Lucinda Pebre is my author-name. Lucinda because it begins with an ‘L’ like my real name and makes it easy for Mariëlle Smith, the co-presenter of our Diving into Writing podcast. She calls me Lou or Lu, so she doesn’t have to remember that I have two names. Once I started writing, the story flowed out, and at the end of seventy thousand words, I had the sort of novel that I couldn’t have given away. For me, some aspects of writing are intuitive and easy, but others require effort and study. When those two aspects came together, I started to write fiction that people wanted to read. Nobody will ever see my first two novels while I’m alive. I loved every moment of writing them, and they taught me a lot, but they lacked structure and subtlety. Today, writing a novel is a different experience. It is as much hard work as joy, but the result is something others can enjoy. Of course, I’m still learning and wouldn’t want it any other way. Each novel should be better as I understand more about both me and the writing process. It doesn’t stop me from searching for an easier path, the one that probably doesn’t exist. If you are a writer, you might be interested in the Diving into Writing podcast. Mariëlle Smith, Writing Coach and Author and I record an episode every fortnight. I started publishing stories by writing Fan Fiction. Fans know what they like and can be brutal in their feedback. You can find my short stories in the anthology, Tales from the Kurtherian Universe: Fans Write for The Fans: Book 3, and Tales from the Oriceran Universe: Fans Write for The Fans: Volume 1 (Oriceran Fans Write For the Fans). At this time, I was working on stories in my Barathrum Universe and quickly followed that by publishing a novella. I put this on hold when I got the excellent opportunity to co-write space opera in the Cadicle Universe with the fabulous Queen of Space Opera Amy Duboff.