As a mother of three children, a wife, working part-time and running my own business, plus other family commitments, there was never enough time to take my writing seriously. It was only a year ago that I decided that I would like to pursue my dream of becoming a published writer. 

I have always had the thought that I would like to be a published writer. I was inspired by Beatrix Potter who created such fantastic stories. I always wondered how she managed to make up such lovely stories, which made me begin to think of how to start writing. 

Scrolling through Facebook, I came upon the NZIBS course, and it didn’t matter what time of the day it was or even if I didn’t go on for a few days, every time I did NZIBS came up with the course of Writing Stories for Children. I felt that this was fates way of telling me that I should do this.

With my husband’s encouragement, I signed up for the course. I loved the freedom to be able to study at my own pace and be able to communicate with my tutor when necessary. I always waited for the day that my assignment came back so I could see how I had done.  With all the encouragement from my tutor, it helped me through my course.  I valued her opinions and she never put any negativity on any of the work that I did, she always encouraged me and tweaked anything that I needed to change. I found my tutor a friend from afar. 

My career was solely focused on accountancy until I had my three children, and then I stopped work to concentrate on my family. I had studied while being a full-time mother and got my certificate in Small Business Management and Accounting.  I found though that accounting wasn’t for me and felt that there was a whole new world that I needed to explore. By working on the NZIBS course, this has opened a world that I had only dreamed about.  And now with my work finally getting published, this is my time to shine. 

– NERINA Sharon Francis CHAPMAN

Graduate of Writing Stories for Children course.