A MUM of two, who earns a living penning witty rhymes for greetings card companies, disappears into the world of writing romantic comedy fiction in her spare time.

And it would be fair to say Julie Shackman's life sounds just like the storyline of one of her novels.

The Milngavie-based writer has now published her second book after securing a publishing deal with London-based Not So Noble Books last year. She is living her dream.

Julie, 45, trained as a journalist and worked in public relations in the civil service for more than 20 years, never without a notebook in hand to write poetry as well as ideas for books.

Some of her work was included in anthologies and she published a couple of children's picture books before focusing full-time on writing, while still writing verses for greeting cards.

Now her second novel, Hero Or Zero, is available on Kindle.

It follows the life of single mum Chloe Jones, who can't believe her luck when she wins a magazine competition to have TV heart throb Ethan Blake live with her for a month.

The presence of the star in her home in a small Scottish town causes a stir, but then Chloe begins to see his true colours.

"It was the Leveson Inquiry that got me thinking about press intrusion and the obsession with celebrities," explains Julie.

"I thought, 'What would happen if somebody met their hero, an actor they looked up to for years, and he wasn't exactly what she thought he was?' It just went from there.

"There are little bits of the characters in a lot of people I know. I'm a bit like a magpie. You just steal and take little bits from everybody."

She reveals that when writing Hero Or Zero she thought about how she felt when she was 14 and had a crush on Morten Harket of A-ha.

"Chloe is 27 but you can get a crush on anybody at any age," she laughs.

"Because Leveson and the issue of press intrusion was going on I thought, 'I wonder what would happen if we got a celebrity and put them just outside Glasgow when they're used to all this opulent London living?'

"It is completely alien to what they're used to."

A lifelong fan of romantic comedies, Julie cites among her favourite authors Jodi Picoult, Jenny Colgan, Wendy Holden and Sophie Kinsella.

She admits the journey to find a publisher is not for the faint-hearted.

After finishing her debut novel, Rock My World, she sent it off to publishers and agents.

It was nearly a year before she learned that Not So Noble Books were looking for new writers.

"I sent the first three chapters off and got a reply about 10 days later saying they would like to read the full manuscript," she explains.

"I've had that before so I tried not to get too excited.

"There was silence for three weeks and then a fortnight before Christmas I got this email saying, 'We love it and we'd like to offer you a publishing contract'.

"My children's picture books were published in 1999 and 2000 - it has been quite a hard slog, and that is the way for a lot of writers."

It has taken the best part of a year for Julie to write each of her novels, getting a first draft down and then going back to fine tune the words until she is happy.

"When I wrote 'The End' I felt quite emotional. It's all this work for months and the suddenly you come to the end of it and think, 'Right, it's got to go out there now'," says Julie.

"I just hope people really enjoy it and appreciate what I'm trying to do."

Both of Julie's novels have been set in Scotland and she has received positive comments from readers as far afield as America who love the Scottish element to the stories.

The only thing she has to be careful of is sometimes wandering into Scottish words that readers elsewhere might not follow.

"A couple of times my editor has said to me about words like dreich," she explains.

"He said he knew what I was trying to say but thought some people might not understand."

Julie's five-year publishing deal means there are more books in the pipeline and she is currently working on a book about a historical figure from the 18th century.

She adds: "This is my dream - it's unbelievable the fantastic comments I've had from people about my novels.

"They talk about the characters - the characters are real to me, of course - but when someone says, 'I think I've fallen in love with Sean' or 'I'd love someone like Chloe to be my best friend', it really blows you away.

"You put months of work into it and have it hopefully as best as you possibly can but you don't know what sort of reception it's going to get, you just hope people are going to enjoy it. It's a world you have created."

After success in the publishing world, Julie says she would love to see one of her novels turned into a TV drama.

Filled with sharp, witty dialogue, her work seems easily transferable.

"I have an idea for a TV series which I would love to see on the BBC or STV but I know how competitive it is," she says.

"With the optimism of one of her plucky characters, she adds: "You never know what's around the corner."

l Hero or Zero is published by Not So Noble Books and available on Kindle.

angela.mcmanus@eveningtimes.co.uk