Page 19 - She's One Crazy Lady!

Introduction
The world-famous children’s author, illustrator and landowner, Beatrix Potter, is known for her popular series of unique and exquisitely illustrated children’s books, her first being The Tale of Peter Rabbit, first published in 1902. In 2006 a film about her life, simply called ‘Miss Potter’, was released and is up there as one of my firm favourites. Having persevered to get her stories published and knowing exactly how she wanted her little books to be printed, Beatrix Potter realised her dream and in the intervening years her books have been sold in their millions right across the globe.
In the opening scene of the film, I love the way she comfortably sits alone in the beautiful, tranquil hills of the Lake District, pen and notebook in hand, with thoughts of Peter and her other imaginative animal friends skipping and hopping through her mind, ready to be sketched and written about. Beatrix’s opening words (played by Renée Zellweger) held much resonance with how I was feeling when I first put pen to paper to write this book back in 2003 – yes, almost twenty years ago!
“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they will take you. Mine took me here.” I wondered where my story would be taking me.
I, too, have painstakingly persevered and although my subject matter
is a stark contrast to that of Beatrix’s works, I am not interested in selling millions of copies.
If my book can help just one person whose life has been affected by breast cancer, I will have achieved my ambition.
When I first started writing this in 2003, I wasn’t making much progress. I was unsettled, so I did a Beatrix Potter and went to the Lake District, on my own, to clear my head and to write, hoping I would be inspired. Oh, I was inspired but didn’t do much writing! The hills beckoned
“
If my book can help just one person whose
life has been affected by breast cancer, I will have achieved my ambition. ”
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