I’m Yorkshire born and bred – so I’ll try to make this plain and simple.

I reckon you know a bit about General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. This is how my website and its writer (me) will comply with the rules.

Who should read this?

Anyone who has shared their email address with me. You might have done this in a multitude of ways including simply emailing me.

Why should you read this?

So that you’re reassured I’m not stealing your data and selling it to others for nefarious purposes.

What do you need to know?

• You need to know that I might have your email address in my contacts list. You need to know that when you email me, your email is saved to my address book.

• You need to know that if you subscribe to my blog,  (which makes me chuffed)  WordPress will have the details you sign up with in a secure database.

• You need to know that if ever I set up an online shop, I might collect your email and postal address to deliver things to you. Such as signed copies of my books in fancy wrapping.

• You need to know that I will not share the information with anyone without your permission.

• You need to know that I will delete your data if you request it. Subscribers to my blog will be able to unsubscribe themselves without contacting me personally and hurting my feelings.

• You need to know that maybe one day children might email me. I might reply directly if I didn’t know they were children. If I did realise they were children, I’d try to respond publicly.

• You need to know that I password-protect my computer and other accounts where your data may be stored, with individual passwords that I change from time to time. If these are ever compromised, I will try not to panic and take advice on how to protect your data.

• You need to know that I am only one writer, sitting in The Garret, messing about on social media, and there are no other people in The Garret who have access to your data. I’ve appointed myself my own voluntary Data Protection Officer, as prescribed by the GDPR.

Thanks to Candy Gourlay for the format and more important sensible bits of this policy.