A CREATIVE writing course inspired a 75-year-old to pen her first novel...

and she is now working on her second.

Maureen Permaul, of Blenheim Crescent, Leigh has been a keen writer all her adult life, having written many plays, screenplays, and comedy sketches for her own amusement.

However it took a creative writing course at Southend Adult Community College with tutor Judith Williams to encourage Maureen to work towards a novel.

In October 2017 Maureen achieved her ambition of writing a book, a fantasy-romance novel called Til the End of the World, which she selfpublished in paperback and digitally through Amazon.

Maureen said: “I never say never, but I really didn’t think I could ever write a novel - it seemed about as far away as scaling a mountain.

“It was all down to Judith Williams’ incredible tutoring - she just kept nudging and nudging and eventually made me achieve things I never dreamed I’d be capable of.”

The book came as a result of an adaptation of a screenplay Maureen had written years before, which was inspired by a single line from a child’s fairy story.

It was from this small starting point that Maureen eventually ended up dedicating a year of her life to finishing her work.

She said: “For a year I hardly left my flat and didn’t watch a single television programme, I just completely dedicated myself to the book and in many ways it’s the thing that I am most proud of.

“There would be times while writing that I would almost fall into a trance - I’d return to my work the next day and wonder if it was even me who had written it. To have created something like that in a daze was the most incredible feeling.”

Since she was a young girl, Maureen had focused her energy on trying a number of different career pursuits, from a stint as a musical actress, a folk singer in Los Angeles, and a degree in psychology after a battle with her own mental health - a topic referenced heavily in her book.

Maureen said: “It is easier to write what you know, because you can find pieces of yourself in your work, and that is what will connect with your reader too.”

Despite finishing her book just nine months ago, Maureen has already started work on her second work. See more at tiltheendoftheworld.co.uk.