Aimee Riddell

Aimee Riddell

Growing up I was told I read too much. I remember one holiday, I read through a book in a day and my parents scolded me because in their eyes I was now going to be bored for the remainder of the holiday. We popped into a local store on the promenade and thats where I discovered 'Shadow of the Minotaur' by Alan Gibbons. To my parents, I read my book too quickly and should have savoured it. To me, by reading and finishing one book I gave myself a chance to discover new ones.My all time favourite book is 'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpurgo. We started reading it as a class in year 9, and I remember that first day reading it, I went straight to the library to borrow it. Read it all that day, read it again with the rest of the class and now whenever I am feeling a little lost or nostalgic, I go back to it. Probably the only book I have read over and over and over.Additionally when I wasn't reading, I would be daydreaming. Me and my friends would come up with make belief scenarios about these characters. As I grew I would write on paper and create these stories. The first book I ever wrote to completion, I was very much into the manga and anime 'Vampire Knight' and decided to create my own vampire story–as teenage girls do.Now I am in my 30s, and I have decided to stop holding myself back and to truly put my work out there. Thank you for joining me on this journey.