Shelagh Watkins

I'm Shelagh (that's the Irish form of Sheila!) I was born in Lancashire, UK, and graduated from the University of Leeds before I moved to Scotland, where I completed a course in Information Technology at the University of Glasgow. I have many interests, including artwork, computing, reading and all forms of writing, but I particularly enjoy writing for children. I wrote Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine as a children's novel but there is more to the book than just a story, although readers are left to figure out the underlying philosophy for themselves.
When I began writing in 1998, I wrote my first unpublished novel, The Power of Persuasion. The story, set in Scotland, is about a married woman in her mid-forties, who writes a letter to a national newspaper in response to features written by one of the paper's freelance journalists, who has quite a reputation as the newspaper's theatre and film critic.

Despite the fact that the newspaper does not print the letter, the journalist seeks out the woman who wrote it and follows her around. The novel is very tongue-in-cheek and full of humour, but remains unpublished. Although it will be out soon! I am currently rewriting the story and it should be finished in the next few months.

Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine

Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine is a story of flight, fantasy, adventure and courage. Although Emmelisa Planemaker is a strong-willed little girl, she misses her dad, who died when she was only five years old.

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Emmelisa and her brother Dell have a happy and carefree life until their father becomes ill and is forced to retire at the age of forty-three. After retirement, Mr. Planemaker decides to build a scaled, model airplane because he wants to build something lasting for his children but he dies before completing the task.

Three years later, Emmelisa is being seriously bullied at school by a group led by the notorious school bully, Mayja Troublemaker. When Emmelisa becomes increasingly withdrawn and unhappy, she seeks help and advice through the computer her father had used to locate specialist model aircraft companies in his quest to build a model airplane.

The computer is more than just a computer and full of surprises: Mr. A. Leon Spaceman being one of them! He guides the two children to Hardwareland, where they train to become astronauts and take on an extraordinary mission into space: to follow their father's TRAIL OF LIGHT.

I am also working on a sequel, Mrs. Planemaker's Flying Carpet, which I hope to complete by the end of 2007.

Stories of Strength

In October 2005, one of my poems, Hope for a Safer Place, was chosen for inclusion in the anthology Stories of Strength, which was written in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help raise money for Disaster Relief charities.

Leo's Daughter: Mistress of the Web

My first short story was accepted by Universe Pathways Magazine. Special thanks to George Sotirhos at Universe Pathways for reading my story and accepting it for the English version of the magazine.


Issue 5 of the English magazine with my story inside can be previewed on lulu.com:

Universe Pathways preview

My story, Leo's Daughter: Mistress of the Web, is on page 167.

You can find Issue 5 of the English magazine here:

Universe Pathways: Issue 5



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