I love writing and find it difficult to imagine my life now without the current book pulling me out of bed at a ridiculously early hour most week day mornings and dragging me to my word processor. To write is easy; to write well – that's more demanding, but I have found that working through the difficulties, getting what you want to say down on paper, then polishing it until you have EXACTLY the right words...well...there's nothing more satisfying!

'Getting out there' is also not easy, but New Generation have helped me with this as Daniel's advice to start locally has proved to be invaluable. I think most of my work appeals to people of 50+ and the Women's Institutes of East Anglia have been an absolute joy to work with. They are well-organised, cheerful and welcoming and, as the whole point of their meetings is to have an enjoyable and interesting evening out, they make wonderful audiences.

We all enjoy ourselves and I usually sell some books. I have eight bookings already this year and the promise of inclusion in two more year books.

My books are all very different, so it's good to have the opportunity to introduce them to a group – rather like introducing my children – and I read the blurbs. I was also persuaded to talk a bit about my journey as an author – 'an author's tale' one group called it, so I've borrowed that title for other talks.

I usually end by reading from one of the books and I like to choose something amusing. One set of extracts that's gone down particularly well is from 'It Rained in Bora Bora.' I've called it 'Old Gels Behaving Badly' and it's based on the antics of three of the 'old gels' I met during my voyage around the world, though I have 'embroidered' a bit here and there. Some of the things they got up to were unbelievable and more extraordinary than the parts I've invented. it makes the audiences laugh – so far in all the right places!

Extracts from 'Home to Roost,' a family saga and 'The Bubble,' an allegory, also lend themselves well to being read out loud. They have been bought and used by two book clubs.