My Lottie Jones

Why did I write Lottie Jones?

Lottie Jones is my hero, she is everything I wanted to be as a child and telling her story became really important to me.

In Lottie’s world I am transported to Magical Lands, full of adventure and yes dangers too, but watching Lottie overcome these dangers fills me with pride.

Let me explain why Lottie is so important to me, as a child I was very shy, an introvert is probably the way I would have been described (to be honest not much has changed there). I found my childhood very tough. I have anecdotal stories from my Mum of me hiding under tables at my own birthday parties, or photos of me crying at them, yes, I was that shy!

I have wonderful parents, and our house was filled with love, and that still holds today. My difficulties were at secondary school, where Lottie has a wonderful time at hers, mine could not have been any further removed from that.

Imagine four years of verbal and physical abuse from a small group of girls which soon escalated, it began with just some name calling but quickly progressed to my whole year group being involved, there would not be a day where I wasn’t teased or shouted at in some way. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say it all began as soon as I stepped foot outside my front door and didn’t stop until I got home at the end of the day.

As a quiet shy young girl I found it very difficult to deal with, and there were days that I wanted to hide under the covers, run away or just wanted it all to end. When I was at home, I felt safe, but each day that I had to leave home was so difficult, and I was anxious every hour of the day. Home was my refuge.

I lost myself in reading and drawing and I always wanted to write a book, but I never felt good enough to do that, self-confidence is not something I ever had, I doubted everything about myself, no matter how supportive my family were.

Move on through time to when I had my own children, this was when I found my voice, I had them to protect, stand up for them and make their childhoods happier than mine. I did that, they have grown into adults that I am so proud of, and now I have two wonderful grandchildren too.

Life did get in the way of writing, but I wouldn't have changed that, but now I do have time, and this is where Lottie arrived, this brave, intelligent and strong young lady enabled me to let my creativity loose! Through her adventures I can put away the hurt from my own childhood as I live through the trials that she has to endure and overcome. As Lottie is written in the first person, she could easily be me, but a much braver me.

In fact Lottie could be any one of us, her story is magical, but at the heart of the story is her relationship with family and amazing friends who support her through everything, she is lucky to have them, and she knows that.

The first book Dragoron established Lottie and the characters surrounding her, and as I developed through the story, I found unbelievable qualities in all of them. Dragoron established Lottie as a hero, she is an amazing role model, full of compassion and love for others. The remaining books solidified my belief in her, she is undoubtedly my hero.

The series is complete and I felt a real pang of pain when I said goodbye to all of the characters, each of them gave me something, and I loved them all - yes even the villain! I have moved onto a more adult trilogy now, the first of which is also published. The Divinexus is a supernatural dark fantasy, and I love the freedom of writing this.