From a very young age, my dream was to be a published author. Growing up in the south of England I spent my younger years lost in imaginary worlds, writing endless stories and then ‘publishing’ them myself with sticky-back plastic, a hole punch, and paper fasteners! My early inspirations were Jo March (Little Women), Anne of Green Gables, Beatrix Potter, and the Brontë sisters.

In later years, I took well-meaning advice that a future as an author was “too hard” and that I should “get my head out of the clouds”. So, I swapped creative writing for a 26-year career in the UK police force, and from then on, the only writing I did was of operation orders and prosecution files. This, along with raising a family, meant that over time, I forgot about my early dream of being a published author. Life took over and I became a slave to its traumas, struggles and what felt like a daily battle just to survive. Life was hard. And it was proving to be as ‘hard’ as I had always been warned it was. Many times I felt I was drowning in it, surrounded by the walls and barriers which seemed to show up at every turn in the road. Did it really have to be this tough?

As the years went on my police career took an increasing toll on my mental and physical health, culminating in a medical discharge from the force due to PTSD. It was during my struggle with the medical discharge process; losing the career and identity that had molded me and my life for so many years, that I felt desperate for something to help me cope.

Then one day an ad came up on Facebook for The Secret. I remembered hearing a friend talking about it years before, but this time I knew without a doubt it was what I needed and I bought the book and the audiobook immediately. As I read and listened, things around me began to change; my life, thoughts, and struggles began to feel easier and lighter somehow. And one day while doing nothing in particular, I randomly remembered my dream of being a published author. It shocked me at the time, it was like suddenly seeing a best friend from childhood you had lost touch with for many years. I wondered how I had ever forgotten about something that had once meant so much to me!

As if by magic, many things began to fall into place around me following that revelation. A story that I had been mulling around in my imagination for many years came to mind. It really was just serving as a world I played around in mentally, to distract me from daily life and a tale I used to tell my children at bedtime. After the realization hit me, the story began to build in my mind; extensions to the plot, new characters, and development of the world within the story. And I began to write it as a book.

Over 10 months and 96,000 words later I finished it. By then I had also realized that it was not just destined to be one book, but a series of 3, even though I had no idea at that point what to do with it! Then once more I went back to The Secret, I listened, I read and I listened to more. I got The Magic, The Power and I downloaded The Secret Super App. I watched The Secret documentary and the film, The Secret: Dare to Dream.

Once more, people, ideas, and opportunities began to show up and the future of my book began to take shape.

That future was to be a publishing contract for a series of three books, the first of which has just been released for sale! I am preparing to start recording the audiobook and my publishers are currently building an interactive website for the world within the story, along with artist drawings of the characters.

I have continued to follow the principles and teachings in The Secret, and all sorts of people and opportunities now show up for me on a daily basis, taking my new life forward step by step in its amazing new direction. My life has totally changed. It is a phenomenal journey and I am loving every second of it! All thanks to The Secret, I could not be more grateful that I found it.