Who Inspired You To Be You?

Who inspired you to be who you are? And how did that come about? Being a bestselling author, this is a question I've often been asked. But whether or not you're a writer, secretary, nurse, or whatever, this is a question, and answer, that could apply to any and all.

Think back to your childhood. Sometimes, in life, we have incidents that we may have overlooked, but which were hugely influential in the choices we made as an adult. It may have been a plus or a minus that will prove to have been your divine guidance, what I think of as rain being a pain (when you've no umbrella) or rain being a gain (when you no longer have to go and water the garden).

For me it was a minus – a trauma – that inspired the positive: a painful and rare disease with which I was born. When diagnosed, decades later in my life, my mother wept, and said that she had been told to ignore me when I cried as a newborn, because I was a 'naughty, attention-seeking baby'. Brought up with the constant threat of a smacked bottom if I didn't stop crying, and finished my meal*, I eventually learned to escape to the loft. There, at the behest of my mother, following a move, lay boxes and boxes of my father's books, mere 'dust collectors' in her opinion.

MY FATHER

One, a leather-bound copy of Great Short Stories of The World, contained tales of morality and inspiration. The Selfish Giant, read to me by my father at bedtime when I was a child, was one of my favourites, as was a Scripture Prize he'd won as a child at Sunday School. Filled with ideas, my imagination led me to write plays, acted out by my cousins and I, and performed between blackout curtains in the loft, with our parents having paid thrupence each to watch. By the time I was fourteen, I was writing short stories for Argosy Magazine, to which my father subscribed, all of which were rejected, as I never admitted to be a youngster.

My aim, when I left school, was to be an actress, while my father wanted me to go to university. However, talked into taking a secretarial course by my mother, who was clearly of the opinion that women should not be intellectuals, and told me that 'men don't make passes at girls who wear glasses', my first job was yet another phase of inspiration. Paul Gallico, author of The Snow Goose, The Poseidon Adventure and Flowers For Mrs Harris lived just up the road from my parents, and he took me on as his 'amanuensis'. Needless to say, my time with him had a profound effect on me, and taught me a good deal about the practice of authorship.

BOOKS

As did the stories I'd read as a child. Which was why, following fifteen years of an abusive marriage that ended in divorce, I wrote a long letter to a dear friend, a Vicar's wife, telling her how God had seen me through the difficulties I'd faced.

'You must send that to the Church Times,' she urged me, sensing my fear of further rejection.

This being the early 1980s, divorce (and remarriage) were anathema to the Church of England, but Stephanie knew that what I had to say would help many in need. The result was that, having had the article published, with the help of the then editor I eventually went on to have two books published – with all names changed, including my own** – titled The Tug of Two Loves and Divorced But Not Defeated.

GOD

This being before the days of the internet, I received letters, via my publishers, from all over the world, in which I was thanked for being so honest about the travail of loving both God and a man whose lifestyle was so un-Christian, as well as going through the grind of being divorced.

Further books followed and, presumably having observed their success, Hodder then commissioned me to write others, one of which became a Sunday Times No 4 Bestseller. More about that later.

I do hope this brief memoir has encouraged you to think about who inspired you to be the person you now are, and how that came about. Yes, my childhood was a painful and traumatic period of my life, but had my father not read me stories with purpose in them, and had I not escaped to the loft and discovered even more inspirational books, I probably would never have had the desire to start writing. Nor, without my good friend, Stephanie Cole, would I ever have thought of becoming a published author, let alone a bestselling one.

Our Creator God knows the purpose for which he made us in His image, and He, alone, can set before us the path He hopes we will take and the people who will walk with us. Do let me know what your story is and whether you would be willing to have it published on my website (no more than 1,200 words, please).  Thank you for reading my blog.

*I don't blame my mother in any way. She was a lovely person, and I loved her dearly.

** I changed all names in order to protect the privacy of my ex-husband and children.

My book, Picked For A Purpose, showing how we ALL have a purpose in life, is currently half-price, and all proceeds are for The Prince's Trust, a charity set up by King Charles, which has helped more than a million young people to know their purpose in life.