One of the protagonists of my new novel, The Mires, is a single mother of two named Keri. It’s my first time writing about single parenthood in a novel, and to do the experience justice, Keri’s life is derived from parts of my own, particularly before I started writing.

Writing changed my life, and my work, forever. Since it’s become my profession, people often ask if I do it full-time, and I usually laugh – writing isn’t like that for most of us – but everything I do for a living has only been made possible because of it.