A DRUMCHAPEL-BORN and bred author is excited to see where the next chapter in life will take her after successfully securing a publishing contract.

Jan McPeake’s debut novel, Transference, will be launched later this year.

The fiction author, who attended Pinewood Primary and Drumchapel High, has written eight unpublished children’s books and currently working on her second dystopian thriller, Separation.

She said: “Writing has always been my escape. I started writing poems at 11 when my English teacher told me I had potential.

“He said, ‘You have a gift, but stop being the clown to all these monkeys’, due to me always mucking about.

“I won a local poets’ competition and it went from there.”

Jan, who works full time and is a mother, now lives with her husband and son in Milngavie and writes during her spare time.

Her hard work, determination and perseverance is what she believes led FCM Publishing to “give her a chance”.

She said: “I was overjoyed when I was offered a publishing contract, after countless rejections. Like every writer, you need to persevere with your passion until that someone sees potential in your writing.

“For me, when someone tells me ‘it’s difficult’ I only hear ‘it’s possible’. When someone tells me ‘it’s impossible’, I think ‘well, let’s see’.

Transference is the story of a government created terminal disease, formed to manipulate the population in a monetary driven attempt at social cleansing.

Best friends Lauren and Sonya are plunged into the most brutal conspiracy – the killing of innocent children.

As the disease affects only the most affluent children, the poorest of the world accepts compensation payments of £1m to allow the disease to be transferred into, and ultimately, kill children.

As Lauren and Sonya fight their way to survive and expose the truth behind Transference, they unearth horrors and betrayals that even nightmares would shy away from.

Visit facebook.com/janmcpeake for details.