Live with Emily 'Madge' Payne

Hi, my name is Emily 'Madge' Payne. I am a multi-award-winning children's author. I have been writing children’s books for nine years. I have written and self-published four books to date. Three books in my Poetry Princess series, and my latest book Inner Buddy: A friendly guide to help with worries. I have been writing from a young age and have always wanted to inspire children through my stories. I come from a small town in the Suffolk countryside called Beccles, and currently live in London. At age 17 I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. This started me on an initial journey of 11 years of research trying to get my own anxiety under control. Consuming books, courses, and also talking to various mental health professionals. At the time I was working in my dream job on film and TV sets as a clapper loader. Knowing my childhood worries had been put to bed I felt I could finally get on with my life, until one day....when I lost it all. Unable to get out of bed, in excruciating pain, a diagnosis of M.E and told I wouldn't work in film and TV again. I realised I still had more work to do and getting my general day to day worries under control was just me scratching the surface.