Two years, three full-length novels and a gaggle of short stories.

I wanted to share my experience of starting to write fiction in middle age, with no previous experience.

If the numerous blogs and books on writing are to be believed, all writers have been practising since they were children – writing stories and poetry, always keeping close their leather notebooks filled with ideas, poems and snippets of prose. Every scribbled word, every pithy observation has been part of a structured marathon training programme to prepare them for the real thing – 26.2 miles – 42 km – the full-length novel.

There must be others like me who started from scratch, but they’re hard to find so I thought I would share a few moments from my first two years of trying to become a successful author.

The concept of successful is highly subjective but, for me, it means to reach a point where I write things that people want to read and which give them pleasure AND I manage to find those people and let them know that my novels exist AND they decide that my novels are worth paying for.

I have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but, as friend of mine is renowned for saying repeatedly  whenever we are on holiday as a group, ‘So far, so good.’.