A HAVERFORDWEST author has designs on being the next Catherine Cookson.

Glamorous Val Addicott, 74, has written stories for many years. Already a fan of Facebook, the forward-thinking great-grandma has taken to using internet e-publishing to try and gain a wider audience for her fiction.

“I’ve just got a vivid imagination and I always told stories to my children when they were growing up,” said Val. ““I’m a big reader and I would read some books and think “I could do better than that”. I felt that 90% of what I read was tripe! For years I’ve been writing and writing, and the books have been building up, so now, one by one, I’m getting them out there.”

Val had a brush with success in 2002, when two parts of her String of Pearls trilogy were published by Blackie & Co, but the company went in to administration before the third book could be released. She is now working on publishing the whole series herself.

“I’ve been trying to sell my work for years, but apart from that one publishing deal, I haven’t had much luck,” said Val. “Then people started telling me E-books were the “in” thing, so I thought, come on Val, have a go. I went on-line and found a site I could use to make my own books. I use a template, and each book I do is an improvement on the one before.”

Supported by her daughter Eryl Lynne, Val publishes her work on Amazon under the pen-name Val Baker Addicott, Baker being her maiden name. Her canon ranges from full-length novels to a collection of short stories.

Her favourite work to date is An American Odyssey, which charts the journey of a Welsh family who travel to America in the 1800s and set off on a wagon trail, only to be ambushed by natives.

“I’d say I write romance with an intellectual edge,” said Val. “I’m more Catherine Cookson than Barbara Cartland. My friends say my books are un-put-downable!”