4 stars

Who would have thought it: more years ago than I care to remember, I shared an office at the Croydon Advertiser with Susie Cornfield.

Now here she was, on stage at the Ashcroft, talking about her blossoming career as a novelist and publisher while I sat in the audience as a reviewer for her Tuesday lunchtime appearance.

Introduced by Fairfield's chief executive Derek Barr as "Croydon's answer to J K Rowling", Susie was there to share the story of her journey from journalist to author of four books - one of which sold out its original 3,000 print run in just nine weeks.

And she's had a helping hand along the way from two famous Croydon men.

Status Quo's Francis Rossi has put music to lyrics which feature in one of Susie's books and Martin Jarvis reads an extract – both of which can be heard via her website.

When she left the Croydon Advertiser Susie worked for The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, the BBC and as a presenter and producer for cable TV in Croydon.

But since childhood she had dreamed of being a writer and finished her first novel when she was just seven.

When she took the plunge and set about fulfilling her dream of being a full-time novelist she endured two years of rejections slips dropping through her letterbox.

Undaunted and ever-enterprising, she set up her own publishing company, Garret Books. And to cut a long story short she now has her books stocked in leading stores, including Waterstones.

"A book is like a baby: but sometimes giving birth to a book is longer and more difficult," she's decided.

First came The Queen's Prize, a social history of the National Rife Association.

Farewell, My Lovely, is a tribute to much-loved departed pets and was conceived as a tribute to her own cat Brains with contributions from pet-lovers including Jilly Cooper and Anne Widdecombe.

The Sticky Rock Café, a satirical thriller about teenagers fighting to save the planet from environmental meltdown, has just been rebranded as Black Light and is the first in a trilogy of Dekaydence novels.

Susie proved to be an animated and witty raconteur and anyone considering publishing their own books will have had plenty of food for thought.

Find out more about Susie at www.garretbooks.com and www.dekaydence.com

Diana Eccleston