Too Close - Gayle Curtis

I am delighted to be able to host a guest post from Gayle Curtis today, author of Too Close. I am hooked on Bonnier Publishing at the moment...they seem to be churning out book after book of top quality stories, with excellent twists and gripping plot lines and this novel is no exception. I found it an engrossing read, and while it will take some people out of their comfort zone (it did to me!) the storyline is so addictive I found myself completely unable to put it down. 

BLOG FILES – WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

          A few years ago my dear friend, Vicky persuaded me to attend some courses, workshops entitled You Can Heal Your Life. We’ve been friends for over twenty years and there had been many occasions such as this where I had politely and sometimes rudely, said no. Seeing something I clearly couldn’t and knowing how good these workshops were going to be, she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I wasn’t into any nimby namby, dance around the garden naked and plait each other’s hair kind of courses, so I tried to think of every possible excuse I could not to attend. The cat needs a shampoo and set, I thought to myself….no, that won’t work, something more drastic…the cat’s broken a claw…the cat’s suffering from anxiety…no…I drummed my fingers on the table but I just couldn’t think of a reason not to go.

         The morning of the course dawned and I called Vicky. I’m not listening, she said, unless you’re dead, you are going to that course even if I have to drag you there myself. I clearly wasn’t going to get out of it. The silly thing is, I wanted to go, I knew I needed to go and being my best friend, she saw that in me. It was the greatest thing I ever did for myself.

        It wasn’t anything like what I had imagined and Jill who was running the course was more boot camp sergeant major than a bra twanging twig whittler. There is too much to explain here but basically the whole course was about retraining your brain to realise that you are in control of your life, not the other way round. And the most important lesson of all, as cheesy as it sounds, was to learn to love yourself and look at life with an attitude of gratitude. Yes, I really did say that.

         Since I learnt to write as a small child, I have in fact been writing and telling stories. It was a part of my life, like brushing my teeth or having a shower, only I had never really told anyone. A select few people noticed because you can’t hide things from the ones closest to you. A couple of friends suggested I send some of my work off to a literary agent or a publisher. I thought this was an absolutely ludicrous idea. I wasn’t a writer. I could never be a writer. That was something other people did. Not me, no way.

          After attending these courses I began to see things differently, I looked at myself and everyone around me with new eyes and I began to believe in myself. I started to listen to what my loved ones had been saying all along, I absorbed the words and finally saw my life in a different way. So I began to write some letters accompanying my work and within a few months I was offered a contract by The Feldstein Agency.

Too Close is out on 30th June and you can get it here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk