MY LOST TODDLERHOOD

I bought myself a Rode microphone with a pop filter. One of the best on the market. I built myself a recording booth in the conservatory. I up‑ended an old table, lined it with towels to absorb echoes, clipped a camping torch inside, and printed my scripts in large type. With a mixer and sound‑editing software, I had created my own little recording studio. I had ventured into the world of audiobooks. And the learning curve was steeper than Mount Everest. My recording studio in 2015. (Image taken from my book Mirror Image Shattered ). My Split Identity Speaks Through My Audiobooks Knowing nothing about sound recording, I had to learn from scratch. Faulty equipment, buzzing wires, mysterious hums, and endless mishaps meant three months passed before I recorded a single syllable. Eventually, I began with short stories to practise vocal technique before tackling my so called ‘novels’. My book, Mirror Image Shattered explains. At first, the project thrilled me. I anticipated every session....

I self‑published my second novel, The Locked Door . The year was 2008, the early days of self-publishing. My novel climbed the charts, up and up. There it climbed into the realms of the big names, like Cole and Patterson. I couldn’t believe it. A character born from my secret world was out there. Readers from around the world were downloading his story. I continued to teach part‑time, did the school run, and pushed a trolley around the supermarket. But inside, my exhilaration lit me up. Every sale brought a surge of excitement that shielded me from my difficult past and the dour present. No one knew about my novel except my twin, Eve. And even with her, I sometimes closed up. Key scene in my second novel, The Locked Door . A captive peeks through a hole in the floorboards. Author with a Fractured Identity With The Locked Door out there, I decided to retrieve my first novel, The Lessons from the attic. I tore open the old brown envelope to find a mediocre manuscript. How could this nov...