Vicky Turrell

I have always been interested in writing. When I was a little girl I wrote in my diary. My aim was to ‘talk’ to my adult self so that when I was old I would know what it was like to be young.
I wrote the usual poetry when I was in my teens but when I went to train as a teacher I hadn’t time to write. I was very busy teaching science and later went on to be a head teacher. I became so involved in my job, which I loved, that I did not have time for hobbies. When I retired, I thought, ‘At last, I will have time to write again.’
I came from a farming and fishing background and I have realised that this has been a great influence on my writing. We were not avid readers; my parents were always too busy working on our farm but at lunch time and at night we sat round the fire and told stories. Like our fisherman uncles we exaggerated and built up tales to entertain and make you laugh.
I want my writing to have relevance and immediacy so that people can relate to the situations I describe. In my writing, I try to show the pattern of life and now I am older my early diaries have become a useful resource.