About The Author – Serina Hartwell

Serina Hartwell August 2014Did you ever have an itch you couldn’t scratch, a feeling that you’re supposed to be doing something else, something bigger with your life? Something that would touch the souls of the rest of mankind and justify your place amongst our fellow men, but you just couldn’t put your finger on what? Well I spent the best part of 40 years looking for the answer and low and behold, I finished back where I started, with writing. I sometimes question why I didn’t just turn in the opposite direction, I would have got there straight away, but my path led me away from writing when I was just a teenager, because I lacked the confidence to pursue the dream. Reminiscing one day, the thought occurred to me that if I had found writing back then, I wouldn’t have taken the journeys that led me to write The Hidden Saga.

My name is Serina Hartwell. I am the mother of two wonderful children, who grew up when I blinked. I always write with my writing companion, my cat Tilly, and I come from an average size town in West Yorkshire, England. The same place where the Bronte sisters were born and I am from the village in the mill town I write about.

Growing up in an industrial town, and coming from a working class background, I was surrounded by the mills, which were once the life blood of the community. Decrepit and falling into disrepair, they shadowed the place where I lived, serving as a reminder that our town once thrived. I watched as one by one, the mills went out of business and closed, serving to inspire my story, while changing the landscape around me.

My mother worked in the mills when I was a child. I recall every night, my father taking my brother and I to the mill to collect her and walk her home over the lonely beck-side. These trips along the shortcut are embedded throughout Hidden, as my childish imagination finally materialised on the page.

It was only recently that I found my way back to writing, when I suddenly found out that I was seriously ill. It’s funny how life has a way of bringing you full circle and offering you sharp reminders that time is slipping through your fingers. One moment I was fine and the next I was in a very bad place. Today you look upon the writing of one of the luckiest people on the planet, as I recovered and moved forward. Luck I intend to build upon. With doors closing all around me and my timely reminder, my life reached a turning point, and I knew I had to find the thing I was supposed to be doing and get on with it. That’s when I really started looking.

In August 2010, I had the most intense urge to write. It came from nowhere, so I did the only thing I could, I borrowed my daughter’s laptop. I didn’t even know at the time if I could write. The last creative thing I wrote was at school. I had no idea if I could connect with the page, let alone complete a book, but one thing is for sure, I haven’t stopped writing since, nor do I intend to. So, allow me to introduce you to my work. May I begin by introducing Bronte, in The Hidden Saga? I hope you enjoy Hidden and the many more to come.

Step into my world and let me take you on a journey…

Serina Hartwell – Author of The Hidden Saga

www.serinahartwell.com

Thank you for stopping by my website. If you choose to share a message with me using the contact form, know that your privacy is important to me. I will keep your data safe and I will not sell your data to a third party. The longest I will keep it is a maximum of 28 days unless it is a review, something you have given your permission to be published or retained or part of a conversation.
It is important to me that you enjoy your experience here and go on to share my website with your friends. Step into my world and let me take you on a journey…

Serina Hartwell

Author of The Hidden Saga

36 thoughts on “About The Author – Serina Hartwell”

    • Thank you so much. I’ve just added another page. I put it up a few moments ago. It’s my Christmas page and I’ll try to release part of it as a blog as well. Hope you enjoy my website. You can find me on most sites now, where you can follow me to catch updates of when I release my work and how the publishing of my first book is going. Fingers crossed, Hidden, will be released some time later this year, so look out for it.

      Hope you enjoyed your Christmas and New Year. It was lovely to meet you.

      Serina Hartwell – Author of The Hidden Saga

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  3. Hi! Thank you so much for the follow and it would seem that our journey’s have been similar in many ways. I too am from the UK and have spent the best part of 40 yrs coming full circle… so I shall very much look forward to following your journey and hopefully learning along with you! Good luck. 🙂

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  5. Thank you for the follow, thus allowing me to discover you!
    The story behind my writing is very similar to yours.
    I’m glad you are recovered and feeling better, and I’d like to encourage you to sort out where your gift of writing comes from and how it can best be used for good purposes.

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    • Do you know, I have no idea where it came from. I think it was probably always there, but I had no one in my life to encourage it. I am however, going to enjoy finding out and I’m excited about where the journey might end up. Join me for the ride. I usually blog on a Saturday or a Sunday. It was lovely to meet a fellow writer. Serina

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  6. Serina: Congratulations on your recovery and the impulse it has given your life. Keep reading, writing, researching, and thinking. When I visited the British Museum back in 1975, the Ishtar Gate inspired me, turned me onto Gilgamesh, really. This is how it happens. Thanks for following my blog, and I found myself inspired by your blog: “And was Jerusalem builded here/Among these dark, satanic mills?” You know whom I’m talking about. RT

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    • It’s always wonderful to meet another writer, but to inspire them is special. May I continue to serve that inspiration to you through my blogs. I thank you for taking the time out to visit my site and look forward to sharing with you.

      Keep that creativity going, Music & Meaning.

      Serina

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  7. Thanks for following my blog, Serina. I’ve just enjoyed reading a couple of your posts, and I’ve also enjoyed your photography. Looking forward to more from you, and your book.

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    • Thank you so much. You have a lovely site.

      I can’t wait to get even more creative. With my first novel out last week, I’m already working on the sequel.

      I look forward to sharing even more.

      Serina

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  8. Lovely to meet you Serina. Thank you so much for following my blog. I too am from the UK (Devon) and come to think of it yes, 40 years and I have done the full circle too 🙂 … believe I loved writing at school (so long ago !!!!) and have, praise God, been brought back to into it’s wonderful journey of blessings. Following …

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  9. It is always a mystery why we are drawn to writing. But it has become my passion and I would rather write than anything else. One of my favorite things to do is take a Gypsy Road Trip anywhere and write a story, so perhaps others will want to visit or at least get a taste of the territory. Thanks for visiting my blog, Bev

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    • You are so lucky to feel the freedom of the road. Cherish this always.

      Finding writing was the biggest, most life changing thing that has ever happened to me after having children. For the first time in my life, I feel like I am the right path and finally in control.

      Gypsy Bev, you keep following your open road and see where your journey takes you. It was lovely to connect with you.

      Serina

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  15. Much like your Serina, I spent my life doing other things, the jobs I had were in business and it allowed me to meet and help a lot of people. I had been writing since 1971, but I was never moved to share it on a larger stage as most of my poems were inspired by
    God’s Love and the effect it had on my life in writing for Him and also my wife. is a blessing that took me a while to grasp its importance. But like you I became disabled totally in 2009, I could not work anymore, and i was moving my stuff from a storage place back to my home, cutting back to save money. My 19 year old was 14 at the time and she found loads of my poems when she accidentally dropped a tote full of them. She said I should share them, so I began getting them in order and copyrighted, around 39 books worth. I prayed to God December 31, that year and I told him I knew he wanted me to share them and I would try, even though I was a very shy person, and on 1 January, I submitted my first poem to americandiversityreport.com, and the editor published my first poem and many more. I went full circle and came back to the gift he blessed me with like you. He calls to us to do different things but always at the right time, blogging and writing some books even though they have hardly sold yet, have been a blessing it keeps my mind off the MS that daily tries to overcome me. You were destined ahead of time for this moment in your life. I can feel it within the spirit of your words and pictures , your lovely spirit shines forth in all you share, because God is with you to inspire you, leading you to lift and inspire many others in their daily lives.. I am happy I was led to your blog, simply beautiful my sister…keep sharing, keep caring, keep loving our sisters and brothers….you are blessed! Have a wonderful weekend Serina!

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    • Wendell, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. What you said was so lovely and I really appreciate it. It’s funny how we’re brought to the beginning of our path, but I think you’re right that we’re pointed in it’s direction when we’re supposed to find it. My life has changed so much, since I stepped on it and I could never turn back now, even though it one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.

      I wish you all the best in your endeavors, Wendell. Never stop writing.

      Serina

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