Writing a new novel has taken second place to raising a daughter and producing a magazine for female writers, from professionals to kitchen-table poets, for author Debbie Taylor.

But it's completed at last and she's looking forward to finishing the next one.

DEBBIE Taylor's new book has been ten years in the writing. But when you hear what else she's done in that time, that's a pretty speedy achievement.

There were two babies for a start - one, her daughter now nine years old, the other Mslexia, the magazine for women who write.

Mslexia is Britain's fastest growing literary magazine, glossy, confident and approachable. Where so many literary magazines are too often either amateurish or pretentious or - horrors - both, Mslexia seemed to spring into the world fully formed and down to earth.

And its brief "for women who write" is as broad as that - super-successful novelists, kitchen table poets, or those working to complete their first ever short story. All are equal and encouraged.

"Twice as many women write as men, " says Debbie, "But a lot of things stop women writing, or prevent it being taking seriously. One of these is problems with confidence."

Reassuring then, to read Margaret Attwood's worst review or Maggie Gee's rejection letter.

"All ages and abilities are trying to write. When someone writes something and puts it an envelope and sends it to us, they've taken a major first step.

"Even if it's not actually published, they've taken their writing seriously. And so do we. The only way to become a better writer is to keep writing. They're in it for the long haul. And yes, our recidivists are getting better. They're learning, and it shows. You can see their progress."

The other justification for a women's only writing magazine is, says Debbie, that although women writers are now taken more seriously, mainstream interviews still tend to concentrate on their lifestyle rather than their work, particularly if they are young and pretty.

So OK, we'll tell you now that Debbie lives with partner, poet Bill Herbert and their daughter in an old lighthouse with stunning views over the Tyne, which is pretty ideal lifestyle fodder really. When asked how old she is she says 34, which is, we fear, a fib, but a justified one. In reaction to the emphasis on writers under 35, she formed Club 34 as a joke, vowing never to reveal her real age. Other women writers took it seriously, so now she feels honour bound always to say 34.

A psychologist by training, journalist and writer by career, southerner by education, Debbie had been editor of the New Internationalist magazine before she moved up to Newcastle with Bill eight years ago and quickly fell in with the women writing a small magazine for women writers.

"We had 5,000 submissions for each issue and 500 subscribers, which didn't seem to add up. I knew there was an opportunity for a proper magazine. And I knew it was going to be hard work setting it up."

It was. It took three years and a huge chunk of Debbie's life.

"I nearly killed myself with the work, kept waking up in the middle of the night and drinking whisky and it didn't do much for my relationship with Bill either," she said.

But she, Bill and the family survived happily and Mslexia flourishes, making all women writers feel part of what they're doing and managing to punch above its weight on the literary scene.

And finally giving Debbie the chance to step back from it a bit and go back to that novel she'd been brewing for ten years or more.

The Fourth Queen is based on a true story, that of Helen Gloag, a poor 18th century Scottish girl who sailed for America, but got kidnapped by slave traders on the way and ended up as Queen of Morocco.

"I found the reference in a little book of local history in Perthshire and was intrigued. I tracked down the historian who'd written the booklet and then went back to his sources and carried out research in the Bodleian Library and the British Museum."

And it turned out that Helen Gloag's story was possibly not that unusual.

"In the 17th and 18th centuries, more than one and a quarter million white women were enslaved in North Africa."

So all our mothers' dire warnings about the white slave trade were justified.

Other characters have a firm basis in truth - a British doctor who wasn't actually allowed to touch his patients; an African queen with whom the emperor had to wrestle before he could claim her as his wife, a young Spanish queen, only a child, tortured to relinquish her Catholic faith.

Most of the novel is set in the Emperor's harem, where women loll round getting nicely fattened up, being waited on by slaves (so it wasn't all bad) and learning the arts of love to please the emperor, queuing up on Thursdays to see which one he'll choose.

The Emperor is incredibly rich, handsome and brutal, but putty in the hands of the right woman. Typical romantic hero really. But just when your average romance might end - as they melt into each other's arms - The Fourth Queen is only half way through, which makes it much more interesting.

As well as founding Mslexia, other things got in the way of Debbie's writing - the need to earn a living, travelling, trying to get pregnant, getting pregnant, coping with a baby.

"These are problems that are still what women have to do deal with, that take up their time and their energy and make it harder for them to write."

For too many women, writing is what they fit in round the edges of other people's lives. Something that Debbie understands all too well.

Although she is trying to step back a bit from Mslexia, let that baby get some independence, she is still full of plans for its future, including expanding the website and offering a manuscript service which they just can't do at the moment.

In the meantime, her next book has to be ready by this time next year.

Looks like another fine balancing act.

The Fourth Queen is published by Michael Joseph £12.99

Mslexia is published quarterly. Annual subscription £18.75. PO Box 656, Freepost NEA 5566, Newcastle, NE99 2RP.