Clare Flynn

My first novel, A Greater World was begun in 1998 after my first trip to Australia. Having got half way through writing the first draft, I was burgled, and the thieves stole my laptop. Needless to say it wasn't backed up. Inspired by hearing that Lawrence of Arabia left the manuscript of Seven Pillars of Wisdom on a train and recreated all 700 pages of it, I sat down and wrote it again. When I finished I found an agent but not a publisher and finally published independently in 2014. 

I live in West London, where I juggle novel writing with running a strategic marketing and innovation company and managing the popular website, Make it and Mend it, that I co-founded a few years ago. www.makeitandmendit.com

My previous career was in consumer marketing, with big global companies, promoting products from Fairy Liquid and Flash to chocolate biscuits and tinned tuna with stints in Paris, Brussels and Milan. I now love being my own boss and I still get around the world quite a bit. My work has taken me recently to Singapore, New York, Milan and sunny Widnes.

I fell off my bike (my own fault!) and smashed my leg to smithereens  - I thought being housebound for 3 months would help my writing - but all I wanted to do was watch telly and do jigsaw puzzles. Fortunately not any more!

In between writing and working, I love to travel - always with my watercolours. Both my novels started out with places I visited on holiday  A visit to the Deep South is planned for November 2014 - so who knows?

A Greater World is on Amazon Kindle and in paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.