“Hello there! I’m the author of Gertie Goose, and like Gertie, I’ve taken my own winding path to get here. As a children’s author, my goal is simple: to create books that spark imagination, spread joy and positive messages, and make learning a fun experience,” says Gill.

Born in Surrey, she was encouraged to be creative through activities of art, dancing, crafts and writing. After training as a nurse, she retrained in Human Resources and worked as an HR Manager.

Gertie Goose was her first published book, which is now available in audio form. She has three more books currently in the pipeline that she is illustrating with her husband, Leslie. Her writing began again in earnest in her forties, having completed creative writing and magazine article courses. She attended a writing workshop with author Julia McCutchen on conscious and creative writing. Today, she lives in the North of Scotland, having built an ecological home near the beaches of the Moray Firth, just a ten-minute drive from Findhorn. It is the ideal location for furthering her love of the written word. Luckily, she has discovered Moniack Mhor, an excellent creative writing centre near Inverness.  She has attended a workshop on writing and the garden and memoir writing with Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of ‘Writing it All Down.” She undertook Julia Donaldson’s course on writing for children. Currently, she is a member of the Golden Egg Club, an editor-led community for writers of children’s fiction.

Gill shares, “I turned to writing in my forties, reconnecting with a passion I had nearly let go of amid the ‘busyness’ of life. Writing has allowed me to express myself and has been a way to literally ‘write myself well’. 

“I have a personal reason for focusing on children’s books. It comes from the sadness of being unable to have children. Writing books for children enables me to engage with them, which I hope is a positive experience for them as well as me.”

In addition to children’s books, she has written short stories, edited and contributed to a magazine for a women’s charity, and written blogs for Georgie Mann of Virtual Staff Engagement, combining her HR background with writing.

When she isn’t dreaming up stories, you can find her scribbling in her journals and crafting memoirs about different aspects of her life or nose-deep in a good book.