My novels are feel-good, covering topics related to mental health, strong women, and moving on from coercive control. When it comes to mental health, I have personal experience: I’m a suicide survivor.
Like many, depression crept up on me. It had no particular start and end point. The worst moments were hard to recognise; I simply went through the motions of life. Sometimes I knew I needed the toilet, but didn’t go for an hour or more because it took too much effort, other times I laughed with friends, whilst feeling empty inside.
Walking, being out in nature and gardening have all featured in my recovery over the years. Being out in nature connects with my soul, and I feel renewed from my walks, many of which are around Formby pinewoods. There’s an area called Lost Resort – a failed project of some rich Victorian businessmen who wanted to build Formby-by-the-sea. When I was a child, I was intrigued by bricks and foundations of houses, by the straight roads with only the odd house here and there. One house in particular always struck me as the perfect place for a retreat, and when I came to write my first published novel Garden of Her Heart, it was the perfect place to set it, renamed as Pinewoods Retreat.
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I still walk, even though I’m in a good place these days, because getting out in nature does me good. And I garden, which is therapeutic. And I read.
Writing a book was a challenge I set myself. In my 50s, I decided to do ‘50 things in my 50s’. Some were simple, like growing tomatoes, while others were far more difficult, like cycling the Way of The Roses – 170 miles in 3 days. I didn’t even own a bike when I agreed to do that one! It was a great experience – even when I fell into a patch of nettles.
Stand-up comedy was the scariest challenge, more so than the zip wire or abseiling. Possibly the most relaxing thing I did was bookbinding. I easily lose myself in sewing a book, and then making the casing. When I started bookbinding, it was to handle my addiction to buying notebooks – now I make my own and I STILL buy any that I see in bookshops that catch my eye.
The most satisfying challenge, though, has to have been writing a whole novel. When I wrote Garden Of Her Heart, I didn’t know what I was doing. I just wrote and let the characters take me wherever they wanted to go. Writing proved to be therapy for me, and it’s my happy place these days. When I write I like to do a mix of planning what to write and letting the story take me wherever it wants to go, but with boundaries and direction.
With Garden of Her Heart, after six weeks of research and planning, the words flowed and I wrote my first draft in just three months. My second novel, a stand-alone sequel called Tell It To The Bees was a bit harder. The final book was actually version two – I reached 74,000 words before realising I’d written the wrong story and had to start again. That’s not as bad as it sounds. Writing the first version got me to know my characters and improved my writing.
Now that my books are published and out in the world, there’s a mix of excitement and horror! As time has gone on and wonderful reviews come in, I realise I never needed to be scared. People love my feel-good stories, the characters I create, and the way that I write –phew! That’s a huge relief. Readers always tell me they wish Pinewoods Retreat actually existed, but the way it’s healed me and others is very real.
Tell It To The Bees by Zoë Richards (Fox & Ink Books) is out now and is a Good Housekeeping Good Books Autumn Collection Reader Favourite
Fox & Ink Books Tell it To The Bees - Chosen as a Good Housekeeping Magazine Autumn Good Books reader Favourite (Pinewoods)
