Back to Top

Tag Archives: Guest Author

Cheryl Headford (1)

Guest Author Cheryl Headford

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was about ten years old, my niece used to stay with me. She was three years younger and very afraid of the dark. My mother wasn’t big on ‘pandering to irrational fears’, so she wouldn’t let us have the light on.

My niece was terribly afraid of ghosts. It’s not unsurprising, given we lived in Cemetery Road and spent a lot of time playing in the graveyard. Nor was it unfounded.

Anyway, on the wall of the room we stayed in, was a plate. It was a 3D plaster wall plate, something like the one on the left.

Truthfully, it was bloody awful but my mother loved it.

Lying together, in my mother’s bed, I made up stories about a ghost called George, who got up to all kinds of humorous adventures. I don’t know if it took away her fear of the dark completely, but she always went to sleep with a smile on her face when she stayed with me. I got so bored with George by the end!

As well as my niece, my cousin who is in between the two of us in age, …

Read More

Cheryl Headford (2)

Guest Author Cheryl Headford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiration for stories come from all kinds of places and sometimes it takes me on some strange journeys. My chains of thought are often…interesting, and it was certainly the case with Project X.

It all started with a train journey to work. On the train, I was pondering a conversation two boys were having about computer hacking, and wondered if there was a story in there somewhere. I didn’t think it would be up my street, so I put it on the back burner.

Once off the train, I had to walk through town to get to the office. I was wandering along, window shopping when I came across a mannequin in a shop window. I don’t often get excited by mannequins, but this one got me. It caught my attention because it was so lifelike. There were three mannequins altogether, two girls and a boy. It was the boy that gripped me.

The mannequin was sitting with one knee up resting its chin on its hand. Behind him was a poster of a boy wearing the same clothes. Both the boy, and the mannequin had such sad and …

Read More