Please welcome Judy and Keith to my blog. Good morning. Shall we get started? Please introduce yourself to those reading this blog post.

Judy and Keith both come from a sleepy town in the heart of England and went to the same grammar school, which translates to both middle school and high school in the US.

When they meet new acquaintances, Judy often introduces Keith as her first husband…reactions differ! She always made-up stories for their children, who’d demand ‘tell me a story.’ Sadly, we never got around to writing them down.

In retirement, our grandkids wanted stories, except this time, both Keith and Judy were asked. Keith decided to write them down. ‘Big T’ was the first, about a teddy bear who was a bully, then ‘the Wicked Witch and the Squirrels.’ It was a cold winter, and the witch wanted a fur-coat. They wrote dozens of short-stories for family and friends, using their names for key characters. Some are still available individually, but most are included in one of their anthologies, where the entire family helped with pen and pencil illustrations.

As the grandkids got older, the story content changed and became more mature. Judy and Keith would discuss the plot over a glass of wine, agree the top-level overview, then Keith did the mechanics of filling in the details. Judy would act as critic, editor, and proof reader.

Has writing always been part of your life and when did you “know” that it was time to start writing your first book?

No. We started in retirement. Judy wanted her space and challenged Keith to write a story. The first story was adults only, and published under a different penname. The grandkids were young at the time, and couldn’t read an ‘adult’ story. We asked them what they wanted…and the rest is history.

How difficult was it writing your first book?

The story simply flowed. We write a chapter at a time, following a chronological progression and letting the characters decide on the plot. We honestly believe ‘writer’s block’ is caused by the conflict between a rigid outline and what the characters actually want to do!

Have you ever wanted to give up and what stopped you?

We view writing as a hobby, which sidesteps the issue of monetary rewards. If the desire to write goes away, we will stop writing. So far, we have over 50 titles available on Amazon.

Who is the most supportive of you and your dream to be a writer?

Judy for Keith and vice versa.

Anything specific you want to tell your readers?

About the writing process, we bounce high level plot lines off each other, then let the seeds germinate. This usually happens overnight…and can lead to sleep deprivation. Eventually the characters are happy, and Keith writes the cliff-note version first. Once it’s on paper, Keith can sleep again. As an aside, Judy has the same problem when she writes music. The melodies run around inside her mind until she can write them down on manuscript paper!

Did the cover evolve the same way, or did you work with someone to make it come together for you?

Some covers Keith drew and painted, others friends created for us, some we adapted from photographs we’d taken…and others we picked non-copywrite images.

What are you working on now? Can we get a peek, an excerpt?

Our current project is ‘Touched by Magic,’ and we’re still in the germination phase. In a way, it’s a follow-on to ‘The Magic Aeroplane,’ except the key characters have grown up, and the magical adventures relegated to make-believe!

As it is close to Halloween. We wish to promote “The Wicked Witch Anthology.”

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JB7LV96

Please visit:

www.amazon.com/stores/Judy/author/B013HBQTLM

Author page, www.amazon.com/stores/Judy-and-Keith/author/B0B4TBSWRY and also www.amazon.com/stores/Judy/author/B013HBQTLM

Facebook, www.facebook.com/JudyandKeith

X @JudyandKeith

Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/author/show/50713911.Judy_and_Keith

Amazon, www.amazon.com/stores/Judy-and-Keith/author/B0B4TBSWRY

Instagram, www.instagram.com/judykeithauthor/

BlueSky @judykeith.bsky.social