I am a wife, mother to five and grandmother to four little boys. I am also a Director of a design and digital marketing company. I am a published writer of short stories and articles for women's magazines and have several novels 'on the go' and some that publishers have expressed interest in. I may go down the Indie route with these at some stage. Time is often my enemy but I love to read widely and write whenever I can. I like to walk the dog, spend time with our grandchildren and I write a blog at www.deborahjbarker.co.uk  called Living Between the LInes which takes a wry look at life, mine and sometimes, the lives of others.

Back in the nineties, I wrote a monthly column for AOL before its UK arm was born. In those days, online time was expensive and I wrote in exchange for free time online. I was the only British writer in the main writers' club there for a while and helped judge essays and critique as an honorary member of staff.

I enjoyed "Breaking Bad" immensely and am on the look-out for another great box set! 

I write in whatever genre I fancy though my stories are almost always character led. I have a tenuous link with Charles Dickens (My great great grandfather used to take tea with him apparently) and history fascinates me. 

I have an adult nephew who has Asperger's and other disabilities and who has become our responsibility since the death of his parents, my sister and brother-in-law, and has enlightened us on the many aspects of caring and organising care for those with disabilities. I lost my younger brother and his partner, to Aids in 1993 and my father to Cancer when I was 29. 

As a child I saw 'ghosts' and as an adult have had premonitions. All this makes me and what makes me, makes me write. Oh and I love to laugh so a lot of what I write is humorous.