I have a great passion for reading. That has helped me on this literary path. I still find it really hard to walk past a bookstore without calling in and buying a book. Browsing through the shelves picking out both fiction and non-fiction fills me with delight. When it came to writing, the idea to write always lurked under the surface of my thinking. I never kept a regular journal, although I have always kept one on holiday to remind me what I got up to.
I remember writing a play when I was about ten years old that was performed at the local church hall. In my teens, I wrote a lot of poetry and one of my poems about football even got published in the Manchester Evening News. There was very little in my work history that linked me to writing, other than compiling policies and procedures and boring stuff like that when I was a HR manager. This continued when I worked as an employment law consultant and later when I managed a charity. There have been jobs I’ve had where very little writing was involved such as in the businesses I have had. These have ranged from a hair and beauty salon, a travel business, a cleaning company and a café. I sometimes think it would be easier to list jobs I haven’t done than compile a list of my career history.
Although I didn’t consider English to be my best subject at school, being more of a mathematician and musician, English was where I got my best grades. The early seed to write was sown by a tutor whilst studying for a professional post grad qualification. After marking one of my assignments, he asked if I wrote professionally. I was flabbergasted but encouraged.
More recently I have written some murder mystery plays which were performed by friends and colleagues on New year’s eve for a number of years. I loved testing my plots on Christmas day with family. Nowadays, I am working as a full time writer. I do get one day a week off to look after my young grandchildren.
I am learning a lot about the writing and marketing process and it is hard work if not enjoyable. I am always curious to find out how other writers started out and what they are doing to hone their craft.
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