Hi, I'm Paula Martin

I’ve lived in North West England all my life. Married at 22 and divorced at 30, I didn’t remarry and I’m now happily single. It means I can do what I want when I want! I can sit at the computer, writing for hours, and also chatting online to my friends in America until the early hours here. I had 4 novels published in the 60's and 70's by Mills and Boon/Harlequin then had a long non-writing gap. I've recently returned to writing romances.

I have two daughters in their forties, and two grandsons. One of them was 21 last week (where did the last 21 years go? It doesn’t seem a minute since he was born) and the other is fifteen.

For more years than I care to think of, I was a history teacher until I took early retirement in the mid-90’s. Although I enjoyed teaching (most of the time!), I can thoroughly recommend retirement.

I love visiting new places as well as familiar ones. I’ve travelled around a lot of mainland Europe, although there are still some European countries I haven’t seen. One of my favourite cities is Berlin, and I’m going there again next week for the celebrations marking the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I’ve been to the Middle East (Israel, Egypt and Dubai) and to the United States and Canada several times. More recently, I’ve ‘discovered’ Ireland and fallen in love with it.

My interest in history has led me to go on several ‘battlefield’ tours in Europe, visiting many different First and Second World War sites. This year I achieved a long-standing ambition to see the grave of my great-uncle who was killed in the First World War when he was just twenty. I’ve done a lot of work on my family history and discovered all kinds of fascinating ancestors.

What else? Girl Guiding has been part of my life for over forty years. I ran a Brownie pack, and then a Girl Guide unit for many years, and played various roles in the local Girl Guiding Community. This gave me so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have had elsewhere, not least the chance to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace. But I gained just as much pleasure from meeting girls and their leaders in many different places.

I’ve also spent many years in the amateur musical theatre world. Although I’ve appeared on the stage a few times, my main interest is behind the scenes. I’ve done properties and wardrobe, and also directed over a dozen productions with the junior branch of our local theatre group.

I’ll talk about my writing later. Meantime, thanks for reading – and hope you’ll visit again soon.