{"id":59,"date":"2016-08-12T18:34:53","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T17:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/?page_id=59"},"modified":"2023-03-24T16:35:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-24T16:35:44","slug":"about-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/?page_id=59","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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I am a novelist, short story writer and occasional poet. My love of nature, which is central to my writing, was inherited from my mountain-climbing father.<\/p>\n\n\n

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As a child I created not just stories but immense worlds whose landscapes I mapped out and populated. My attic holds a box of these early writings and, on re-reading them, they weren\u2019t that bad! I just didn\u2019t have the experience to understand that a first draft is always a mixture of flashes of brilliance and pages of dross, that the craft of writing can be learnt, and that all it takes is years of dedication, writing courses, writing friends and a writing husband who understands when he can get no sense out of me because I\u2019m still somewhere on Haffrey island<\/a>, working out just which bird would be flying overhead during a crucial scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I’m not in my artist’s nook – selecting and reselecting words and scenes – I can be seen out and about at spoken word events, book-signings – the wonderful Lee on Solent bookshop, I’m the one on the right! – and even the occasional workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m also the founder of Pens of the Earth<\/a>, a thriving environmental creative writing project which focuses on imagining positive environmental outcomes. We’re inspired by true life stories of environmental initiatives – and fuelled by our fabulous local writing community. The results are delightful, hopeful and often quirky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to read more of my fiction? Check out my short stories<\/a> or join my <\/span>readers’ mailing list<\/a> for news, the occasional free short story, and special offers. My readers’ mailing list is spam free. I will only contact you when I have something interesting to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you a writer? If so, you might be interested in my recommended resources for writers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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