Three Lesser Known Facts About Me – Helena Dixon

Helena Dixon joins me on my blog this week to reveal three lesser known facts about herself! Helena is currently writing a series of cozy crime novels, the latest is Murder in the Belltower. She is part of a group of writers who have kept me sane during the last year with weekly Zooms, so she will always have a special place in my heart. Her sage advice about writing and life is invaluable and it’s great to get to know even more about her with this post. Over to Helena …

Lesser Known Fact One

I have severe dyscalculia. I cannot remember or retain numbers. I see them jumbled up or back to front. I don’t know my own phone number or car registration. I struggle to read a digital clock or use a calculator. I have poor spatial recognition and have difficulty following directions. I cannot visualize distances and don’t know my left from my right without making the L with my thumb to decide. Dates and times are difficult and as for remembering birthdays etc, well, let’s just say I am not your woman.

I rely heavily on my calendar and diary. I have only ever used an ATM twice in my life and only acquired a mobile phone last year. I rarely make or receive calls on it, I use it for messaging and as a camera. Dyscalculia is part of a group of disorders carried genetically, dyslexia and dyspraxia are also carried on the same gene. I don’t have dyslexia, but I am quite dyspraxic.

Lesser Known Fact Two

One of my passions is architecture. I love buildings and the impact the built environment has on people. I love church and cathedral architecture and studied it at A level. I’m fortunate to live in the UK where there are buildings that go back thousands of years.

The human story of the people who made those buildings and lived, died and worshipped in them is absolutely fascinating. I use a lot of this passion in my writing. My favourite period is the Georgian era when they seem to have really understood the dimensions of space. I highly recommend the Avoncroft museum which has a fascinating selection of buildings and a brilliant collection of telephone boxes and exchanges.

Lesser Known Fact Three

My faith is very important to me and is central to the way I live my life. I don’t believe that going to church every Sunday makes you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage once a week would make you a mechanic. For me, faith is a living thing. It’s about your service to others and your care and regard for those around you and your own personal spiritual journey.

Faith is a deeply personal thing and has to be discovered by the individual. Not religion, but faith. Everyone has their own beliefs. It’s what makes us all human after all. What it should never do is divide us. Instead, it should bring us together. The central tenet of all the worlds faiths commands us to Love one another. That to me means love in accepting our differences, finding the positives and doing our best to forgive, accept and support our fellow humans. I rarely speak about my faith, I don’t feel that I should need to. I hope I can live it instead.

Thank you for sharing the above with us, Helena. Absolutely fascinating. I also love buildings, especially ecclesiastical ones. My belief systems, even though I don’t give them a particular label these days, are also important to me and I applaud yours. Mx

About Helena Dixon

Helena Dixon splits her time between the Black Country and Devon. Married to the same man for over thirty-five years she has three daughters, a cactus called Spike, and a crazy cockapoo. She is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. Her addictions of choice are coffee and reality TV.

She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 and Love Story of the Year 2010 as Nell Dixon. She now writes historical 1930’s set cozy crime.

Nell enjoys hearing from readers and you can read her news and contact her via her website at https://www.nelldixon.com, visit her blog at http://www.nelldixonrw.blogspot.com, find her on Twitter @NellDixon and friend her on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nell-Dixon/228642037151856

About Murder in the Belltower

Kitty Underhay’s hymn book is open… at murder.

Winter, 1933. Kitty Underhay is enjoying a restorative break from sleuthing on a visit to her family at Enderley Hall. The only thing marring her peace – aside from the uncomfortable sensation she has of being watched – is the obvious history between her beau, ex-army captain Matthew Bryant and another guest, the beautiful Juliet Vanderstafen. So, when the parish clerk is found dead on her front doorstep, Kitty leaps at the chance of distraction.

The police are happy to conclude that Miss Plenderleith met her unfortunate end on a patch of ice, but Kitty isn’t convinced this was a case of bad weather and worse luck. And when the Reverend Crabtree fails to show for tea the next day, she heads to the church to speak to him. But she arrives to find the clergyman hanging from the bell rope, dead.

With Matt seemingly wrapped up with his alluring Austrian, Kitty must solve the case on her own. But as she snoops into parish affairs, she makes some less-than-saintly discoveries. Just who has broken the sixth commandment? Meanwhile the killer is preparing a churchyard grave for Kitty, and she’ll have to use all her wits to avoid falling in…

Buying Link https://t.co/qivg75A3qj

To learn about the other books in the series check out Helena’s website at https://www.nelldixon.com

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Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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