Falkirk woman quits family mediator job to become author

When her work dried up during lockdown, Liza Miles began jotting down thoughts and character ideas, some of which she’d had for a while and others which came to her during the night.

The 63-year-old Falkirk resident soon found herself writing on a daily basis and had reached 50,000 words by July.

Her text, ‘Love Bites’, comprises seven short stories exploring the ups and downs of fictional relationships.Essex-born Liza credits ‘Love Bites’ for giving her a “new lease of life” and the motivation to switch her career path.

She said: “I’ve been writing for many years in journals. When lockdown happened, I lost part of my income and suddenly had all this time on my hands and I had all these characters rattling around in my head.

“Being a family mediator, I thought, ‘I’ve got stories to tell’.

“I became a member of a group called Book Whisperers. I was beginning to write every day.

“All of a sudden all these stories came out. I was having weird dreams about people I didn’t know and asked them all these questions as if they were a client.

“If lockdown hadn’t happened, I don’t think I would be a published writer now.”

A conversation with author Mary Turner Thomson led to Liza putting her work out there for others to read.

Liza continued: “She said she loved it and persuaded me to self-publish and put it out on Amazon.

“I’ve decided to concentrate on writing as my job. Writing was what I was hoping to do but I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it.

“It’s so exciting. I feel I’ve got a new lease of life. I’ve got a whole new career opening up in front of me.”

The style of ‘Love Bites’, Liza believes, will appeal to anyone who enjoys a romantic tale which doesn’t always feature a happy ending.

She added: “I’m happy to sell on Amazon but the hope is to do a print run, give it to book shops and do readings.”

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