Writing for a Living: Romantic Novelist Allie Spencer
I am a thirty-something ex barrister living in Salisbury Wiltshire who has always harboured an ambition to write comedy. I’m married to Chris (who is also a writer in his spare time, and specialises in academic history books) and we have two boys aged six and three.
I had dreams of being a either an actor or a writer since childhood and found myself writing on-and-off throughout my life, but never really daring to hope I could make a career of it. After an English Degree, followed by a Master’s in Medieval Studies) I qualified as a barrister with a specialism in divorce law and worked for various solicitors’ firms in their matrimonial departments.
Allie Daniell. Image by Chris Daniell
Following the birth of my first child, I realised I didn’t feel comfortable returning to full-time work and managed to get a couple of jobs writing historical audio tours. It was then I decided that if I was serious about making writing my career, I’d better do something about it and began novel writing in earnest.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Romantic Novelists’ Association. It was at one of their parties that I was introduced to agent Teresa Chris, to whom I pitched Tug of Love, 
My biggest challenge is carving out time to work in between looking after the children. We are now (thankfully) into the realms of full-time school for one, and pre-school for the other, but I have nightmares about sickness or school closure as it knocks out my writing slots. I write for at least a few hours every day – weekends, bank holidays, evenings, the lot – if I didn’t, I simply wouldn’t meet my deadlines.
The advice I would give to anyone who wants to write in any genre is to pick up a pen and get started. There is never a ‘good time’ to begin, you simply have to do it – the year will pass whether or not you are writing, and you might as well have a novel to be proud of at the end of it!
Tug of Love (Little Black Dress, £4.99) is out on the 1st of October.
