About

Hello New Friend! 

I’m Claire Gillen (and my friends call me ClaireBear). After a lifetime in London, I now live in Nottinghamshire on the Derbyshire border.

I’ve been writing since childhood and have kept a journal, almost daily, for my whole life (please, let’s not count the decades)!  

I decided about twenty years ago, there must be a story within those journals somewhere. Finally, I decided to write a book, using my journals as source material. I’ve spent more years than I want to reveal, trying to mine my journals, write that story and finish that first book.

Now I say, enough is enough!  

So, I created this website to hold myself accountable. If I publicly declare that I’m documenting my draft-to-publication journey, via my blog, then surely I stand more chance of getting to the end of that journey with a published book.  I truly hope so, but only time (and my own determination) will tell.

I realise I’m probably not the only writer who has been writing-my-first-book, for decades.  Perhaps this blog will help cheer on other writers like me.  

I truly believe it’s never too late – and I’m going to finish and publish that first book – by hook or by crook. I’ll share my progress and my process along the way.  

Independent-All-My-Life-Being that I am, I decided to go down the Indie publishing route.  Musicians started the Indie Wave, and now Indie Authors are joining the party.

There’s an inspiring bunch of people already on this path and I’m excited to join them. I’ll be sharing who inspires me, what I’m learning and the progress I’m making with the First Book.

If you want to keep up with my book’s progress, please subscribe to the newsletter!

I definitely won’t bombard you with emails – and it’s very easy to unsubscribe at any time, via the link at the bottom of every email I send you. Subscribing to the newsletter means I’ll email you every time there’s a new post on my blog.  

As a subscriber, you’ll occasionally get behind-the-scenes, more personal stuff that I don’t necessarily want to blog publicly about, but that I think you might be interested to know.  

As I negotiate the writing hurdles and learn as I go, I will share with you the tips and tools I’m finding helpful (and those I don’t rate so much).  If I discover something that helps or inspires me I will share it with you.  And hopefully, together, we can negotiate both the practical and emotional first-book-writing challenges – and find the way through! 

I’d love to hear from you. Where are you on your writing journey? Please leave a comment below or simply send me an email via the contact form.

Thanks very much for dropping by today, and I hope to see you again soon!