Andrea
Andrea lives in Staffordshire with her husband and Cavalier King Charlies Spaniel, Amber. She was a conveyancer for 10 years but traded the office for a classroom to train as an avionic aircraft engineer. Sadly, due to ME she was unable to follow this career path but she did still volunteer working on a taxiable Vulcan bomber.
Writing wise she considers herself a novice. She won a competition a few years ago, which was a tremendous thrill. She is working on a non fiction book to help other ME sufferers and a novel involving an adventurous teddy bear.
Other hobbies include bear collecting (don’t ask how many she has) and crocheting.
Andy
I was born and bred in the London suburbs. After some venturing further afield (including California), somewhat unimaginatively, I once again live within walking distance of a London tube station. As a child I loved maths and reading, which led me to being a Maths teacher with my nose stuck into a book, whenever time allowed.
Burning away in me was a wish, to try my hand at writing a novel. Maybe I could add to the ‘book pool’? A couple of years ago, I embarked on some writing courses and lo and behold I finished a draft. But… I then learnt that was only the start of writing a publishable novel. The editing lark is a different beast altogether. Which is where I am to date.
Cat
Originally from England, Cat currently resides in mid-west USA. She is a professional photographer by day and a writer by night. Cat tells stories with her camera and creates imagery with her words.
She is currently editing her second novel, a psychological suspense story.
Aside from photography and writing, Cat is an avid swimmer and crafter. Her perfect day is to wake up and swim, then spend the rest of the day amongst nature, surrounded by animals and birds with either her camera or a notebook and pen.
Cat tweets @writercatlane
Christine
Christine has been living in rural Normandy for twenty-one years. She channelled her lifelong passion for literature and language into a teaching career and gradually developed a sideline as a writer of both short stories and articles on wide variety of subjects.
Colette
Greetings from York and thank you for letting me on board. I am Colette. I have been writing for four years or so, following retirement. I have had one short story published and another accepted as part of a possible anthology. I was focussing on short stories but have now disappeared down the wormhole of the third revision of my novel. I also try to write poems, but I easily lose heart with them. I love writing which is just as well as I am not expecting to ever earn a penny from it.
David
I am a Welshman living in Torquay Devon UK. I am a retired engineer. After retiring, I taught English as a foreign language to students from all over the world. I like painting with oils on canvas, preferably portraits. I am well into my eighties, but feel 40.
Elke
Elke lives in FNQ, Australia, and spends her time wandering through the rainforests and swimming in pristine lakes while making up stories. She has published numerous short stories and is currently working on a series of crime fiction novels.
Francesca
I am a retired Chemistry teacher who has always loved English. I only went into the sciences because everyone in my family was either Maths, Chemistry or Physics… so I did what was expected of me. No regrets… my life path made me who I am today.
Poetry is my first love, but I do enjoy short stories and I have three novels in various degrees of having been written.
I live in mid Wales, 12 miles due west from Welshpool, with hubby and a vast collection of bears… I am the ultimate arctophile. I also enjoy gardening and painting.
Liz
Liz moved from the UK to the Catalan region of France, near Perpignan, in early 2019, following her dream to pursue a creative lifestyle after nearly fifteen years in automotive engineering. She now splits her time between freelance editing and proofreading, and writing fiction. She has two timeslip novellas and a full-length historical novel published in her own name, and a string of erotic short story compilations under the pseudonym of Kitty Mulholland.
Maria
I took up writing relatively late in life having retired from my local government job due to ill health. I write mainly for pleasure. Having read science fiction all my life, to be able to write my own stories in this genre is a joy. So I spend many happy hours in a world of my own making.
I joined the Alpha Writers Group because it gives me the opportunity to obtain constructive criticism. Hopefully my writing is improving. One of these days I may even pop my head over the wall and publish the draft novels hiding in the study and the growing pile of short stories (be still my beating heart).
Martin
I live in Sheffield with my wife Eva and dog Charlie and I’m the editor of the prayer diary for Wycliffe Bible translators. I see myself as a writer, photographer, baker and storyteller. Recently I seem to have really grown in the flash fiction area. I’d like to grow in writing short stories too. My photo was taken at a wonderful charity called Grimm and Co which I’ve recently started volunteering for. It’s focus is literacy for children, and according to them, as the front is an apothecary for Magical Beings, my magical being is a unicorn. If this sounds odd, then you need to visit their shop or check out their website to find out why.
Morgen
Morgen joined Alpha part-way through Season XI and has relished each and every season since. Short stories are her ‘thing’ but lately she has been dabbling with novel writing. Her love of the written word has been tested by the experience and she has become the world’s finest procrastinator.
Ros
Ros is a writer and publisher living in Warwickshire. In addition to writing for business publications, she writes short stories, poetry and novels. Her first novel ‘The Appearance of Truth’ was long-listed in Bridge House Publishing’s Debut Novel Competition. Her novel ‘New York Orphan’ has been awarded a Premier Chill with a Book Award and an Indie Brag Medallion. She received her second Indie Brag Medallion for Violet’s War. Having forgotten to stop writing after the one book that everyone has in them, she has now lost count of her publications. Her spare time passion is developing the Entlebucher Mountain Dog breed in the UK.
Ruth
I am a creative being. A lifelong musician, I’m currently a cellist in a string quartet. I’m also a lover of the written word. In my youth I was never without a book in my pocket. Parenthood to two boys soon put a stop to that! I began writing seriously about ten years ago, continuing until one of life’s more challenging periods got in the way. I love poetry, perhaps the closest the written word comes to music, but have also written flash fiction and short stories. The ‘one novel’ is still inside me, but maybe one day…
Sarah
I live in Scotland, the weather is fickle but usually dreich. I am a tutor with a MLitt in Creative Writing. I’ve been writing it seems forever. My current WIP is a novel; in it I see wee glimmers of something. Keep on writing, I say, even to my non-writery friends.
Stephen
Suzanne
Originally from Derbyshire, I’ve been living in the Massif Central area of France for 12 years now, teaching English, mainly in companies. My first home was at the altitude of Ben Nevis and interesting in winter. I now live at the height of the Peak District’s Kinder Scout, so there is more oxygen. I have had a little non-fiction writing published, mainly in lifestyle magazines about France. I will persevere with my novel (far too long on the go) set in the Scottish Highlands. As I will now be alternating my time between France and Scotland I might get more inspiration and make some progress!
14 years! Amazing well done – I was an original founding member!!
Great to see you are still going!
Best Wishes from a previous member
John Ryley
Lovely to hear from you. Thank you.