Don't Tell Me I Can't Go From Police Officer To Author

Caroline Mitchell proves that it’s never too late to make a career change…

- Hana Carter

As I write the final sentences of my latest chapter, I smile to myself and think how things have changed. not so long ago, I was a police detective, exhausted and surrounded by trauma – but at 45 I took the biggest risk in my life… and now I’m a full-time author!

At school, teachers would often tell me to stop daydreaming. During lessons I’d gaze out of the window, imagining magical worlds, and the only subject I really enjoyed was English. I loved reading short stories and writing tales of adventure.

Despite my passion for writing, when I left school, I got a job in retail. It was there, in October 1998, that I met Neil. We got married five years later, and by my mid-thirties I was a mum-of-four.

But while I was busy working and raising a family, I still loved making up stories. When I tucked my children into bed at night, I’d tell them fairy tales. And when I found a spare five minutes, I loved scribbling down random stories, or burying my nose in a good book – Stephen King was my favourite author.