Nicola Worswick (Spoken Label, June 2024)

Special episode for Spoken Label (Author Chat) features the return of our friend, Nicola Worswick. Nicola advises "I first started writing and illustrating my children’s book series when I was 13. The stories follow the big bad pirate Captain Cuthbert and his long suffering cat, Scat, whom I guarantee you will fall in love with. Captain Cuthbert on the other hand is bossy, greedy and selfish and always lands himself in trouble. From the age of 13 I suffered lack of confidence due to dyslexia, focus on academics at school and being working class. Creativity always seemed to be dismissed by comments like “that’s good but… you need to improve your maths”. Being working class also limited my options, being on minimum wage meant working long hours. So after writing and illustrating three books I gave up on them. I rediscovered the books in my 30s and I am so glad I did. I had a better payed job by then and my on look on life and confidence had changed over the years. Why can’t someone with dyslexia write and illustrate books? I could just get an editor to check my writing. I already knew an editor who was also a good friend, so I tentatively showed him the books. His response was not what I was expecting and is probably why I am here writing this now. Not only did he think the books and illustrations were great but he thought they were good enough to publish. He asked if he could send them to his publisher who immediately replied saying they were interested in publication. The publisher then let me down, explaining that they didn’t have time to take on a new writer. The failure issues started creeping back. Luckily family and friends made me think straight again and I gained confidence in the fact that a publisher had been interested in my books, and so after much research, I decided to self publish. I would like to use my experience to inspire people to reach to their aspirations. Writing and illustrating the children’s book series is a hobby I love and to have strangers buy and enjoy my books is an added bonus. Join my Facebook page www.facebook.com/CaptainCuthbertScattheCat Gifts and Merchandise www.redbubble.com/people/scattheca" Her amazon page is https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B07TY23P7K/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=c5b6d505-05a4-418b-9c6a-5ce3bc5a06a6