After having my first idea for a book accepted by the first publisher I approached when I was 22, I decided a career as a full time writer was for me. French Tarts (Octopus) was published in 1985 and I then went on to write 13 word processing handbooks for giants such as Macmillan and McGraw-Hill. Then along came WYSIWYG and Word and I changed direction. First a second cookbook (Dates, Zodiac Publishing) and then I published Forced to Fly and Career in Your Suitcase through my own imprint, Summertime Publishing. I've been abroad for 23 years now. I am one of those people who has inadvertently been presented with the label of Trailing Spouse and so, after years in Dubai (hot), Oman (beautiful), Norway (rainy), a few years back in England (weird after all that time) I have now been in Holland (not half bad) for six years. I have come to specialise in expat issues and have had the 3rd edition of Career in Your Suitcase, Expat Entrepreneurs, Find Your Passion and Release the Book Within published by Lean Marketing Press. I have also published my memoir, A Moving Landscape, and two training programs - How to Write Your Life Stories and Definite Articles. But it does not stop there, for Summertime Publishing is now publishing other authors - Tina Quick, Niamh Ni Bhroin, Simone Costa Eriksson, Natalie Tollenaere, Jeanne Heinzer and Siv Harestad. Books by expats for expats...
In my life outside work and books, I am married to Ian (my occasionally rich oil and gas man) who plays guitar in a rock band when he is not being oily, and have two almost adult boys, Sam and Josh, of whom I am inordinately proud. Sam is helping me with editing and book trailer production while on his gap year and Josh, who is doing is A2s, runs my recording studio and creates my incidental music. Ian, meanwhile, can't wait to retire and jump on the family bandwagon.
I grew up in the 'most perfect stone town in England', Stamford, Lincs. The place they recorded Middlemarch. I went to an all girls' school and was still blushing by the time I went to study French at Hull university (and no, I did not go there through clearing, I wanted to go). My father, Peter Gosling, is still writing books at 83 and I am slightly miffed that he has written 31 to my paltry 27. His book, How to Be a Global Grandparent is available on Amazon. My mother claims she 'can't do anything' but frequently comes first in the village horticultural society painting competition and has been promoted to doing the alter flowers in church. It seems we are a creative lot, for my brother, Patrick Gosling, is a pretty darn good photographer http://www.patrickgosling.com
