Everyone has a story…

Photo of Stella Budrikis, writer

I’m originally from Lancashire, born in the industrial town of Rochdale. My family migrated to Australia when I was twelve years old. I’m now an Australian citizen, married to another Australian of immigrant stock (with a surname pronounced “Bud ree kis” , at least in Australia). We have two grown up daughters.

My writing career

At school I was that strange kid who could hardly wait for the teacher to say “Here’s the topic for your next essay”. My ability to write coherently helped me to pass exams. But the idea of writing as a career never entered my mind. My parents would no doubt have dissuaded me from such a silly idea if it had.

I eventually became a doctor. Even in medical school, however, my favourite assignments were those that involved writing essays. I began to dream of becoming a full-time writer.

When my two girls were both in primary school, I enrolled in a writing course by correspondence. (Do such things still exist?) That gave me the start I needed to write articles for publication. The obvious choice was to write about health-related topics, but  I’ve written about a wide range of subjects.  At one stage I wrote weekly software reviews and “how to” articles for the computing section of a daily newspaper.

Between episodes of employment as a doctor, I worked as a pastoral care worker for my local church, and wrote articles for the weekly church bulletin. I’ve dabbled in writing fiction, but non-fiction is my forte. It allows me to combine my curiosity about the world, and enjoyment of research, with writing.

What I’m writing now

These days I focus on telling the stories of people from the past, whether through short vignettes on my family history blog, Clogs and Clippers, or through full-length biographies such as Susan. My latest book, The Edward Street Baby Farm, was published by Fremantle Press in October 2020.

From experience I’ve learned that everyone, no matter how ordinary, has an interesting story, and I enjoy bringing those stories to life.

I’d love to have you join my Readers List. Subscribers receive my monthly email newsletter, The Scribbler, and a link to download a free information sheet, Eight online resources for history lovers.