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Hello and welcome to the 
Brentwood Buzz of podcast 

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celebrating all that's good 
about the people and places of 

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Brentwood, Essex. 
I'm Kay Bellwood, anyone who has

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a garden or an allotment will 
know the feeling of weeds 

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getting on top of you or plants 
and vegetables shrivelling or 

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drowning depending on the 
weather. 

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Amanda Claire, a foot health 
practitioner and allotment 

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holder from Doddinghurst, has 
used her lack of green 

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fingeredness as an inspiration 
for a book. 

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Sir Douglas Mole and a lot of 
antics. 

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She's going to be at the Chicken
and Frog Bookshop on the 23rd of

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April to talk about writing and 
self-publishing. 

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So the Brentwood Buzz has been 
to the shop to meet her and two 

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of her children, Francis and 
Josephine. 

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So Douglas Mower and a lot of 
antiques by my mum. 

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I mainly grew up in Onga. 
When I moved out, I moved into 

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Brentwood with my husband and I 
now live in Doldenhurst. 

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Brilliant. 
OK. 

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And you are a foot health 
practitioner in your real life, 

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your real job, Yes. 
Yes, so that's what I do 

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everyday. 
I am mobile so I visit people's 

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houses, I meet some interesting 
people. 

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I love all my clients. 
I'm very lucky. 

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I never wake up and dread going 
to work. 

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I wake up and look in my diary 
and go, oh, I'm seeing Jean 

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today, or I'm, you know, seeing 
Pam or Pat. 

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And it's such a nice feeling to 
go and have a chat with 

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somebody. 
I hope I make their day as much 

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as I make mine. 
Yeah, I never dread going to 

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work. 
What a great thing. 

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Because there are some people 
that might go, oh, feet, Oh no, 

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I don't like my feet being 
touched or I would never want to

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touch anybody else's feet. 
So it's it's it's a, it's a 

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calling. 
Maybe. 

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Yes. 
Well, I have to say I was one of

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them people. 
I'm not going to lie. 

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I've told all my clients this 
story. 

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I worked in London for years in 
insurance, and then I had three 

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children. 
And I remember having a 

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conversation with my boss about 
what job you could do that would

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never sort of, you'd never run 
out of. 

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I actually said making coffins. 
Yeah. 

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And she said feet. 
And I was absolutely not. 

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There's no way I'm ever going to
do that. 

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Well, guess who my first client 
was? 

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My old boss. 
Because I kind of when I was 

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thinking of retraining, I wanted
to go back to work. 

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I love working and the kids were
all going to school. 

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My youngest was starting. 
I wanted to do something where I

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could help people and be happy, 
but also be present with my 

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children. 
And there's not a lot of jobs 

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that allow you to do that, and 
this one did. 

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I'm my own boss, so I make my 
own hours and I absolutely love 

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it. 
Yes, fates, they're not the most

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attractive thing to people, but 
I don't see it like that. 

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I see it as I'm helping 
somebody. 

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I have worked in healthcare when
I was younger because I wanted 

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to be a nurse originally, which 
didn't go to plan. 

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I had two major operations. 
Realised I don't like 

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injections, so how am I going to
give one? 

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That's how I end up in 
insurance. 

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But I worked with disabled 
people for two weeks and my 

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placement and I learnt a hell of
a lot. 

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It changed me as a person. 
I realised that you can push 

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your boundaries. 
I was stronger than I thought. 

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I heard some incredible stories.
I met some incredible people and

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the joy of helping someone and 
just sharing a story. 

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I, I love that. 
So I don't see it as I'm just 

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doing their fates. 
I'm helping them and I'm also 

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being present. 
And yeah. 

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You keep saying the word story, 
you hear stories, you you talk 

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to people and here we are in the
chicken and frog. 

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You've got your your book is 
next to me here, Sir Douglas 

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Mole and a lot of antics. 
You are now a published writer 

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and you're going to be doing a 
talk at the The Chicken and Frog

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coming up soon. 
What made you decide to do this 

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as well as have three children 
and a job and an allotment? 

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So I'm self published. 
I self published myself in 

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January. 
I'm still trying to get 

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published. 
I will forever try and get 

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published. 
I have been writing since school

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age basically and it's always 
been my passion for me. 

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You know how people get things 
off their chests? 

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They either talk or just don't 
know. 

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Like whatever you choose to do, 
they go for a run, go to the 

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gym. 
I write and when I had children 

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I started telling them stories 
and I started writing these 

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stories down and they have 
become a series of I have about 

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6 picture books that I've 
written. 

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They were written for my 
children, said Douglas Mole is a

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chapter book, so it's slightly 
longer. 

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That is mainly about me and my 
children at the allotment or 

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lack of being at the allotment. 
The stories are they kind of 

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relate to my life a little bit. 
There are stories in there that 

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have happened to me. 
Obviously from an animal's 

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perspective, there aren't 
actually really animals that are

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talking on my allotment plot, 
but it's great to think they 

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are. 
It's about MO and his friends 

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that do lots of different stuff 
in different seasons. 

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And have you been to the 
allotment and seen Sir Douglas 

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Mole or where he lives? 
No, you haven't. 

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Do you go down to the allotment 
at all? 

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Yeah. 
What grows there? 

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Weeds and food. 
So it all began, said Douglas 

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Mole. 
When I very first secured my 

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allotment plot, I had no idea 
what I'm doing. 

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I was doing. 
I still don't. 

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It's very I wing everything. 
Sometimes I will have an array 

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of carrots and sometimes, more 
than often, I will just have 

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weeds everywhere. 
Carrots are impossible. 

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They're just a nightmare to 
grow. 

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They are, and especially when 
the carrot fly come. 

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That is in my book, Yeah. 
I mean, I'm quite good at 

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growing beetroot, actually, very
good at growing rhubarb because 

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you don't have to do anything 
with that. 

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That does itself. 
Yeah. 

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So I, I secured the plot and 
this lovely man called Don from 

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the allotment down the road. 
He came to help me because I 

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went over there and I said can 
you help me? 

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I need to know what I'm pulling 
out is actually weed. 

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And he stood there and he said, 
Dale, just to let you know, if 

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you see a mole, hit it with a 
spade and all of a sudden that 

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was it. 
That was the trigger. 

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My stories just grew from there.
And that's how said Douglas mole

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came into play. 
But yeah, it's very much about 

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the animals taking the Mick out 
of the the humans abilities. 

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Or not, as the case may be, 
because she's never there. 

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And when she is, it's just weeds
and she's looking for an excuse 

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to go and all she does is write.
Now that was my dream, a lovely 

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allotment plot where I could sit
and write all day, but the weeds

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grow quicker. 
Oh. 

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The weeds and it is the thing 
about you could plant hundreds 

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of seeds. 
I have an allotment and you 

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plant hundreds of seeds and you 
might get 1P and a glut of 

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courgettes and either no carrots
or all the carrots and rhubarb 

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is a joy because, as you say, 
you don't do anything with it. 

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I actually remember once when my
youngest, Francis, he was 

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probably about 3 at the time, we
had one pea growing from the 

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ground. 
I had planted so many and 

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nothing had taken apart from 
this one singular pea. 

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And he went over, he bent down 
and he pinched it and pulled it 

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out. 
And I just stood there and I 

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laughed because what else can 
you do? 

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I thought, well, now that's it. 
There's no more peas. 

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Yeah. 
I mean, I do my best. 

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It's time more than anything. 
As you know, with an allotment, 

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as you said, you've got 1. 
You need to be able to put in 

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the time. 
And with three children, a job, 

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a house to upkeep because my 
husband went seven days a week 

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as well. 
So it's mainly on me. 

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Yeah. 
It's tough. 

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It's hard work. 
Oh, and my writing. 

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Yes. 
Yeah. 

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I mean, it would be lovely to 
have a, a lovely little shed at 

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the allotment and you can look 
out over your array of beautiful

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plants and the wind just gently 
stirring the the chamomile or 

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something like that. 
And it's never life is never 

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like that. 
No, but as you can tell with my 

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storytelling, I live in a 
fantasy land so I'm always 

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coming up with ideas. 
I'm always on to the next thing.

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I think my husband sometimes 
looks at me and wants to walk 

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away because I will be on right 
move constantly. 

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Look at this house. 
I know we can't afford it, but 

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isn't it amazing? 
I just want somewhere where I 

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can put my allotment plot in my 
garden and stare at the weeds 

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out the window. 
So you've got the this book 

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you've self published. 
How easy is it to self publish? 

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I, I think you're going to be 
coming and doing a talk at at 

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chicken and frog about this, but
how easy is it to self publish? 

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Do people want self published 
books? 

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So self-publishing is very much 
each to your own, everyone's 

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dream. 
I think I could be wrong in 

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saying this, but most people's 
dreams as a writer would be to 

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come become published. 
It's very difficult. 

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It is very difficult. 
I've been trying for years, 

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sending off to literary agents, 
publishers. 

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I've had near misses. 
I had one who absolutely loved 

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said Douglas Mole and asked for 
the full manuscript. 

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He then came back and said it 
didn't fit in with her internal 

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plans for the next two years. 
So at that point I thought, do 

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you know what? 
I'm going to be brave and I'm 

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I'm going to do it myself. 
I met my illustrator at a chat 

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at the Chicken and Frog and I 
fell in love with his 

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illustrations and I, yeah, got 
him on board and he illustrated 

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my book. 
He helped me a lot actually, 

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because he's self published as 
well. 

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He pointed me in the direction 
of the printers that he uses 

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mixer, so I used them. 
I used Reed Z to find my editor.

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It was quite quick actually, 
because I was scrolling down the

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list and I just saw the name 
Sorrel Pitts. 

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And my squirrel is called 
Sorrel. 

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So it was a no brainer. 
I was like, I have to have her. 

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Yeah, she's she was lovely, 
brilliant. 

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And once I'd had it edited, 
obviously the illustrations were

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complete. 
We had a mock up and then I had 

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them printed. 
I'm really happy with it. 

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I hope it makes people laugh. 
A lot of the stories are, like I

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said, true to life. 
Buzz, buzz, buzz, leave my 

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friends alone. 
You're all smelly and dumb. 

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If you rot them with a spade 
I'll sting you up the bum. 

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Buzz, buzz, buzz. 
I actually sat on a Bush of 

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stinging nettles while I was 
going to the toilet. 

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Yeah, that was years ago. 
I was in Ireland of all places, 

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and there's not a lot of public 
toilets there. 

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Well, not where we were anyway. 
We were fishing and my friend 

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said to me, well you have to go 
in the in the Bush. 

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I was mortified but I thought, 
well, we haven't seen anyone for

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hours. 
So I went into this Bush. 

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I basically started to go into 
the toilet and two strangers 

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started walking towards me. 
I got lower and lower and lower 

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and realized afterwards when my 
bum started burning and my whole

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body I'd sat in a massive pile 
of stinging nettles. 

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So yeah, that is in the story. 
Write what you know, I suppose 

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is the thing, isn't it? 
Do you have other stories inside

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you? 
Is is this the the beginning and

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you want to move on with more 
Sir Douglas Mole? 

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Or have you got other ideas and 
other stories? 

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So I'm currently working on a 
book that I wrote about 10 years

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ago. 
It's called Grandma's in the 

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Sky. 
It's really dear to my heart. 

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I wrote this one for my son 
because he used to point at the 

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picture on my wall and say, 
mommy, who's that Lady? 

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Who's that Lady? 
And I'd say it's great grandma. 

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Obviously he'd never met her. 
I was very close to my grandma 

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and my granddad. 
My granddad was still alive at 

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the time. 
Anyway, I wrote this book and I 

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used to read it to him and when 
it when my granddad died, he was

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older so he could understand 
more. 

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I never once had to explain to 
him. 

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It was obviously it was 
heartbreaking and you always 

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want to stay strong in front of 
your children. 

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I never had to explain to him 
where granddad had gone because 

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he already knew the story. 
He already knew that grandma was

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in the sky. 
And when I went to say goodbye 

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to my granddad again, I never 
let on, I never told him I was 

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going to say goodbye. 
But I looked at him and I said, 

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Michael, what would you like me 
to say to granddad? 

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And he said, can you give him a 
kiss and tell him I love him and

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to have a good sleep. 
And that was it. 

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And it that, that was it. 
He just knew. 

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So it actually made life a lot 
easier for all of us to not have

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to go through the heart ache or 
explaining it to a child. 

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So although I wrote it 10 years 
ago, it was always my next 

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project after Sir Douglas. 
It is currently being edited as 

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we speak. 
I had my first edit back 

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yesterday. 
So I have some work to do. 

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Thankfully not too much, but I 
do have some work to do and then

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I think it's going to be 
finished on the 8th. 

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And you're illustrating that one
yourself. 

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I am attempting to illustrate 
that one myself. 

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We will see how that goes. 
I can draw, but I'm no 

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illustrator, so I'm going to do 
my best. 

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But if at the end of the day, 
this story is so close to my 

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heart, I need it to be exactly 
what I want it to be. 

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And if I can't achieve that 
myself, we will have to find 

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someone else who can. 
And do you have other projects 

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after that? 
Obviously that's from 10 years 

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ago, but now coming to fruition.
You've got Sir Douglas Mole, 

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which you've published. 
What else is lurking? 

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I don't want to steal ideas, but
you know what, What ideas are 

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kind of like in there? 
So I have have a monster and 

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mummy that I wrote that that was
probably actually my first 

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00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,280
manuscript. 
I woke up at 4:00 in the morning

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to my husband snoring, which 
normally annoyed me, but this it

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actually gave me an idea and I 
wrote a story from it. 

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I have a picture book about 
pirates. 

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I have a picture book about a 
fox walking through woods and 

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not being happy with anything he
eats. 

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Basically he likes a beige diet.
So you can see where we're going

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with that one because that's 
children all over. 

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00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:09,080
And, but I am currently, 
currently also working on a 

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middle grade and it's the first 
time I've written anything this 

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long. 
So we'll see how we get on with 

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that. 
But this was inspired by my 

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friends, they and unfortunately 
they lost their son when he was 

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00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,240
17 to suicide. 
I'm sorry, it's a bit of a 

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00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:30,840
upsetting subject, but they have
a, it's called the Niall 

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Stringer Foundation. 
Niall went to old Brentwood's 

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00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,440
rugby club. 
So we're, we're all a big part 

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00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,440
of that. 
And they did a presentation on 

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mental health and mental health 
awareness. 

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And I went along to it and it 
really opened my eyes. 

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It taught me a lot. 1 of the 
main things I took away from 

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that was don't ask your children
yes and no questions. 

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00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,600
And I, and I stood there and I 
remember picking them up from 

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00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,200
school and I said, did you have 
a good day? 

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00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,480
And it was either yes or no, but
there was no follow up on that. 

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00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:08,599
And I thought, Oh, no, this is 
what they mean. 

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00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,319
So instead I changed it up. 
What did you do today at school?

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00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:18,720
And I'm so hot now on asking 
questions that are open rather 

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00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:22,160
than yes and no. 
But yeah, that that inspired my 

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00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:27,119
middle grade book. 
It's not quite as deep as 

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00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,320
obviously what Paul and I went 
through, but it just shows you 

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00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:33,520
that everyone can have a head 
crash sometimes. 

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00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:40,840
And Lillian, in my book, comes 
to the rescue of Maisie by 

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00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:43,120
talking. 
But yeah, there's quite a bit 

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00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:46,200
that's going on in it. 
I'm just working on it and 

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00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,800
working up the plot and 
hopefully I can come up with, 

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00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,920
yeah, a full story that's 
readable. 

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00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,480
And and what? 
Will keep you in Brentwood. 

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00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,680
What a side, of course, of your 
allotment and your weeds. 

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00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:06,400
Probably needs to get down there
actually this holiday. 

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00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,680
So we were actually thinking of 
moving. 

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00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:16,000
We were planning on moving to 
Ireland and then a few things 

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00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,240
happened. 
Number one, one of my children 

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00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,000
got sick and the other one was 
in a school show. 

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00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:28,880
I couldn't take him because he 
had a sickness bug and she was 

308
00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:32,280
very upset. 
So I rang my mum, good old mum 

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00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:37,280
and dad and they came round and 
they sat with, with Francis 

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00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:39,720
while I went and watched this 
show. 

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00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,600
And I did think what would I do 
without my family? 

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00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:49,040
You know, they're always there. 
And it's not just my like my 

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00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:53,040
direct family and my husband's 
direct family are always there 

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00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,053
as well. 
We have, so I have three sister 

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00:18:56,053 --> 00:19:00,040
in law's that will always 
babysit a brother-in-law. 

316
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,280
He actually took Michael to 
rugby last night because my 

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00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:09,160
husband had to work last minute 
and I've got my sister as well. 

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00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,440
So we're very lucky. 
We've got a very good support 

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00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,440
network. 
The other thing that happened 

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00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:21,640
was my sister in Laura and now 
she was pregnant and I thought 

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00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:26,520
Oh no, like this is amazing, but
I can't go when I'm going to be 

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00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:31,600
an auntie. 
So yeah, I've got, well I've got

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00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:35,000
a nephew come in on the 3rd of 
August, which is my son's 

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00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:37,800
birthday. 
Well, he's due on the 3rd of 

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00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,200
August. 
And I just thought how can we 

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00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,120
take them away from this and 
start again? 

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00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:47,960
So maybe one day, but when 
they've made their own paths, we

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00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:53,200
can go off and they can either 
follow or do whatever makes them

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00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,920
happy. 
Amanda Clare will be at the 

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00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,520
Chicken and Frog bookshop with 
Natasha Radford, Arden Jones, 

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00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:03,480
Mike Young and Richard Pond on 
the 23rd of April. 

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00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,680
So if you've ever wanted to 
write or illustrate a book, book

333
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,520
your free ticket now. 
For now, like, share and comment

334
00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,120
on the Brentwood. 
Buzz and we'll. 

335
00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:12,920
See you soon.