As a writer of fiction and poetry I have many preoccupations and themes that fascinate me and that I find I return to again and again.  Here are five.

Firstly I am always writing about character’s presence in their environment, and the relationship they have with that environment.  This can simply be a physical landscape or can be internal emotional ‘placement’ or even their life online or within fictional space.

The nature of this fictional space is also something I explore in my fiction – things can get involuted quite quickly – I find it helpful to let the characters voice their own thoughts either through direct internal monologue or through allowing them to own the writing.

Much of my fiction revolves around characters writing their own experience in letters, emails and also confessions.  Allowing the reader to hear from the characters directly, and also allowing me, as the author, to disguise myself further.

Communication and the power of writing and of reading is a theme that emerges again and again in my work – both poetry and fiction.

Within the spectrum of my work women characters and the female narrative are central.  Recently, my poetry has revolved strongly around finding a voice for celebrating the domestic, child bearing, child rearing female experience.

Finally, making use of manifold perspective to create story is one of my preoccupations.  I have found it extremely challenging to write in many voices, but doing so enriches the story I’m telling.