Donna Siggers extends a warm welcome to her site and hopes you find what you are looking for.
Welcome to the literary and speaking home of Donna Siggers!
This is what one of Donna's readers had to say about her debut novel, BROKEN...
"one of the creepiest stories about a serial killer I have ever read"
How absolutely cool is that! There are lots of other reader comments spread over the website, so please feel free to have a browse. There is also a lot of news being shared, some set out below and also on the News and Tweets page.
Despite writing being a healing process from severe injury and trauma, Donna has had immense fun during the process of producing her first trilogy. There are, of course, more than three books of hers published. As she embarks on her new psychological crime thriller trilogy, she's been reflecting on her writing journey--on relearning our wonderful language after memory loss and using the power of writing as a tool to submerge herself inside her lost mind to re-find her soul. Although this might seem a complex (and she assures you it is) process, its one that has proven both positive but also traumatic. Placing her thoughts and memories, in their twisted story forms, into books has helped Donna heal. Creating complex characters from the people who contributed towards her life, in ways they'd never recognise themselves has been, in a way, her sweet revenge. For those of you who knew Donna back in her equine days and were shocked with her storytelling as a forty-something year old, and for everyone else who have enjoyed her work, she is upping her game for the next trilogy! Donna's writing has matured, for she has had several more years worth of healing. Her storytelling will be more revealing for her memory is much better than it was first time around.
'SOUL SEARCHING: To Hell and Back Twice' is Donna's follow-on book to LOST SOUL: Broken Soul to Soul on Fire and is now at the editing stage. It touches on her Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder journey. Choosing to share these personal insights has been healing for Donna but, more importantly she has found that in doing so many others have benefitted. Speaking out has become easy as a result and Donna hopes that this next installment of her recovery holds as many advantages for her readers as the first book in what will become a series, 'LOST SOUL: Broken Soul to Soul on Fire'.
Donna's new trilogy is also taking shape nicely. 'AT RISK' will form the second installment of THE BROMPTON THRILLERS (it was originally going to form the fourth book in the original series). Donna plans to have all three books written before releasing the first as she has now returned to work. Each story will carry authenticity and will be loosely based on real events. All locations will, once again, be real but very much removed from the original place each event occurred. Again, each character will be based on people from Donna's past--she is frantically working hard to disguise their characteristics behind fictitious screens in order to protect them as well as her (although she dares the protagonists to come forward and admit their guilt and lets see who takes who to court).
The complex methods Donna uses to create her characters are worthy of a book in their own right. Perhaps, one day, she might reveal her secrets and create a writing course but for now all she is willing to reveal is that by the end of THE BROMPTON THRILLERS, you will be in no doubt as to why Donna became interested in criminology. These books will be everything and more than you have come to expect from her work.
Additionally, Donna has made the decision that any future book cover designs for herself, or any other author, will only contain images she has photographed or artwork she has produced (with the exception of the image her partner, David has captured for the front of Soul Searching of Donna herself. Donna is a professional photographer and gave up a successful career and business to pursue one in mental health.
Donna and David are often out with their cameras capturing images for their joint project that only select members of their family are aware of, so watch this space for a big announcement.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
Born in rural Essex, United Kingdom, Donna Siggers grew up surrounded by beautiful countryside and some very interesting characters. Add to that the stories she could share from her time around horses and stable yards she could seriously have chosen a completely different genre. Her life with horses gave Donna an advantage, as it taught her to fly and to fall, and that when the latter occurred there was no option other than to stand back up again. It was a good life lesson and one that she leans on regularly. Who knows, maybe horses will feature in a book one day.
Having experienced a series of life events that exposed her to the harsh reality of survival, Donna set out to learn what it took to take back control of her life. Qualifying as a psychotherapist she gave up a successful photography career and was able to help many others strive. By 2013 Donna was working within an environment that changed her life in a way that shocked her entire family to the core: an assault at work resulted in a serious head trauma, personality changes and complexities that are detailed on her mental health page. Not many people understand the notion that because she experienced such extreme life-changing injuries she has become the person she is today: that her ability changed from scientist to creative and that she is thankful for who she has become–-an award winning crime thriller author and mental health advocate. To date she has published The Warwick Cooper Thrillers Trilogy, comprising of 'Broken', 'Betrayal' and 'Bound' and also her first autobiographical recovery story 'Lost Soul: Broken Soul to Soul on Fire' that takes you through her journey of head trauma recovery. Additional to these books, Donna has also published a self-help book 'Free Spirit' that gives a basic guide on mental health and how to overcome the hurdles that might be holding you back. Proud to be a mental health advocate, Donna gives 'Free Spirit' to all guests as part of any public speaking booking (paid events only).
More recently Donna has been sharing her love of history through the blog on this website (occasionally jointly with her partner Dave, who is from Kent) as well as personal book reviews as a way of promoting fellow authors. This is an aspect of writing that Donna enjoys immensely.
"…that until you’ve almost lost it all, you don’t truly appreciate what you have in life…" are words Donna wrote early on in her survival from brain trauma and they still ring true to her to this day. Despite it not being possible for her to speak openly about every aspect of her life, the sights she has witnessed or people that she has worked with--and indeed each of her personal experiences--Donna has found her voice and ability to share her story in a way that gives you authentic stories, true stories and herself a healing process.
For many years after the assault, the only memories Donna had were from physical records she held. These records are all negative, which was quite the burden for her to recall. Therapy intervened, and with the help of time and hard work Donna has been able to reclaim much of her past, thankfully. The year she set out to reclaim her life (2018) was the year Donna's writing life also lifted. It saw her physical arrival in the USA, and a sudden stage presence. At the start of the year Donna had struggled to make a short bus journey in her local town and by the end of it she'd flown four thousand air miles to speak to four hundred people on stage and to win an award for her debut novel, after which her live audience was one million. When you are determined, it truly is amazing what you can achieve!
Donna claims that in spite of her brain trauma she is now a better version of herself and that's because of the opportunities she's created through her writing and the new people in her life. She is under no illusion, however, of how gruelling the journey has been for her and her family to get to where she is and that acceptance has been the largest hurdle to overcome. All be it a double edge sword, Donna's head injury has been, in part, a blessing because of the people she now has surrounding her.
The photographs below are from Donna's younger years, when horses were her life.
