Shirl Davis

Fiction writer and Later Writer blogger; 10-Word Book Reviewer; reader 📚🙂

How It All Began

Learning how to write with thick wax crayons on sugar paper books was how we were taught in the 1960s. We began as large as you wish until fine motor control became natural and the letters were readable. Then we moved on to a thick pencil and, eventually, dipping a pen in ink. Yes, really! The joy of the refillable fountain pen was not far off. Ink cartridges came after that.

Previous Writing

minutes for many community and church groups, by hand, by typewriter, by Amstrad PCW, then two desktop pcs and three laptops
newsletters in the same timeframe
short stories for competitions – one Runner Up position
short articles for local newspapers and magazines (one was syndicated to the Australian edition – I was paid for that
haikus & poetry
diaries & journals
& quite a few shopping lists, emails and, at one time, letters in the post

Nowadays, I am a Later Writer.

More Professionally

Beyond my teaching days, I wrote book previews for a London bookseller called Bibliophile Books, which led me to, separately, maintain and write for my own children’s books website called Children’s Books UK Info (no longer available). We featured and reviewed many of the titles issued by UK Children’s Book publishing, plus lots of researched information.

Shortly before I closed that website, the internet’s connectivity exploded, and, lovely as all this was, CBUK Info would not have absorbed the new interconnections with readers and users.

Whereas then everything had to be HTML coded on the “back” of what you saw online, here on your PC or laptop screen, nowadays building a blogging website has become so much more user-friendly and ENJOYABLE.

Writing Poem

too much choice, silences my voice
too much variety, blinds my creativity
the quest is simplicity
the aim is productivity

Nowadays…

I’m aiming for Later Writer‘s content to interest writers who have also discovered their craft later in life. But you don’t have to be retired to come here and look through the post index to help kickstart a new project or continue a work-in-progress.