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I'm living proof that it's never too late to write your first book. At the age of nine, way back in 1975, I wrote my
first short story called The Nine Lives of Timmy the Cat. It was about a cat that travelled the country, helping
people along the way, and often sacrificing one of his nine lives to save somebody. I never sent it to a
publisher, but vowed from that day to write a series that would be published. So, 36 years on, the Jenny
Johnson mystery series was born. I used to read two to three books a week between the ages of 7 and 13 -
it was a time that sparked the imagination and inspired me to become a journalist.
The aim of the Jenny Johnson series is to encourage children between the ages of 7
and 12 to discover a love for reading, to paint their own imaginary pictures instead of
allowing TV to paint them. In an age where social media, mobile phones and
wall-to-wall TV dominates, there's still nothing like a reading a story, going on a
journey with the author,solving clues along the way, becoming friends with the
characters. I want children to feel inspired the way I was inspired by the likes of
Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Seven series.
So, who am I? I was born and educated in Liverpool, and all I ever wanted to do from
the age of eight was to become a sports journalist. After university, I joined my first
newspaper in 1989 - the Accrington Observer in Lancashire - and went on to work
for several newspapers before returning to Liverpool as assistant sports editor on the
Liverpool Echo. In 2002, I was appointed sports editor for the Lancashire Telegraph,
and I'm now assistant editor at BBC Sport. I'm married to Sharon and we have three
children: Laura, Callum and Jenny.

I'm living proof that it's never too late to write your first book. At the age of nine, way back in 1975, I wrote my first short story called The Nine Lives of Timmy the Cat. It was about a cat that travelled the country, helping people along the way, and often sacrificing one of his nine lives to save somebody. I never sent it to a publisher, but vowed from that day to write a series that woul... More