Life in lockdown for Doncaster author

While many have found they have had more free time to spend on passion projects, Lynda’s job as a director at an office supplies firm has gone into overdrive during the coronavirus pandemic, leaving her love of writing taking a back seat.

Lynda says: “Lockdown for me has been extremely difficult. I'm a director at Intec Office Systems, a stationery and office supplies company in Doncaster.

"I've worked every single day, even though we had no choice but to furlough a lot of our team. We're business critical, we supply a lot of doctors surgeries, and since March we've delivered to both companies and homes, where everything from an ink cartridge to a full home office has been needed.

“We also donated a lot of raw material to make visors for the NHS and local care facilities.

"As a result of all of this, the time I've had for writing has been dramatically impacted and the times when I have been at home, my mind has been spinning with the anxiety of it all.

"I still find it hard to understand how this happened in the first place. The idea that in this day and age, something could happen that could bring the world to its knees is just a little beyond my comprehension.”

In spite of the challenges Lynda has faced, she has been able to celebrate another literary milestone during lockdown as her book Keeper of Secrets, is now available to download and a paperback version due out in September is available to pre-order.

Lynday returned to her roots for her fifth book Keeper of Secrets exploring the unique Victorian marvel that is Doncaster’s former Sand House.

The result is a compelling story, which weaves a fictional tale of mystery, intrigue and romance around the true story of the Sand House’s tunnel network beneath the streets of Doncaster.

The Sand House was a prominent feature in Doncaster from the mid-1850s until the Second World War.

It stood about 200 metres north-east of Balby Bridge.

The site is now occupied by a 17-storey block of flats named Silverwood House.

Aside from the lack of time to spend writing lockdown restrictions have not been too difficult for Lynda to adapt too.

She says: “I quite like being at home and on a normal weekend, I tend to go home, lock the gates and don't leave the house again until Monday morning. So for me, nothing much changed. Apart from the queuing outside the supermarket on my way home.”

Althought Lynda is looking forward to spending time with friends as restrictions ease.

She says: “I really miss friends. We have a couple of very close friends who we tend to meet for meals out. Not seeing them has been difficult.

"Also, the conferences... We always have an annual author get together in July, it's the romantic novelists' association conference where authors from all over the country meet up at a nominated university. Every year we all have a fantastic laugh, pretend we're students again, get dressed up for gala dinners and have the funniest kitchen parties, where we drink lots of wine and laugh till we cry.”

Reflected on her writing career to date there are many highlights for Lynda, who got her big break when she won the Choc Lit Search for a Star competition in 2015.

Speaking about her career highlights she says: “Probably being likened to Nora Roberts, I was absolutely thrilled when one reader said... 'Lynda Stacey is up there with Nora Roberts when it comes to writing jaw dropping, nerve twisting and addictive tales.'

“Other than that, I simply love all my books, especially Keeper of Secrets which is set in my hometown of Doncaster. Writing about your hometown is difficult. You almost know it too well, which means you become hyper critical about every word you use, especially when you're weaving a storyline into it about the famous Sand House, which of course is Doncaster's biggest secret.”

Lynda is now looking to the future and is already planning her next book

She says: "I'm currently working on a thriller set on the north-east coast. I used to visit a house at Hunmanby Gap as a teenager and loved the setting, the way you could sit in the lounge and watch the sea roll in towards Filey. I've used the idea of that house as the backdrop. It's also set in autumn when the wild weather really begins and gives me lots of atmospheric scenes.”

Keeper of Secrets is available for download or you can pre-order the paperback version. It is available on Amazon at smarturl.it/7v75yy, iBooks, Google Books, Kobo and on Audible.