One of our most prolific (20 books) and popular writers, Valerie Byron, aka Gooduklady, recently shared some of her thoughts on writing with us:

I never considered writing until I found my late mother’s auto-biographical stories, which I transcribed and uploaded to Bookrix. My friends had asked me for years to write about my "interesting" life, but it was not until I found this site that I was inspired to start telling my story.

When I discovered the wonderful contests on Bookrix, I was spurred on to try writing more than an autobiography. I regret not having the imagination to make up wonderful stories of fiction, but do have lots of real tales to tell. I have suffered no writer’s block in spilling them out in a matter of hours ("The Lover," "Mr. Wrong," etc.). My pets have also been a source of inspiration, so I am now dabbling in short, funny children’s stories with a surprise ending ("The Bickersons," "A Morning with Tessa").

Since I was a very small child, I have always loved to write poetry. I never thought anyone would be interested, so I saved my poems for birthday cards and special occasions. Bookrix has encouraged me to shyly put forth my funny poems, and I have enjoyed writing in that vein for the smaller Battle of Words contests.

Now that I am older and have more time on my hands, writing has become more important to me, and there is even a sense of urgency in getting my story finished before I “check out”. I hope to complete "Valerie" (my memoirs) very soon and am already feeling a huge sense of accomplishment at having nearly completed my very first (and probably only) full-length book.

Valerie has been very successful in our writing contests. Check out some of her contest winners below:

1st Place, Poet’s Week:

3rd place, Worst Summer Jobs – Battle of Words X:

3rd place, Summer Nights:

4th place, My Best Fiction: