Who is Soulla Christodoulou?
Hi and welcome to Soulla Christodoulou’s author pages and Writing for Life website.
Soulla Christodoulou is an author, an educator, a book editor and writing mentor.
But for the longest time, she didn’t pursue her dream of writing and says, ‘If I’m honest I felt silly talking about wanting to be a writer.’
For as long as she can remember she has been writing and reading. She was the girl at school who was always three or four books ahead of the other pupils in a book series and was the one who needed just one more minute to finish what she was writing. ‘I often begged the teacher to let me stay in at break time just so that I could carry on writing,‘ she admits.
This love of writing continued into adulthood and so for a number of years she continued to write the odd poem, a chapter here, a story idea there.
But as with so many creatives, life, work and family responsibilities dominated and she got on with her day-to-day life of being the best she could be at whatever job she was doing… sales manager, marketing manager, volunteer at the local playgroup, running her own Wedding Planning business, running her own gift ware company with her sister and finally training to be a teacher.
But it was her teaching career that finally catapulted her into writing again. ‘Don’t get me wrong either… I loved teaching. I loved the interaction with the students, supporting them and helping them navigate their next steps. I enjoyed the writing aspect too… reading through business studies coursework, even marking it was therapeutic for me…’
Hence why she now supports authors with their manuscripts and story-ideas. She can pick out mistakes and support writers to re-write sentences so that they read better, create a beat and add a flow to their work. ‘Developmental editing is what I excel at.’
She enjoys putting plans and proposals together and her sharp eye will ensure a highly-polished story or piece of writing before it is published. She takes pride in being organised and time-efficient – someone we all need on our side, right?
Getting involved in English one-to-one tuition at school for KS3 and GCSE enabled her to fall in love with language and words all over again. It reminded her how she used to read the dictionary just to learn new words!
Then eight years ago things began to shift at work which made her question her vocation and what sort of a life she really wanted to lead and what sort of person she wanted to be.
She wanted to find something that made her tick again; made her want to shout with joy, made her jump out of bed in the mornings, and excited her.
She stumbled across the details of a writing class one cold, grey January afternoon in 2015 and although afraid of rejection (aren’t we all?) she decided to enrol.
‘I was scared to death to share my writing with the class, but secretly that’s what I longed to do, to gain recognition, validation. That first piece of feedback was a real mixed bag of positive comments and a whole list of things I’d done wrong but, instead of putting me off, the feedback lit a fire beneath me.’
It was from this point that her attitude and mindset changed and she began to think of herself as an aspiring writer. Every waking moment was spent writing and re-writing. She did research on writing techniques, read books on the craft of writing, read guides on editing and proofreading. Something in her was ignited and she woke up.
She is now a published author with four standalone novels available worldwide, Broken Pieces of Tomorrow , The Summer Will Come , Alexander and Maria, which received a nomination for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2021, The Village House and A Palette of Magpies.
Her writing has also connected her with a wonderful charity in California which she is very much involved in as a contributor of handwritten letters every month to offer support and give hope to women diagnosed with breast cancer. One of her very first letters is featured in a book ‘Dear Friend’ and is available on Amazon.
Soulla Christodoulou says, ‘I am also one of those ‘it could be worse’ people; I always look at the positive spin on everything that happens and many of my Instagram posts and Twitter feeds are related to being positive and finding ways to keep on going.’
So her writing has created a whole new career and she hopes that you will enjoy sharing her journey.
She would love to connect with you too. So whether you’re a writer, agent, publicist, reader, editor or author, ‘Come and join me,’ she urges.
She hopes her writing journey and her posts will support you and encourage you to pursue your own writing, plan your own creative journey or just enjoy the stillness of the moment. She wants to inspire you to move closer to your dream wherever you are along your personal journey already and is happy to share her own experience and knowledge.
Sending much love and heartfelt wishes,
Soulla