About me
C E Allardyce is my pen name, but you can call me Claire (for that is my name).
I have been writing since 2022 (17th October to be precise), which is no time at all. I was born in Hertfordshire, grew up and went to school in South Cambridgeshire and moved to Central Bedfordshire in the late nineties. I now live in a small village in Central Beds with my teenage son and neurotic large-breed dog.
I am a Quality Management professional by trade (a Quality nerd through and through) and have worked in the field for over 20 years (gulp!).
When I’m not working, walking the dog or maintaining the house you’ll find me in my study, furiously typing whatever’s in my head in that moment.
Where it all began
The urge to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) came from a spark of creativity following a random crafting session with a dear friend and former work colleague. So, a huge thank you to Rachael! If it wasn’t for you, I may not have stumbled on this passion.
If I am honest, I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of a day spent mosaicking (who knew that was a word?) but time to catch up with a friend, to mix with some adults for a change and do something different – I thought why not?
And look at the result, I was and still am very proud of what I created.
The process of creating something from nothing, ignited something in me, something that I had not nurtured for a very long time. Coming from a creative family (including painters / sculptors, seamstresses, gardeners, jewellery makers, musicians . . .) I had long felt like the odd one out.
I had dreamt of being a writer back when I was at a teenager but didn’t have the first clue what to write about. I assumed that you had to plan the story from beginning to end, knew who your characters were, what drove them, who did what and when . . . many times I tried to draft a plan but didn’t get any further than an idea about a female assassin, hurt and lonely. That was far as that thought went.
We jump to 2022. I was in a pretty weird place (an idle mind accompanied by a battered soul – not a healthy combination) and the creative itch persistently niggled at me. So, on the 17th October I decided to get the thoughts out of my head and on to the page. I started by trying to articulate a random dream that I had that night. I won’t bore you with the details (a nightclub and a particularly handsome English actor were involved) and suddenly more thoughts came – a strong, independent woman, a kick-ass girl who didn’t take any nonsense from anyone, a girl who didn’t need saving, she was the one who did the saving. And that was when Claudia Church was born.
I spent over a year writing whatever was in my head, for me and me alone. The thought of someone reading my work made me feel physically sick. Then, as if by magic, a story emerged. Like my mosaic, I started with one tile, then another and then just went with the flow just to see where it would take me. Now, I have stories that span across about twenty years of Claudia’s life.