The path from being a housewife and mother to a successful author was not part of Elizabeth Lord's plan but with sixteen books to her name, she tells Doreen Friend how overcoming a life-changing trauma was by far her biggest challenge.

FIFTEEN minutes of sheer terror at the hands of armed robbers led to a successful writing career for Essex author Elizabeth Lord.

Some years ago she was at home with her daughter Clare then aged seven when armed robbers burst in, threatened them with a sawn-off shotgun and tied them up, before making their escape.

"My husband was at a meeting and Clare and I were on our own when the robbers broke in.

"At the time we ran a nursery and garden centre. It was out in the country, quite a lonely place, but when the police arrived with guns, dogs, van and police cars, the place came alive.

"When my husband came home his first thought was that I was having a party!"

Elizabeth added: "A year later the robbers were caught, having shot a guard in the hand and on another robbery shot a man in the knee.

"I was advised to write the trauma out of myself. I sent the story to Weekend magazine who printed it and suggested I write more for them."

Then the magazine folded and Elizabeth began writing novels and sagas set mostly in London's East End.

She has had 16 published to date and her latest work, Company of Rebels, has sold out here and in the USA.

Set in Essex, this novel deals with the Peasants Revolt of 1381 against the poll tax.

"The story takes in the march to London led by John Ball and Jack Straw, the ransacking of Cressing Temple, and the murder of the king's ministers Hales and Sudbury.

"It covers the burning of Savoy Palace, home of John o' Gaunt, King Richard's promise to uphold the peasants' demands, the killing of Wat Tyler and the rebels' final defeat in battle against the king's men in Billericay."

Elizabeth is currently working on an East End saga, plus a mystery novel about a French woman who conned Paris society during the 1880/90s.

She says she is a very disciplined writer, starting her working day early.

"I work mostly from around 7am to 1pm, using my computer which is getting a little ancient.

"The afternoon is set aside for other things but I usually spend my evenings writing ideas for the next day in longhand.

"Through writing I've made lots of friends, visited all sorts of places and enjoyed holidays abroad.

"I love travelling and have covered 27 countries from India to Canada and the American West Coast.

"I read about the area, consult maps, and visit if possible to suck up the atmosphere, which helps give credence to the stories."

Elizabeth says that in an odd sort of way she is grateful to the armed robbers who turned her life around in such a dramatic way.

"Without those 15 minutes of sheer terror, I would never have become a novelist.

"You could say the reason I became a writer is somewhat unusual."