My journey as a writer began when growing up in Dunedin. As a child I was surrounded at home by books to read, at High School I volunteered in the school library and was inspired in my writing by a warm, witty, enthusiastic teacher who taught us English for three consecutive years. A career in Public Libraries was a dream come true - in Timaru and Southland. Throughout my life I have loved to write anecdotal stories for family and friends. Since 2000 I have become more focused about my writing, successfully completing two extra-mural papers from Massey and a manuscript writing course with Diane Brown at Creative Writing Dunedin.Winning a local historical writing competition, twice, increased my confidence. I have had a small amount of work published. Read more about my work, and what I am writing now, on my new website www.valmairedhead.com

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