I was born in Birmingham, UK in 1984, 1st June (same day as Marilyn Monroe!)I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers, although 1 of my brother’s passed away in 1993. I have 3 nephews, 2 nieces and a perfectly healthy obsession with my dog Busby. I may or may not refer to him as my first born! I love the faces of dogs, they bring me genuine joy. I love tattoos, loud music with a heavy bassline and alcohol … no shame!

 

 

 

**Below is an article Author Cassandra P. Lewis wrote**

 

“For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. I revel in the feeling of getting totally sucked into a story, imaging a place and experiencing the lives of the characters. But more than that, I have always been fascinated by language. I love the way that some of the brightest pictures are painted with only words.

Like every little girl I went through various dreams of what I wanted to be when I grew up, a prima ballerina, a nurse, a pop star. But the only hobby that interested me enough to occupy my free time even as a child was reading and writing.

I was a painfully shy child and before I discovered the joy of writing, the only activity that I could lose myself in was dancing. But once I knew that I could write and I was good at it, it was all that I wanted to do.  Through writing, whether it was poetry, stories or ‘newspaper reports,’ I found an escape. My work was something that I could lose myself in. I could fully express my thoughts and feelings without fear of judgement or reprimand.

As I became older, my creative writing skills were noticed in school and by my parents. My stories and poems were given high praise and this started to turn a hobby into a true passion, I began to believe it was my calling.

Spurred on by my Dad, who I’m sure truly believed that I was the most talented writer the world had ever known, my goal in life quickly became set in stone. I was going to be a writer.

Through my close relationship with Dad I started to find a love for sport, namely football, and was soon adamant that sports journalism was where I wanted to be. The only factor that I didn’t take into account was my debilitating shyness.

On completion of my GCSEs I applied to study English Literature and Media Studies at college, but quit within a month because I couldn’t bare trying to make friends and reading aloud.

I ignored my goal from then on, I even stopped reading. I continued to write poetry and some short stories but they have never seen the light of day. I started to study beauty therapy because my best friend at the time was doing so and then, possessed by something deep inside me, I applied to study performing arts. And it’s the best thing that I have ever done.

I quit the course after two days, but was convinced by a girl that I met on the first day (my now bridesmaid) that I would regret it, and she was right. So I stayed and over two years I learned that I could not only read aloud but I could dance, and sing and (attempt to) act. I read scripts, directed plays, wrote songs and choreographed dance routines. I organised charity showcases, recorded spoof music videos and learned to walk into a room with my head held high.

After that, I knew that I was meant for something bigger. I have tried my hand at so many jobs since finishing college but none have satisfied that burning desire within me to put pen to paper…or fingers to keys!

When my Dad was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago, it shook my world to the ground. I spiralled into depression resulting in my job and my relationship going down the pan.

I moved home  to work locally and a drive to achieve something once again started to grow. Dad was my best friend and my biggest supporter and my life’s goal turned into doing anything and everything that I could to make him proud of me. I have flirted with the idea of becoming a nurse, and a midwife. I started to plan weddings and dreamt of having my own business, and I even auditioned for the X Factor. But it wasn’t until my now fiancé bought me a Kindle for Christmas 2011 that I realised what I needed to do.

Until this point, I still hadn’t reconnected with my love of reading, and even writing had fallen by the wayside. But in August 2011, Dad had been told that he was terminal and had probably about a year, I needed an escape and I needed it fast.

So I read, and I kept reading and after finishing a well-known ‘loved amongst ladies’ trilogy in June 2012 I thought it was time, I could do that!  Life wasn’t going to happen by itself, I had to take action.

So I started writing and before I knew it had happened I had the bare bones of a book. My life at the time was an endless circle of working, taking Dad to the doctors and to hospital appointments, taking Mom shopping and to visit Dad twice a day when he was admitted and I needed an escape. I needed Therapy.

As my characters and their story grew, I realised that for the time that I was in front of the laptop I didn’t have to think about ‘real life.’ I didn’t have a dying father or bills to pay, housework to do or family to visit. I was just a writer, lost in my own words, in my own world.

As Dad became more and more sick, I read and I wrote more. I would sit beside his bed while he slept, reading or tapping away on the laptop. It was calming and made the saddest time of my life almost bearable.

After Dad passed away in August 2012, I had to take some time away from my book to get my head around all that had happened. The old quitter in me almost walked away completely, but one look at a photograph of the old man and I knew that I couldn’t let him down.

I picked up my laptop and got to work, editing and researching publishing options. I learned that I could self-publish for Kindle through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service. I bit the bullet and clicked publish, offering a free promotion and bombarding Twitter and Facebook with ‘FREE BOOK’ tweets. I had over 10,000 downloads in a week.

The story continued to grow and I found myself not only writing a second book but turning it into a trilogy. I started to write down ideas for about ten more books and soon found myself engrossed in a world of writers, reviewers, book bloggers and readers.

My life today, despite losing the most important person in it, is full, and I am happy.

I am going to continue to write. I have stories and characters floating around my head all day every day, just waiting to be given their chance, and they will.

My ultimate aim is to see my work on a shelf in a book shop, so I still have work to do to try and attract a literary agent and/or publisher, but I won’t give up. I may never be the next J.K Rowling or have the success of Fifty Shades of Grey, but I have achieved a goal for the first time in my life, and it has changed everything.

I can say now that I am an author, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

 

Cassie x