HERE

I remember clearly that my first
written word was “here”. I used to hide behind the armchair and secretly
write it on a bit of paper. I was very proud of that word. However, I
soon found that the words did not do what I wanted. Well, the letters
that is. An S, a D, a B, R, N, all didn’t know which way around they
wanted to be. Most children do this as their brains work out their left
from their right. Guess what? I still don’t know, without thinking about
it hard, my left from my right. This is dyslexia. Pages of written text
refused to stay still. It took me so long to read and write. But I
wanted it, oh I wanted it bad. Mostly it was Biggles books that saved
me. I was lucky to pick one in a class once, we were asked to chose a
book from a pile, and I liked the one with a flying boat on the front.
What a lucky find. I wanted to read Biggles books so much, they were so
worth the effort. And it was a big effort.

            Biggles
books also made me want to write. They were written in a simple manner
but written well. They were also not written to children in a
condescending manner. The author never talked down to you. I thought I
could do it too, and I tried.

            I started writing a
novel while still at school. In fact I started two. Neither was
finished. I had a problem, to write with a pen and paper or a machine? I
didn’t have a machine. It took a long time before I did. The first
novel was science fiction. The second a sort of real-life book. The
third was science fiction, the fourth a real-life book, very much like
Coming up for Air by Orwell.

            Three and four were
finished. Four went to agents. One agent liked my writing. For some
reason I stopped writing then. This was about 1996/7. Oh, and I wrote my
autobiography a couple or three times. I finished only once and lost
that copy. I lost novels 1 to 4 as well.

            Yeah, life
got in the way, and I thought writing wasn’t a real job. Life got in the
way for a long time. Writing was scattered all over the place and all
over different times. From 2008/9 to 2021 there was a lot of writing.
Poems, books, stories, articles. I did a writing access course in
2014/5. I did a BA in Creative and Professional Writing 2015 to 2018.

           
The writing had taken off in 2011 again. I was writing a conservation
journal as I was in Ecuador in the rainforest, saving the planet. At one
point I was left on my own for 3 weeks. I nearly went mad and wrote the
autobiography (now lost) and Burning Wolfhound an action thriller – I
wrote it to entertain myself.

            Subsequently I sent
Burning Wolfhound to agents and publishers. It was poorly written. My
grammar was bad and the style was bad. I re-wrote it. The grammar was
still bad. A friend corrected the grammar for me. I still could not get
it published. So I put it on Amazon. Since then I wrote the sequel,
Codename Wolfhound. A book and short stories. A book and poems. And a
funny book of various stuff that was for my degree. All went on Amazon.

           
Amazon is a virtual slush pile, no sales unless you market 24/7. It’s
pointless. I missed the boat in the 90’s. I should never have stopped
writing. My grammar is still not good enough. In 2021 I did a part time,
online only, masters degree in novel writing. This put me off really,
especially research like this: article about the state of publishing: https://ideas.bkconnection.com/10-awful-truths-about-publishing

            My favorite works by others:

My
favorite author is George Orwell. Other top authors: Douglas Adams,
Lawrence Durrell, Charles Bukowski, Alistair MacLean, Captain W. E.
Johns, Gerald Durrell.

Silly film: Where Eagles Dare. Top serious
film: Nostalgia by Andrei Tarkovsky. Other films: Girl on a Motorcycle,
Betty Blue (directors cut), Sheltering Sky.

Favorite book: Coming
up for Air. Followed by: The Alexandria Quartet, Last Chance to See,
Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, Biggles in a Baltic.

Plays: Waiting for Godot, Krapps Last Tape, The Chairs.

Stories: Hills Like White Elephants, Why Don’t You Dance?

As of May 2021 I have written:

The novels
1. No title – Science Fiction (unfinished)
2. No title – Real Life (unfinished)
3. No title – Science Fiction
4. No title – Real Life (much like Coming up for Air)
5. Burning Wolfhound – Action Thriller (self-published)
6. Codename Wolfhound – Action Thriller (self-published)
7. ANDROMEDA IYNX – science fiction (work in progress)

Books
1. Caffeinated in Woolwich – 4 pieces showcase (self-published – unpublished)
2. Misplaced – Short Stories (self-published – unpublished)
3. Shatter. Justin Tuijl the poems 2011-2020 (self-published – unpublished)

Plus
Well over 200 poems (pre-2011 lost).
Three autobiographies (two lost).
Loads of articles.
Loads of non fiction.

More writerly and related things of interest:

I did and access course to writing in 2014
I have a BA in Professional and Creative Writing from the University of East London 2015-2018
And an MA (masters) in Novel Writing from Middlesex University 2020-2021
I used to live in India, Indonesia and Ecuador.
I used to volunteer in conservation in the rainforest.