Tiggy was born creating stories and spent many hours outside the Head Teacher’s office in trouble for using her imagination. Her father, who spent nearly as many hours inside the office defending her, would later tell her, ‘Never stop using that imagination.’
She did not.
Tiggy continued to write and, over the years, the stories simply got longer.
Locally, she is perhaps better known through community radio station Alfred, where she brings together a fantastic group of writers to share stories and poetry with listeners, as well as regularly reading her own work for the Sunday morning Short Story slot.
Writing may be her passion, but encouraging other writers comes a very close second. Tiggy runs Scribblers Writing Group, offering two very different sessions each month. The Guided Workshop is for writers at any stage who want to explore their writing, try something new and gain the confidence to take their scribblings further. A Place to Write offers exactly what it says: space, time and encouragement to escape the interruptions of everyday life and simply write, without guilt.
She is also one of the writers behind Cyngatures, a monthly critique group in Blandford, Dorset.
Having somehow collected a rather large number of writers and authors along the way, Tiggy is also one of the faces behind Fiction for Fun, the biennial writing and reading festival in Shaftesbury, Dorset, bringing writers, readers and local authors together for talks, workshops and events.
A dedicated fan of Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in Derbyshire and a regular participant in NaNoWriMo, where the challenge is to write a novel during the month of November, Tiggy has accumulated plenty of manuscripts in the proverbial drawer.
Tiggy’s debut novel, a domestic drama, was accepted for publication, but when ill health forced the publisher to step away, the novel found itself unexpectedly back in search of an agent or publisher.
Meanwhile, her second novel was shortlisted in the 2025 Good Housekeeping Novel Competition, where Tiggy was described as ‘an author to watch’. It is currently being edited.
Away from fiction, Tiggy’s work as a virtual secretary has opened doors into many different lives and businesses, allowing her to switch from efficient, reliable and hardworking assistant to creative, encouraging writer with little more than the flick of a pen.
She also created The Gillingham & Shaftesbury Guide, a monthly community magazine which began as a way of helping a few friends advertise their businesses. Many years later, she is still producing it in what she optimistically describes as her spare time. She makes no apology for shamelessly using its pages to promote writing, local authors and the wealth of creativity on her doorstep.
Through radio, writing groups, festivals, critique groups and the magazine, Tiggy seems to have made a habit of bringing writers together. Somewhere amongst all that, she even manages to find time to write.
Tiggy Hayes is a pen name.
