This month sees the publication of my most recent novel, `The Diary of a Woman Scorned’. Like most professional authors, I have often had to make changes in my work to please agents, editors or publishers. When you are starting out you don’t have much choice but for many creative people there comes a point when you say, `That’s enough. I want to be true to my own vision.’

This point came for me when several agents told me that although they loved the way that `The Diary of a Woman Scorned’ was written, they couldn’t possibly sell it to a commercial publisher unless I made my heroine into a positive role model and gave her a happy ending (new man and/or new job). I love a happy ending as much as anyone but I felt that doing this would be a betrayal of the women whose experiences inspired this novel.

So I decided to publish the novel myself under the imprint of Chalcedon Books. My heroine may be a terrible role model but I hope you will still enjoy reading about her failures. You may even think that she does create a happy ending for herself – just not a conventional one. `The Diary of a Woman Scorned’ is already available as an ebook and the paperback version is due out at the end of January. Thank you to Ken Dawson of Creative Covers for his brilliant cover design and to John Ransley of eBook Versions for his editorial and technical skills.