Get to know author Kathleen Rostron
50 years old, Kathleen Rostron is married and has three grown up children. Kathleen spent her early years of life helping her mother bring up her younger brothers.
Kathleen was brought up in Manchester, her mother suffered mental health problems and Kathleen would help her mother with reading and writing. Kathleen now lives and works in Bolton has a community support worker, she supports two older ladies who have learning disabilities in their own home.
Kathleen has been writing stories and poetry from a young age, she would make up stories at bedtime for her younger brothers. Kathleen has two poetry books published on Amazon Kindle. The Dreamy Bears is Kathleen’s first children’s book to be published with Austin Macauley.
Tell me more about your latest book.
The Dreamy Bears is a story about four bears, Moonlight, Star, Sleepy and Daisy who visit Timmy in his dreams. They travel back to Dreamyland in their cloud carriage with Timmy. Dreamyland is a planet far-away where everything is colourful and sweet. The leaves are edible and taste like strawberry cheesecake and the clouds are like pink candy floss.
The fairground there is always open, there are lots of rides such as the bumper clouds and the spinning star. There is a blue dream wishing fountain where you can wish for any dream.
Timmy meets other girls and boys and has so much fun on all the rides. He wishes he could stay but it is now morning and his mummy is waiting for him to wake up, to give him a big hug.
Until next time when Timmy wishes for a dream at the dream wishing fountain. The adventures then continues.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
The only challenging thing I find is putting my stories in order. I have such a busy mind and so many ideas. I need to organise myself a bit better and slow my mind down.
What motivated you to become an author?
Writing has always been my passion since a young age. It has kept me sain in such a sad childhood. It gave me a release from my inner sadness and pain. I have wanted to write a book about mental illness and how it effects families, but sadly because I’m dyslexic I find this very difficult to compose and put in order.
I were such a shy girl and didn’t hardly speak but in my mind I imagined all sorts of stories in my head. I then started to write them down. I enjoyed writing stories. This expanded my imagination and then I thought I would write a book when I became older. I never got around to it until now. Too busy bringing up my family and helping them become confident young adults.
What brought you to write this book?
I wrote the Dreamy Bears book twenty years ago. I was a single parent, working part time and studying a degree. My finances weren’t that great so I could not afford an illustrator. I had many rejections from publishers so I put it away until it was the right time.
Then six months ago things just fell into place. I met the right people at the right time and I was more financially stable so I decided to pay to get it published, I had got a young student to do my illustrations so it was at a lower cost for me. It was the best thing I have ever done, just to see my story in print.
How many books have you written so far?
This is my first children’s book. I am currently writing the second book of The Dreamy Bears.
What book or books had a strong influence on you or your writing?
The wizard of Oz and the rescuers were a strong influence on my writing. Both are stories of survival and aiming for your dreams dispite the hard times and obstacles.
How hard is it to establish and maintain a career in fiction writing?
The book industry is so big. There are so many great authors out there to compete with. To me writing is a hobby not a career. I love to write and get great pleasure from it. Unless you get a big break it is very hard to rely on writing as a career. My career is supporting people and helping them achieve their dreams. I have achieved mine. My first book in print.
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