After losing my soulmate to cancer a few years ago, my world fell apart and my grief was all consuming. When I was feeling particularly low, I wrote about it and somehow this helped me. I kept writing and eventually the idea of writing a book came to me. In 2015 I self-published my first novel which follows the journey of a grieving widow who is trying to rebuild her life. The woman is essentially me, although most of what happens to her is fiction. It took two years to write and after typing the last sentence, I sat back in my chair, amazed at what I’d done. I also realised that I had found a sense of peace and contentment. The process of writing about my experience had healed me. People who have read my book say it has also helped them. See www.sam-hayward.co.uk for further details.