Pam shares her home with a dog, two cats and the occasional guest. Three grown up children, seven grown up stepchildren and twenty-two grandchildren make up the rest of Pam’s immediate family. She also has two sisters.
Pam works part-time as an admissions administrator at Bournemouth University and was a part-time tutor for the Borough of Poole Adult Education department teaching Writing For Pleasure And Profit for eleven years until March 2002. Many of Pam’s students found their way into print under her tuition.

Pam, herself, began her writing career in similar AE classes to the ones she went on to teach. One of her tutors was the late Nancy Smith, who encouraged Pam to take over the tuition of the class when she moved away from the area herself.

‘Nancy said “Never say no to anything, just because you think you can’t do it”,’ Pam recalls. ‘I’ve found myself not only teaching, but judging writing competitions, giving talks, not to mention writing books, just because Nancy assured me I could. I have a lot to thank her for.’

Pam’s love of books came from the mother who ‘took us to the library as soon as we could walk,’ according to Pam. It was her sister, Barbara, who persuaded her to enrol for her first ‘Writing For Pleasure And Profit’ writing course. She had, however, been making up stories for her sister, Pat, from a very early age and has been writing poetry for family, friends and colleagues for most of her life.

‘I was a typical wife and mum for many years,’ Pam says, ‘Very into baking, sewing, knitting and all those homely pursuits. I loved the luxury of being at home while my children grew up and I enjoyed every moment of the time I spent with them. Only when I could see forty looming on the horizon did I begin to look for something that would be just for me.’

That ‘something’ turned out to be a previously unsuspected talent for short fiction, and Pam’s first acceptance from ‘Hers’ magazine came only four months after she joined her first writing class.

Several years and numerous published short stories later, Pam had her first book accepted for publication. It was a romance, the hero inspired by Pam’s late husband, Eddie, and the character was based loosely on him.
‘Eddie was always very supportive of everything I did and the book was dedicated to him. This dedication was a complete surprise to him and gave him immense pleasure. Eddie died suddenly in 1996 at only 52 years of age but 'I’ve always been very glad that he was here to see me get so far with my writing.’

Inspiration eluded Pam for some time, as she fought to come to terms with the loss of Eddie, but she eventually found success again with short fiction. She has been published in World Wide Writers - with a story for which she won a joint 3rd prize - and also in The Lady Fiction Special, Woman, Take A Break, Best, Fiction Feast and Woman’s Weekly..
Pam met Frank in the summer of 1997, they were married in July 1999 and were blissfully happy until his sudden death in September 2003. ‘I never expected to find love again,’ she says, ‘and I certainly never expected to marry again or to be as happy. Though our time together was relatively short, I still feel very, very lucky to have had that time and I wouldn’t have missed one minute. My time with Frank taught me a lot, not least to cherish those I love, and to enjoy every single day I am given. I know I am a better person for having known and loved him. He was a very, very special man. I would give anything to be able to turn the clock back, but I know that isn’t possible. I owe it to Frank to be happy for both of us.’

The following is just one of the many poems I wrote for Frank during our time together:

The sign said, Closed,’ across my hear’
And then you came along
To put a smile upon my face
And fill my life with song.

You took the pieces of my life
And worked to make it whole,
You took my heart so tenderly
And then you took my soul.

No wonder that I love you so
And that you will forever be
All that I ever wanted,
Part of my life, and part of me.

Pam Fudge 14th February 2000

This saying is pinned above my PC:

‘God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.’

I try to heed those words.

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