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My Life, My Writing and My Inspirations
Hi. My name is Rosamunde Bott. I am an independent author and professional genealogist. This page is about me, how I started writing, and how my interests have inspired and influenced my writing.
Writing, finding the time to write as well as earning a living, sometimes finding the energy to write on top of life’s other challenges, are difficulties that are, I am sure, shared by many other aspiring writers. I hope that my own story, and the posts on my blog, will resonate with others and encourage other writers to keep going, to keep being inspired, and to keep writing, no matter what life throws at you!
When I was a child, my father brought me a book called The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. I was completely enthralled. I loved Narnia and the talking animals, and I loved the idea of moving from our world into a totally different one. I was absolutely delighted when I discovered that there was another one called Prince Caspian, which I also ate up, and then imagine how I felt when I realised there were five more! The Chronicles of Narnia became my favourite and much cherished books, and I have read them over and over again, both as a child, and as an adult.
When I was a child, my father brought me a book called The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. I was completely enthralled.
I still own that original copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and you can see that it is well-used! I am not religious, and I know that there is much religious symbolism and idealism within these books – but it really does not matter. The ideals and values of Narnia and of Aslan the Lion are ones I still hold true today.
Many years later (after I had tried out a career in acting, given up, and become a secretary!) I still felt the call of that magical land, and still with that child-like desire to visit the land of Narnia, I decided to create my own world. It was 1991 and the first Gulf War had just started. Saddam Hussain was burning fires and I felt that those palls of black smoke across the middle east were deeply symbolic, shutting out the light of free spirit, enlightenment and compassion. I started to write The Light of Drombar. However, it would be many years before I finished that. I put it to one side unfinished because I thought it was too derivative, and would be unpubishable. But a few years later I happened to meet an expert on C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (who was to go on to write many books on these two), and he kindly read my draft and told me I should continue to write it, and there was no reason that it should not be published. I therefore completed it and finally decided to publish it myself.
Funnily enough, I was not particularly interested in history at school. In my day, we were not really taught social history – it was all boring political events, battles and dates. However, in my early twenties, I did start reading history books, and found the lives of the kings and queens of England far more interesting than I had ever found them at school. It was then that I started looking at the genealogical structure of the Royal Family – which led to a fascination with genealogy. I started constructing family trees, and began to trace my mother’s ancestry (my uncle had done much of my paternal line).
When I was 30 I decided to start doing an Open University Degree. With a family background in the theatre and art, and having always been interested in the Arts, particularly, theatre and books, it was the obvious choice to do an Arts degree, and my main focus was on English Literature and History. Six years later I achieved a First Class Honours Degree, and it was quite soon after this that I decided to put some of my new-found history knowledge to good use, and became a professional genealogist.
It was also while doing my degree that I re-kindled my interest in writing. My first attempt at an adult novel was a short novel about a portrait of a Victorian lady that has a strange effect on a contemporary woman. The contemporary story is interspersed with sections from the Victorian lady’s diary. That novel became White Lilac, and it is available on this site as a free download when you sign up to my newsletter. Finishing my first full-length story (I had written several short stories) gave me the confidence to continue and create something of a richer and longer content.
While I was doing research for a project I was working on as part of my degree, I came across some letters written by members of a travelling theatre company in the 1830s and 40s. I not only used them as part of my project, but they inspired a new novel – particularly one of the letter writers, whose name was Henry Hartley. My new novel was called Isobel Brite and follows the adventures of a shoemaker’s daughter who runs away to join the theatre and makes friends with Henry Hartley and his wife, as well as other real characters such as Charles Dickens. This novel has been taken off and put on a shelf again many times, but I finished it in 2017 and it is now available for sale.
In 2006 I sold my house in Daventry, and went back to renting. This released a whole load of capital which allowed me the luxury of working for a full six months as a writer. So I set out to write another novel that was itching to get going. All I knew was that I wanted to write about a house, to link to the history of women going back in time, and to have some kind of magic or element of fantasy in it. I came up with the character of Will, a man who has lived without ageing for 200 years. This idea became Out of Time, and I published it in 2014.
In 2019 I published my novel, Legacies, another genealogy themed novel with the main character an out-of-work actress in the 80s (sound familiar?) tracing her family back to the 17th century – which turns out to have more secrets – and dangers – to it than you’d expect.
My most recent book, published in February 2023, is Dark River. This is a bit of a departure from my other historical novels, and does not involve family history. It is even more metaphysical than previous works. Its main theme is the history of the Thames, but it also involves a ‘spiritual’ entity, and time travel.
As well as writing fiction, I have written many articles about history, genealogy, personal development and health. I have had several articles published in well-known family history magazines, and have a genealogy website where I write the occasional blog post (when I have time!). I have also worked from time to time as a freelance, and have written for various personal development and travel websites. I researched and wrote many of the London Stories for the website Wanderstories.
I also write and record courses in genealogy and other subjects on Udemy, which I really enjoy creating. You can see my beginner’s course in UK genealogy HERE.
These are all ways of keeping the writing ‘muscle’ active, whilst earning a bit of extra money – but my real love is fiction.
One of the main difficulties in my life has been the struggle to balance writing and earning a living. I have had many jobs, which include box office clerk, dresser, stage manager, actress, secretary, receptionist, learning support assistant and special needs lecturer, and finally, professional genealogist. During most of these various jobs I was trying to find the time to write. Much of the time it was not easy. I wrote on trains and buses, in waiting rooms and staff rooms. Being self employed makes things a little easier – but there is so much to do in running a business, that it is not as easy as it sounds to find the time and the energy to write as well!
Added to that, I have suffered from moderate ME (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) for the last 20+ years, which means that it has been even more difficult to find the energy to write on top of a full time day-job. But I am glad to say that I am mostly recovered, and in fact, I have now developed a course for other sufferers to help them get on the path to recovery. You can find more about this HERE.
Up until early 2020 I was also the official carer for my mother, who suffers from dementia, but she is now in a local home, and I’m pleased to say, very happy there. While this has freed up more time for me, it means I have to spend more time earning enough to pay the rent – hence the slow going on getting novels written!
Please head over to my Books pages to view the books I have on sale – pssst… if you get a copy of Out of Time, you can get one of my other books for free!