‘Once I started writing my novel, I couldn’t stop!’
After years of convincing herself that she couldn’t write fiction, Sally Page, 60, from Dorset, is a successful author – just like her daughter.
Inever considered myself to be a storyteller. I didn’t think I had the imagination or capacity to write a fiction book; that was my daughter Libby’s department. From the age of eight, she would come home from school and write beautiful stories and there wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind that she’d become an author.
Instead, I thought of myself as a journalistic writer. From 2006 to 2010, when Libby and her sister, Alex, were teenagers, I wrote and self-published a series of five non-fiction books about my life as a florist and the stories I heard from the people coming through the doors of the flower shop. I realised I could see life in all its different aspects as a florist, because people come in for everything from birth to bereavement. I loved collecting their stories and binding them together.
Even when Libby was in the process of writing and pitching her first novel, The Lido, to agents in 2015, I never thought
I was determined to call myself an author one day
about having a go myself because I didn’t have the confidence; I’d convinced myself that it wasn’t the path for me. I was immensely proud of Libby, but I never planned to follow in her footsteps.
Everything changed a year later when I woke up one morning with a story idea I was itching to write, and once I started, I couldn’t stop. It was as if something had been unleashed in me. It was a whodunnit and, looking back, it wasn’t very good, but it was through that process that I fell in love with fiction writing. My daughters were so supportive when
I told them and Libby read some of my early work. They’ve always encouraged me to explore my creative side.
I wasn’t able to get an agent for my first book, but it didn’t put me off. I wrote my second book in 2019, which got me an agent but no publishers. I’d learned a lot about the industry through Libby’s experience of getting her book published a year earlier, so I knew how competitive it was. Despite the setbacks, the sense of joy I felt when writing inspired me to keep going and not give up. I was determined to call myself an author one day.
During the pandemic, I started writing my third book, The Keeper Of Stories. I relished the pure escapism that writing gave me. Losing myself in my characters and being in complete control as I took them on different journeys was such a joyous adventure.
Based on the idea that everybody has a story to tell, my novel follows the main character, who, like me, collects other people’s stories until, finally, she finds her own. I spent a year searching for extraordinary stories from people around me, including my friends and my parents, before I started writing, so almost all the stories are true in some form or another.
Some people find overnight success but a lot of writers, like me, keep writing in the background, hoping to get a big break, so you have to be resilient. Throughout the four years I’d been writing, I was continuously honing the craft. As I wrote more, I got better and for the first time, I had a publisher interested in my book. I was ecstatic; my dreams of becoming an author were coming true. Just under two years later, in March 2022, after numerous revisions and going back and forth with my editor, my book was finally published.
The response has been astounding and I’m so proud of myself. From being in the Top 10 Best Sellers on Kindle to having sold out in paperback, the success has been phenomenal. I’ve been working at this for such a long time, so it feels amazing to see that it’s paid off.
I love reading all the lovely reviews, but one of the best comments I’ve received was from my friend Julie, who barely reads. She said, ‘I didn’t know books could be this good. It was like a boxset; I wanted to go home every night and read!’ It made me laugh, but I have cherished her words.
I never thought I’d be as successful as this; it’s boosted my confidence and motivated me to keep writing. I put it off for a long time, but now I’m doing something I love. • The Keeper Of Stories (One More Chapter, £7.99) by Sally Page; and The Island Home (Orion, £7.99) by Libby Page are out now