Half of the story of Seven Months of Unruly Sinners takes place in the afterlife. It’s a fascinating subject and I wondered just how far I could go with it. It was a bit of an experiment and started by asking myself what I would like to find there. Well, I decided I didn’t want to find angels with wings and harps. Nor perfect people. Neither did I want to have to cook, clean, or rush around from morning until night. On the other hand, I didn’t want to lie on clouds all day either.

So, I let my imagination run wild and created the perfect place for me with a bit of action. My fictitious characters didn’t like it all that much when they found that the Pearly Gates were covered in scraps of paper with rules and regulations telling them what they could and couldn’t do. The place wasn’t ideal but it wasn’t boring either with a few evil infiltrators to stir up trouble. Well, heaven can’t be all that perfect! Some things have to give if you want a bit of excitement. That’s what the creative process is about – unleashing your imagination and turning it into whatever you want it to be.

In the years I sat by my bedroom window at night looking over the graveyard in front of our house, I never saw a ghost. But I’d like to. I suppose there are people who see them and those who don’t, so perhaps I’m not psychic enough which is probably why I invented the friendly ghosts in my book. I recently slept in a four-poster bed in a castle with wooden creaking floorboards, but I’m still waiting to see that elusive foggy blob. Perhaps I’ll go back and try again.