Update: September 2018 – I’ve done nothing with this for a while now, and it currently isn’t on the agenda. Perhaps it will come back as a live project one day – before I lose my memory!

Update: February 2018 – project currently de-prioritised and on-hold.

“The approximate biography of a man who still hasn’t given up on literary glory…”

There is an old and oft-repeated maxim that you should only write about what you know. Makes a great deal of sense, of course. And unless you are the studious type who approaches research for their writing like a finalist from “Mastermind”, the advice seems sound enough.

Knowing more about me than anything else – obvious, but maybe worth stating anyway! – I have often contemplated writing my story, not because it is in anyway that remarkable, but because:

• it’s what I know best;
• there is enough variety, small-scale adventure, romance, hardship, travel etc. in it to be – I hope – of some interest to people;
• to leave my version of the truth behind.

Don’t under-estimate that last one. How well will my children really have known me when I’m not around any more? In part, I feel that I owe them an explanation as to what made their Dad, their Dad. No excuses; warts and all.

So I’ve decided to start scribbling something out, to see where it goes – like many of my projects! With “The Man Who Waited…” and a poetry volume of some kind, it will be my third live initiative for 2017; let’s see which ones survive..!

“Near Enough” – a snippet

“Near Enough” – snippet 2

“Near Enough” – snippet 3