Jane Cranmer, Author of Ancestors & Angels

People assume when you hear voices, assuming you are not actually ill, then it must be a scary experience.
I have been hearing voices on and off all my life, I can assure you it is not remotely scary.
When I was a child and I asked my Aunty Mary about the voices I was given two explanations, either the voice that guided me was my "conscience" or it was the product of a good imagination. I accepted this quite happily as children do, I omitted to point out that one of the voices belonged to a girl called Jenny who was older than me and only appeared in my Nana's mirror!
I went along with the imagination thing for years, after all, we all hear our own voice in our head all the time, one or two more thrown in didn't seem to make much difference.
It wasn't till many years later and lots of very bizarre experiences, that I began to accept the voices might actually belong to beings outside myself. I came to this conclusion after several instances of being told things by the voices that then went on to happen.
Eventually the voices began to separate out and become distinguishable as Spirit Guides, Angels, and most precious of all, family members thought long gone.
Amongst the voices that were loudest and most persistent was/is that of my mothers. Never a shy and retiring wallflower in life, her wild exuberance persists from the other side. If there is a message that needs to get through she is the woman to do it.
It was she who persuaded me to write my first book and told me what it should be about.
"What will I write about?" I agonised, I wasn't sure I had a story left in me!
"Write about me!" she chimed in loud and clear in my head.
"What about you?" It made me laugh that even having been dead for twenty odd years her vanity was apparently still intact.
"Well, don't you think the fact we're having this conversation at all makes for an interesting story?"
She had a point there!
Of course writing your first book (or your second or third for that matter) is never quite what you expect it to be.
Writing can be a long, lonely and laborious labour of love. (Try saying that after a few vodka and cokes!)
I needed the odd boost to my confidence, I needed people who believed in me and what I was doing (apart from a small handful of supporters most people obviously thought I was nuts but were too polite to say... not just giving up the day job to write a book, but then when they heard what the book was about...)
My Mum would find ways to nudge me on... well, I say nudge, it was more of a prod really.
For instance, one night I was awakened from a rather deep sleep by the sensation of a gentle tapping on the shoulder which became more of a dig in the ribs until I opened my eyes.
"Put the radio on!" Her voice in my head, repeated persistently, until bleary eyed I complied, reaching out and pressing the button on the clock radio.
A song came on that I associated with her.
"Thank you Mother, very clever..." I mumbled nodding off again. Another dig in the ribs jolted me awake, the news had come on, rattling on about Tony Blair and a Four Million pound book deal.
"Yeah right..." Giggling as I dozed off. The radio turned itself off after an hour, but I was hard and fast in the land of nod by then.
Until...
The next morning she was back, tapping on my shoulder and telling me once again to "Put the radio on!"
"Oh for goodness sake!" But I complied.
Just as the Beatles started to belt out "Paperback Writer" !
Of course I had to smile, message received loud and clear mother.
No, the voices aren't scary. They are warm and wonderful and helpful and supportive... and a damn nuisance if you are trying to get a good nights sleep!