’s now 29, and I got by, but it was very tough – I kept on writing, but I didn’t have much time to devote to it.

I did go on to meet and marry my husband, Joe, a systems support analyst, and then we had our daughter Katy, 20.

She is actually named after What Katy Did – I didn’t like Heidi quite so much!

After I had Katy, I started writing these little articles about being a working mum – I sent them to the editor of our local paper.

He asked me if I could write a weekly column – so I did – and it ran for 10 years. It was called ‘Confessions of a Harrassed Mum’.

I had loads of different jobs as well. I was a travel agent for quite a while – but then I got made redundant. I was also a hotel receptionist, a theatre usher and a chambermaid.

I remember one day, sitting in one of the rooms I was cleaning and finding a copy of best. I picked it up and I read the short stories and the book reviews and I thought, ‘That will be me one day, it will be.’

I said to myself ‘ You need to sit down and start writing, as otherwise it will never happen.’

By 2006, I had completed my first novel.

I sent it away and, of course, it got rejected by every single publisher. The same thing happened with the next four books I wrote, but something inside told me to keep going.

And then, in 2015, I got an email from Karen, who is now my publisher. I clicked on it and it said ‘I’m really sorry…’ I just thought, ‘oh another rejection’, and went off and did something else. But then I thought, ‘Hang on, that was quite a long email’ – so I went back and read it properly and it said: ‘I am really sorry it has

taken me so long to get back to you, but I love your book.’

I had a bottle of Champagne I’d bought years before, and I’d always said to Joe that the day I got a deal, I would open it.

When he got home that night I popped the cork.

My new novel, I Am Dust, is my sixth. I don’t fit a particular genre – I’ve done everything from a gay love story to a psychological thriller. I just write the story that comes to me, it’s as simple as that.

I love my life now. Obviously everything is on hold because of the Corona crisis, but I love the events, meeting readers – and the actual writing is always a joy.

Joe and the kids are really proud of me, and I want to say to people – stick with your dreams, they just might come true.