Hi, I'm Claire.
As well as being a fiction editor, ghostwriter and formatter, I'm a hybrid author too. This means I know exactly how you feel about publishing your book, whether you're choosing to self publish, or following a traditional publishing path. Don't worry – we're in this together.
I've been an editorial services professional since 2018, but I've been writing (and reading) obsessed since childhood. I'm an introvert and tend to live inside my own head, which is ideal for nurturing my story-filled imagination!
Before creating Penning and Planning, I taught English and English literature for over twelve years, as a qualified teacher, after completing my English and Creative Writing degree. Although I possessed many transferable skills from my teaching career, I have frequently invested in writing, editing and formatting training courses over the past five years to ensure my author clients receive the best service I can possibly offer and deliver.
My professional training includes a wide range of courses from trusted, reputable and inspiring sources: CIEP, The PTC, The Novelry, Jericho Writers, Self Publishing 101 (taught by six figure indie author Mark Dawson), Plan Your Plot (taught by bestselling author Laura Jane Williams), Self Publishing Formula's How to Write a Bestseller (taught by bestselling author Suzy K Quinn) and Curtis Brown Creative's Edit & Pitch Your Novel.
As a hybrid author, I self published my first psychological suspense novel in 2022 – Her Twisted Fiction – and and my second, third and fourth novels – The Desperate Wife, What's Mine Is Yours and The Silent Sisters (working title) – will be published by Bloodhound Books in May 2023, September 2023 and January 2024 respectively.
I was also a member of my local lottery funded and community interest writing group between 2018-2020. Collaboratively, we self published an anthology of short stories – Another Time Another Place – in January 2020, and our second anthology of crime based stories – Red Herrings and Blind Alleys – was published in May 2020.
Recently, I created the Crime Novel Planner – a step-by-step novel planning guide for crime fiction authors designed to streamline the planning and plotting process, using the exact methodical system I use to outline my own novels. Find out more here!
As a passionate advocate of publishing however you choose, I very much look forward to helping you feel confident and excited about publishing your book(s) too!
