The Writings of Leanne Warr

I write under two different names. My real name, Leanne Warr and my pen name, E M Richmond. There are varying reasons for it but the major one is that writing is my passion, but I learnt to write from two different perspectives.

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I first learnt to write from a creative perspective. By creative I mean fictional or poetic. When I was in my first year of secondary school, we were given an assignment by our English teacher to go out and find something to write a poem about. I wrote about dandelions. I would go on to write a lot of poems in that year, even a nonsense poem (which I later showed to an English professor). It was silly, in a Jabberwocky sense (you'd understand if you've ever read Alice in Wonderland). 

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The next year, we had to work in a business for a week to gain work experience. Feeling a bit lost, I had no idea whom to ask and my teacher suggested the local paper. So I worked for a week at the daily newspaper. In many ways, it was terrifying but also amazing, and I decided I wanted to pursue a career in journalism. It took a few hurdles to get there.

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I later went on to study for a Bachelor of Arts in English and history at Massey University in Palmerston North. There I met a teacher whom I consider to be my first writing mentor. He encouraged me, telling me I had raw talent. 

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A couple of years after I completed my degree, I got a job as a reporter. It took me a while, but I eventually found my niche. However, this didn't last. Various issues cropped up, from personal to professional and I struggled. 

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I decided to return to university once again, this time to complete a degree in journalism in Auckland. My teachers there also remarked on my writing talent. I graduated in 2007 and worked as a reporter for an Auckland community newspaper for a little over two years. 

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in 2019, I enrolled in university once again to study a Graduate Diploma in Arts (Psychology). I completed that in 2020.

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In many ways, my heart is in journalism and that is one of the reasons why I chose to use a pen name when I finally completed my first novel (which incidentally took me 17 years between conception and publication). While I have not worked for a media organisation for some years, I will continue to use those skills in any non-fiction works I publish. 

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As for the novel-writing, there is a little background to the name I chose. The name E M Richmond is my grandmother's. She was one of my biggest cheerleaders when it came to writing and I loved her deeply. So the name is my way of honouring her. 

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Why did I choose to self-publish? In many ways, it gives me greater control over the end product. It's harder in many ways as well as it makes me responsible for everything from getting the work formatted and edited to marketing. 

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Writing has been cathartic. My life hasn't been an easy one with a lot of struggle. Losing myself in the different worlds I entered through my writing helped me deal with many personal issues, including mental health. 

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I consider myself a depression fighter, rather than a sufferer and at times it seems a never-ending battle. If there was a badge for being a survivor of this horrible illness, I would wear it proudly. I refuse to be ashamed of my illness even though it is exhausting at times and makes me want to hide or refuse to have anything to do with the rest of the world. Not through shame but through frustration. Sadly, there is still a stigma around mental illness. I hope to help change that through my works.

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I grew up in a small city near the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand, otherwise known to Lord of the Rings fans as Middle Earth. I left my hometown for a few years but returned to it to be closer to family.

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Palmerston North is the biggest centre in the province of the Manawatu. While there are many beautiful parts of the country to visit, I love the fact that wherever I go in the city, I can get a good view of the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges. As much as I hate wintertime, when the snow falls on the ranges it's quite picturesque. The city is situated in a valley and snow down to that level is fairly rare. 

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I am an avid reader and am a fan of various genres. I've always enjoyed classics like The Black Stallion, Black Beauty, The Count of Monte Cristo. I have not read a lot of New Zealand authors, sadly, but there is one book written by a New Zealand author that has always remained a favourite. That one is The Changeover by Margaret Mahy. 

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I've always been a huge fan of crime fiction. As a child, my favourites were the Famous Five or Secret Seven by Enid Blyton. Then I found Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and Trixie Belden series. I still have a fondness for these even though I cringe at the writing. 

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In my teens, I began watching a tv series called Spenser: For Hire. I learnt it was based on a series of novels by American author Robert B Parker. I went looking for the books and you could say I fell in love with Spenser. He was hard and tough with a soft spot for the love of his life and an intellectual wit that appealed to the brainbox in me. 

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I also profess a love for science fiction writing, but while I have had ideas, I have yet to develop those ideas into actual stories. I loved the escapism of the genre and being a child of the Star Wars generation (the original trilogy) I suppose that made me something of a nerd. I'm a big fan of live action Superman series but I wouldn't go so far as to buy all the merchandise and I have not read too many Superman comics. 

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I consider myself a homebody. I'm happier curled up with a good book, or working on my writing. 

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Check out my novels on Amazon or my Facebook pages: E M Richmond or Leanne Warr

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