During my Masters in Creative Writing, I'd written a short scene about a butler mishandling the tensions both above and below stairs. My tutor had been so enthusiastic that I decided I'd continue with the project to see where it went. After my Masters ended, it was clear that the project was now a full-length novel, and had developed hugely along the way.

I caught Covid in New York in February 2020, while on a visit with my long-term, long-distance partner, and began on the last third of my book while feeling pretty dreadful. Since it took place at the beginning of the French revolution, in a castle in the south-east of France, I spent ages researching buildings and crockery so that my butler could focus on the minutiae of his daily life and ignore the larger problems looming on the horizon.

When lockdown happened, I was alone, trapped in my flat and only able to leave for a short walk around the local park every day; at first, this was terrifying, but I soon realised that the emotions I was experiencing were directly related to what my main character was going through—the castle was now under a magical curse, and the occupants were changing into furniture slowly. The glacial progression of this body horror and the isolation of the castle inhabitants allowed me to really delve into my own feelings of loneliness and fear. I was able to get inside his head and channel my frustrations through my butler and the other characters, all of whom were experiencing the curse in different ways. Before long, I had both finished the book and come to terms with my new circumstances.

I'm loath to admit that I began to enjoy lockdown, especially when I started to plough through my to-read pile! I began to query agents; in a very short space of time an agent fell in love with the novel and offered me representation. Two years later, we've finally sold the book. Additionally, I've written over half a million words since the start of 2021 and had dozens of publications and awards/wins since.

Lockdown felt like an important lesson for me—to try to make the most of every situation, no matter how scary or dire—and one I still think about every single day.