Frankie Valente

More about me...

Frankie NYC

I used to entertain the girls by reciting stories from books I had just read, or making them up on the spur of the moment. I used to talk for hours and was constantly in trouble with Sister Joan of Arc. My essays at this time got even longer.

In later years I still read voraciously and fairly indiscriminately. One day I would read a worthy classic, the next day it would be chick-Lit, after that I would pick up something by Simone de Beauvoir and the next it would be John Grisham. I am an addict and will read almost anything.

Books have got me through some good times and bad times. Writing has too. Writing has the ability to take you to a different place and a million miles away from the pile of ironing, a dull TV schedule or even a painful divorce. In the middle of the worst moments of my life when I felt I was living in a very poorly scripted soap opera, I took up writing a fictional journal and used it to write my own happy ending. It was better than "therapy" and also the best cure for insomnia

I grew up in West Sussex, although I have also lived in South Wales and London. I moved to the isle of Whalsay, one of the smaller Shetland Isles, with a population of around 1000, and lived there for nearly seven years. Whalsay lives up to its reputation as Da Bonny Isle and it was a brilliant place to live and raise a family. I am married to Kevin Valente, a hard working social worker, sport addict and brilliant dad to my son Ian. He is currently training to do an Ironman in July 2012, which is brilliant as he is now far too busy to notice how much time I spend with my head in a book. I have another grown-up son, Franklin, who lives in Chichester. My boys are, quite simply, the best things that ever happened to me.

In 2010 we moved to Ireland and spent a lovely 15 months living in Maynooth and then Clonmel. However, the economic situation there was rather bleak so we have just moved back to Shetland. I am now working part time for Arch Henderson LLP - Civil and Structural Engineers.

I set up this site as a way of sharing some of my writing with friends, family and anyone else who discovers it on the web.

 

I have been passionate about reading and writing from a very young age. I saved up my pocket money to buy Enid Blyton books and quickly progressed from The Faraway Tree to the Mallory Towers via The Secret Seven and Famous Five. After that I read anything I could get my hands on. My school essays were always far too long and rambling. I had not yet learnt to edit.

When I went away to a convent boarding school at the age of 10, my ability to tell stories took on a new importance. "Lights out and no talking" was far too early in the evening for the girls in my dormitory, which included my younger sister Christine.