There has never been a time when Sarah Forbes Stewart wasn’t fascinated with literature and novels, words on pages and stories forming in her head.
Even as an eight-year-old growing up in Stonehaven, she wrote little books and passed them on to her school friends until she was told off for distracting them.
Trips to Dunnottar Castle fired her imagination, and the youngster eventually became a journalist who interviewed a young Rihanna and endured a close encounter with a rat.
Sarah feels she is very lucky
Sarah’s passion has never deserted her. If anything, she has grown more determined to spread the word to other would-be authors about pursuing your dreams.
And her new book Aren’t We Lucky is poised for a lot of publicity when it’s released later this month – not least because the audio version is narrated by Bridgerton, Doctor Who and Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan.
So let’s find out what drives this indefatigable character.
It’s a whistle-stop journey, because this woman has already packed a lot into her career and has myriad anecdotes from growing up in different parts of the north-east.
There are various memories of the Granite City, the coastline of Aberdeenshire and an explanation of how she ended up backing Dundee United FC.
What a great place to grow up in
She told me: “I was born in Aberdeen but we moved to Stonehaven when I was seven, so it feels like home, even though I’m settled in Edinburgh for now.
“My wee boy is constantly asking to go to Stonehaven, so I get to relive my childhood a bit whenever I take him back to the beach, up to the castle, or we go walking in Dunnottar Woods. What a great place to grow up.
“As for football, I support Dundee United because my dad is from Dundee. Sorry, Aberdeen, but my football colours are tangerine and black. I was at Hampden with my dad for the 1994 Scottish Cup final when United beat Rangers – a glorious time!”
Writing was in her blood and Sarah began working with DC Thomson, where she created features for children’s magazines such as Animals and You.
And yet, this wasn’t always among her favourite pet projects. As she recalled: “I had to do things like visiting a llama farm and there was one time where they wanted to photograph me with a rat, but I couldn’t do it – it was the rat’s tail…”
Rihanna didn’t have much to say
As a “naturally nosey” individual, she relished finding out what made people tick, but one of her more difficult assignments arrived when she talked to Rihanna.
Sarah said: “Most of the stars I met were really nice and they are trained to be cooperative during interviews. But one of those I spoke to was Rihanna, before she became really famous; she seemed fairly quiet back then and I remember coming away with very little material to write with.”
But that didn’t faze her. Why would it when she is such an unflappable force of nature?
She has previously served up Roald Dahl-esque children’s books such as Elspeth Hart and the School for Show-offs, which highlights an institution where Attention Seeking in General, Showing Off in Public and Extreme Boasting are high on the curriculum.
And Sarah is a firm believer in encouraging anybody with literary aspirations to find time somewhere, anywhere in their schedules, to record the words in their head.
Getting into publishing is hard
She told me: “I can’t repeat this enough – writing is for everyone. Publishing is for everyone. It’s really hard to get started in this industry and all the writers I know have piles of rejections. So my advice would be to just give it a shot.
“Share your work, even if you’re scared that it’s rubbish; check out online courses if you can; get friends together to read each other’s work and give feedback if you know other people who like to write.
“Join your local library; read writers you love; read writers you don’t think you’ll love; take the Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook out of your local library and read it; keep eavesdropping. I’m a big fan of eavesdropping for inspiration.
“I would actually argue for starting to write at any age, if you want to, even if you’re juggling caring responsibilities and work.
Take time and it will be worth it
“You can start writing with five minutes a day on the back of an envelope, you don’t need anything special to get going.
“Start at 7pm, start in the middle of a month, start on a Tuesday. Just start.”
Her new book, which will be released on March 31, has a compelling plotline and, as you might expect, Sarah is delighted that an A-lister has lent her voice to it.
She said: “I was over the moon when I heard that the brilliant Nicola Coughlan is narrating Aren’t We Lucky. Audible, who are releasing the book as an Audible Original, are great at matching up books and narrators.
Abby feels like ‘the ugly friend’
“It starts with the main character, Abby, going to her best friend’s funeral. Abby is 40, in a career that isn’t perfect and a relationship that definitely isn’t perfect – and Hetty, her best friend, was glamorous and confident, someone who made it all seem easy.
“The dynamic between the women – the sense of Abby feeling like ‘the ugly friend’ – is what propelled me to write the book.
“In a way, it is a coming-of-age story – I actually think we do a fair bit of growing up in our 20s and 30s. Not everybody has their life sorted in their early 20s.”
It can be a precarious vocation
Some would argue that the majority of those who commit to the arts never truly have a settled existence. Every new offering comes without guaranteed success or sales.
But that goes with the territory. Aren’t You Lucky acknowledges that there’s often a fine line between JK Rowling and Bridget Jones.
However, Sarah has one massive factor in her favour, quite apart from her talent. Being an author isn’t merely a job for her; it’s a passion which she follows with a fervour.
It’s the best job in the world
As she told me: “I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember, probably because I was a nerdy bookish kid who loved reading and now I’m a nerdy bookish adult who loves reading.
“I still think that it’s the best job in the world.”
The title of her book says it all.
Conversation