How I started

I can’t remember wanting to be a writer as a child, I think I was too busy reading and eating cake. I studied English and fine art at university and went into finance on graduation, selling UK equities, badly I’m afraid. I still have no idea why I took that path, except to say that I did like the suits with the big shoulder pads.

I hated the job and to stave off boredom, I wrote the synopsis for a novel in my spare time, loosely based on my boss. I loved writing it and bored everyone I knew with copies of it. And that’s when life threw up the sort of chance that rarely comes along. A copy found its way to an editor who was taking a year out of publishing, and who said that she would work with me.

It took three years to finish that first novel. I gave up my job, taught aerobics classes in the mornings and the evenings and wrote during the day. It was lonely and took a fair bit of determination, but the book was published just after my first baby was born, it made the best seller lists, and my career was off.

My Novels

I have published 12 novels now, 11 thrillers and a new romance novel under the pen name EVIE HILL.  In my thrillers, you’ll find stories about ordinary people who find themselves threatened, challenged and who somehow find a way through. I like to write about strong women, who are self-reliant, driven and who will do anything to protect the people they love, especially when they are vulnerable. My novels entertain, they have strong narratives and it’s important to me that my readers get caught up in a Maria Barrett novel.

I feel the same for the new EVIE HILL romance novels, me writing under a different name, so as not to confuse anyone with genre – which may or may not work!  In my romances, the path to true love never runs smooth and the Peace Summerton series has a cast of characters who experience life, with all its bumps and jolts, highs, and lows and who manage to find love and friendship along the way. I love a happy ending – I think life should be hopeful.

Finally…

When I’m not writing, I tutor English, spend time with the kids, and do as much exercise as I have time for. I still love eating cake and reading, but now it’s probably less cake and more books.

Please follow me on social media @mariabarrettbooks or contact me to say hi – I love to hear from readers.

Oh, and please do sign up to join my readers club where you’ll find newsletters, stories to download for free and tips from my BA and MA teaching on writing.

Next: Books