About Me
Hi, I'm Lou.
I'm an author and photographer living in Bath with my husband Joe (and yes, I do mean that fantasy author!). When I'm not imagining fictional characters or taking portraits, you can find me seeking out cold water to swim in or being a taxi cab to our three teenage children.
Writing
I didn't think I'd ever write a book...
In fact, I always said the only way I'd get a book published was through my photography. But then a friend in publishing convinced me to give it a go and when I showed her a chapter of something with the question 'Can I write?'
The answer fortunately was yes.
I started writing in 2014...
Focusing on the kind of novels I would have liked to read when I was 11 or 12 - books by Judy Blume or the Sweet Valley High series, I wrote a couple of children's books before my first one was published in 2020. I then dipped a toe into the world of non fiction when I was asked to write two non-fiction books for children about Mathematics. An experience that was both exhausting but exhilarating! Trying to come up with concepts that are child friendly and which I could explain to an illustrator was definitely a challenge!
My writing has come of age!
It was a natural progression to write women's fiction. I adore reading it - authors such as Marian Keyes, Curtis Sittenfeld and Nora Ephron - and coupled with an insatiable appetite for watching rom coms, my natural leaning is towards what the industry used to call Up Lit but which has currently morphed in to Domestic Drama. I can't keep up to be honest! All I know is I like a novel with romance and comedy at its heart and with a positive character arc.
Photography
My inspiration comes from a diverse group of portrait and fashion photographers, including David Bailey, Mary McCartney, Sally Mann, Dorothy Wilding, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Annie Leibowitz.
Portraits are my foremost passion, working either with natural or studio light. Work includes family and children commissions where I find the best images come from a smile not forced. Recent work has come in the form of commissioned portraits for authors such as Sarah Pinborough, Lucy Atkins, Amanda Jennings, Lou Morgan, Claire Furniss, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Anna Wilson and of course, Joe Abercrombie!
Fun facts
- I'm a twin and always like to include twin characters because as a child, I was always asked what's it like to be a twin.
- I love maths - I know, I know! Maths is like marmite, you either love it or hate it. But I'm in the latter camp - give me an algebraic formula and I will happily solve it! It's the main reason I went to Durham University where I got a First Class Maths Degree
- I've always been a keen swimmer, but a chance reading of an article about Lord Byron, inspired me to follow in his footsteps (swim stroke?) and swim the Hellespont, a 5km stretch of water between Europe and Asia. Since then I have swum a 10km marathon swim down the River Dart, learned to free dive like a mermaid, swum round Brownsea Island and Burgh Island, competed in the annual Copenhagen Trygfondenswim and completed a night swim complete with glow sticks.
- My first job was in TV and it's where I met my husband.
- Joe and I were the snogging couple in the Reef music video of Consideration.
- We were invited to be extras in an Oasis video but we couldn't jointly get the time off work so neither of us went!
- As an Audio Engineer, I recorded voice over with Porkings from Star Wars
- I once chatted with Jimmy Page about teething granules despite not knowing who he was...
