Fiona Veitch Smith

Hi, I’m Fiona Veitch Smith.

I am a professional writer who has written for magazines as diverse as Sports Illustrated and Plain Truth. I have had well over a hundred articles published in the print media and you can read some of them here. I also teach writing and offer free advice to writers on my other site, The Crafty Writer. On top of that I do copywriting and freelance critiquing and sub-editing.

On this site you can read many of my published articles from history, sport, lifestyle, health and art magazines. I have written a lot of articles for the Christian press so you will find a number of pieces with a spiritual dimension. I have also started a blog series about my trials and tribulations as a gardener and Christian - as you’ll discover, I’m pretty average at both!

I also write for children and am a contributor to Aquila children’s magazine. Also for children, I have ghostwritten a series of 12 picture books for 4 - 7-year-olds. For adults, I am working on a non-fiction book for the Christian women’s market. I have also recently started scriptwriting again for theatre, radio and short film with some success. So many stories, so little time.

I started writing as a journalist in South Africa, reporting on the colourful life of the colourful people of Grahamstown and Cape Town. I took some years off from newspaper reporting to work as a scriptwriter for a Christian theatre company (associated with YWAM Muizenberg) and also wrote my first children’s book, Donovon’s Rainbow, that won the Writers’ News best independent / self-published children’s book of 2003.

I was born in the UK and decided to move back to the North East of England in 2002 with my South African husband Rodney (now a British citizen, God save the Queen!). We have a very lively three-year-old daughter and a young dog (aka The Hound from Hell) who give me much material if little time for writing. We are members of Heaton Baptist Church in Newcastle and consider it a great privilege to be part of a thriving community that seeks to live out its faith in the real world.

When I’m not writing, I’m washing dishes. I lie. Actually, if you drop around for coffee I might put you to work in the kitchen. (And I wonder why no one visits?) Now and then I manage to leave my writing, fight my way to the front door, and go out into the ‘real’ world.

So, as you can see I’m a classic multi-tasker and have my fingers in a lot of pies (more dishes!). In my spare time (ha!) I enjoy gardening, going to the theatre and having a good meal with friends and family - as long as they wash up. Enjoy your visit to my site, and do come again (only virtual dishes here).