New kid on the block - Tara Lyons

That's me! Beaming when my paperbacks arrived

It's always a tad intimidating being the "new kid" in any scenario. But this year has already brought me a lot of new and first situations, and thankfully it's not beginning to feel so daunting any more.

I have been welcomed into the Authors Electric's small but perfectly formed group and this is my first post on the website. So, I'd really just like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about me.

I am 30 years old, a single mother and indie author. So far this year I have released my debut solo novel, In the Shadows, co-authored a novella called Web of Deceit and am currently in the process of co-writing a new crime series (the first book, The Caller, is available for pre-order on Amazon).

My love of reading books and writing stories stems way back to when I was a little girl. I carried a small hardback book with me to write me tales in. At some point my poor mother was given it as a birthday present because I thought I was so creative. However, it's nice to know she actually held on to it for all these years. The idea of losing myself in another world was fascinating and I would sit for hours reading Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, Sweet Valley High and the Goosebump series. My passion stayed with me throughout school, and when it finally came to choosing my university degree I was stumped. I knew what I enjoyed doing, but at still a young age of 18 I wasn't completely sure where I wanted my life to go. So I opted for a three year English Literature course, because I knew I would complete university if I studied something I enjoyed.

Studying English Literature opened more doors for me than I thought possible and introduced me to so many more authors and genres. I studied war, fairytales, feminism, creative writing and journalism in connection with fiction novels. And, to cut a long story short, I completed my university degree and was very lucky to secure a position on an inhouse magazine for a huge retail company. That job, and then later giving birth to my son, kept me busy for the next 10 years and I'm sad to say also kept me away from reading and writing.

During the past two years however, a combination of redundancy and my grandfather passing away changed my life completely. My love of reading was rekindled (no pun intended, although it was because I was gifted with a kindle), and once again I immersed myself in reading fiction novels. I was drawn into other people's stories and this time found a real interest in crime and psychological thrillers. Just over a year ago I started having ideas of my own for a thrilling novel, but I brushed them aside thinking it was a dream too far out of my reach. I actually brushed the thoughts aside for months. Until, for my 30th birthday in June, a group of friends surprised me with a laptop and an online crime writing course and told me to write my book. And that's just what I did.

The Caller - the first in a new crime series by myself and M.A. Comley

I've had a surreal 12 months; I've joined online book clubs, interacted with bloggers and other writers and have joined forces with an amazingly talented and experienced author, M.A Comley. She encouraged me, helped me understand the world of independent publishing and shared her amazing contacts with me. Due to that, I wrote and edited my first novel by January of this year, shared it with my extremely skilled editor and proofreading teams and In the Shadows was published in March. So, I suppose I am still very much the new kid on the block - but I'm sure that won't last too long.

I'm suddenly very aware how long my personal story actually is and I'd hate my first blog to bore you to tears. But, if you are still reading this (yay!) and would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch with me. Likewise, if you're interested in finding out more about my books, the links are below.

Amazon author page - with all the links to my books

Faceboook author page - interact and sign-up for my monthly newsletter

Follow me on Twitter - quick and snappy way on staying in touch

Tara Lyons webpage - love sharing what books I'm reading each month

Follow me on Instagram - who doesn't like snaps of books and reviews