Ann McIlwee

Author bio

I've been to many places and done crazy things (some say) with a book by my side at all times. At the age of eight I created my own Library. Categorised shelves, ticketed volumes and created a Lending ledger in case the adults wanted their books back. Cool eh! Therefore it is very difficult to define who I am at the moment other than being an old wannabe somehow, sometime published Author. Anxiously running out of decades I am hopeful that this one will enable me to share my words, my thoughts and memories. Having been hitherto a proverbial 'Smith' of Life's Talents, I find myself yearning for the title 'Wordsmith' which has been my lifetime's aim. My first decade saw success in both prose and poetry competitions. Those genres developed to mystical historic Novellas through my romantic second decade until marriage took over my life. Back again to poetry mainly with a foray into possible publication at the age of thirty something. My forties were interesting. I had to earn a living but was lucky enough to find myself in a dream of a job. My earlier work in banking didn't appeal - I had lurched from clairvoyancy (yes roll your eyes) to teaching and then into theatre management. To rub salt into the wound I ran Literary Festivals and Writing Competitions. Oh, and for the next few decades I indulged in dealing in antiques. My passion for books leapt from religious tomes to maps and there onward to Religious Icons and Relics. Having lived spasmodically in France and now Italy, you can see where my passion for all things spiritual in nature. All the time I collected books and I wrote! Boxes rather grandly labelled 'ANN'S WRITING' have travelled through the years with me. Hand written from my first decade. Typed from the age of fourteen (my dad wrote too). Then with the advent of the first Amstrad then BBC came floppy discs, cassettes, C'D's, memory sticks, SD cards. Is it any wonder that I have written and re-written my life's work five or six times over. I will get there one day if I can get to grips with technology. It gets in the way - but here I am embarking on something new in the middle of my seventh decade. Short stories! A well-known author once called me 'Little Miss Short Story' which I found insulting. I want my blood, sweat and tears to be published but this is a start. We will see together, shall we, how I fare?