When I published Ethereal, one thing I heard time and time again from friends and readers was, ‘I have an idea for a novel, but I could never write one.’

This was me for, oh, about twenty years. I’ve dreamed of being a writer for as long as I can remember, but the fact was, I just didn’t have the confidence to try.

Whenever I thought about it, that annoying inner voice would pipe up. What if I couldn’t write fiction? What if I couldn’t even complete a novel? What if I finished it, ...