Official Blurb ...
Lee writes fiction and non-fiction, poetry and anything else that takes her fancy.
Married with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren she describes herself as a part time qualified creative writing tutor and published author, but a full time logophile (lover-of-words) and the art of putting them together.
This interest took hold long before gaining a degree in English with Creative Writing at Huddersfield University (2007) and she now strives to instil in others a passion for all forms of word manipulation.
Member of the ... Federation of Writers (Scotland)
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Albert Einstein (1929)
So who am I to argue with Einstein?
I have always loved stories, starting with bedtime sagas read to me from the time I was born ... Hans Christian Anderson, The Brothers Grimm and of course, Noddy. As the squiggles on the pages began to have meaning I quickly progressed way past Janet and John before I’d even started school, returning with gusto to Enid Blyton by way of the Famous Five and the Secret Seven. By the time I’d hit the dizzy heights of primary it was fantasy that had its hooks in me. Lewis Carroll took me into wonderland with Alice and then Through the Looking Glass, however it was C. S. Lewis that captivated my heart and held it deep within The Chronicles of Narnia, and, if I am honest he still does.
As an only child I was very much the loner, uncomfortable with my peers and never one to be happy playing-out, neither did I ever find any interest in make-up or fashion, but putting books in my hand would have me instantly lost in paradise. In my teens I ploughed my way through John Bunyan’s, The Pilgrim’s Progress and started secretly misappropriating all manner of totally age inappropriate material by the likes of Denis Wheatley and Agatha Christie. When hormones and puberty crept upon me it was not to girlie magazines, TV or boys I turned but instead buried myself in the captivating world created by Kathleen Windsor where Amber St. Clare used all her womanly wiles throughout the court of King Charles II. The ravishing of maidens in the 1660’s seemed very risqué to an innocent teenager, but I was devastated when the book was confiscated at school and my parents informed of my unsuitable choice of reading material. Thankfully my punishment at home was merely not being allowed to take it to school again, and so Forever Amber, volumes one and two excited me in ways I was yet to understand, while neatly introducing me to the delights of historical novels.
So how does this all jump me forward to being an author?
Well, I’d never really had anything to do with committing my stuff to paper but when my own children were little I not only read to them but encouraged them to conjure-up fantasy worlds of our own, and not just at bedtime. Make-believe adventures in the garden, or on rainy days tents made from sheets hung from the ceiling light saw us as Indians or deep on an expedition. Airbeds served as rafts on the open seas of a blue carpet and duvet picnics were always undertaken by candle light ... anything was possible, and anyway it got me neatly out of doing housework.
It was not until long after the children had grown that I started writing.
The death of my long-term partner had me searching for anything that would provide an escape from the hurt of existing in the real world and so I was introduced to meditation and the idea of therapeutic writing. Although I maintained that I had never been religious I found that Buddhism reaffirmed the basic beliefs in how I had always tried to live my life ... the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom coupled with an understanding that there are always consequences to every action.
Meditation allowed me to clear my mind and gave me a sense of emotional positivity and whilst I still love the Mindfulness of Breathing I have to admit that I think I will always struggle with the discipline of Metta Bhavana, the developing of loving kindness. In brief, this is undertaken in five stages ... feeling love for yourself, love for someone close to you, love for someone you know but neither like nor dislike and then about someone you dislike (an enemy) and finally every living thing around you. I always crash and burn at stage four. I don’t think I will ever be able to find it within myself to forgive, let alone wish-well the person responsible for the murder of my soul-mate.
This frustrated me, and still does. Far from giving me the distraction and peace I needed it seemed to succinctly epitomise what I had tried to escape from. I needed more. I needed something else that I could lose myself into.
Writing as a form of therapy is something that has inadvertently been practiced for years in the form of letters and diaries. The physical act of committing traumatic or stressful issues to ink can act as a release for bottled-up emotions, but it also keeps the hurt at the surface, which I found did not help. The flip-side is to write from the imagination and thus gave me the freedom to escape into the safety of my own worlds.
A degree in English with Creative Writing later, several things published through various avenues, a few books available through Amazon and I now write constantly about anything and everything. I also run workshops, community groups and events locally or through festivals and the arts in a bid to not only indulge my own passion but to, hopefully draw others into this fantastic world or words.
Qualifications
PGCE/PCET Teacher & Lecturing (Creative Writing, Literacy and Adult Learning Difficulties) - The University of Huddersfield (2007-2008)
BA (Hons) English with Creative Writing - The University of Huddersfield (2004–2007)
Post Grad Masters Certificate of Education - Edge Hill University (2016)
Cont. Professional Development
Literature & Mental Health - Warwick University 2016 (online)
Robert Burns - Glasgow University 2016 (online)
An Introduction to Screenwriting - UEA (University of East Anglia) 2017/18 (online)
Dementia Awareness - University of Birmingham 2020 (online)
Fairy Tales: meaning, messages & morals - The University of Newcastle, Australia 2021 (online)
Additional Information
The Federation of Writers (Scotland) member
Scottish Academy of Writers - SCWG rep
Institute for Learning (IFL) - member
Disclosure Scotland (PVG Scheme Record No: 1305 1722 2411 0325 – updated May 2021)
Copyright © 2013 Lee Montgomery-Hughes (All rights reserved)