What's it all about?

People have been asking questions, so I think it only fair that I should do a little explaining at the risk of creating boredom.

At the begiining, I think, as that is usually the best place to start, although some novellists would disagree. I've seen work where the story starts in the middle, then jumps back and forth like a jack in the box, not always successfully either!

Many years ago, I had a hankering to write, and not knowing what, I took my lead from a film I watched and enjoyed, and an injunction I have often seen - "write about what you know"! I began by jotting down episodes and anecdotes from my life, and having what some would describe as "a sour sense of humour", these tended to be amusing anecdotes.

These stories, or tales, were kept on bits of paper and then on a progression of word processors and computers, with the result that they were in different forms of computer languages. I was doing nicely, creating a collection of stories from various phases of my life, without any real idea of what to do with them. I had a vague notion of having them published, but did not know how or why or where - I knew nothing.

I went into hospital for a simple inguinal hernia op. They screwed up and operated without anaesthetic until they realised what was happening (it must have been my screams that alerted them) and they knocked me out. That was three (3) anaesthetics within half an hour. They paid me a nice compensation for that trauma, a trauma which changed my life.


It badly effected my character. I became introverted and could not stand to be in an enclosed space, could not intereact with strangers and shied away from my greater family. I was aware of 'little people' in the house, but their care was undertaken by my Lady Wife who shouldered this responsibility as she cared for me. Post Trauma Stress and depression were just two of the conditions diagnosed. I became 'nutty as a fruit cake' with a certificate to prove it!


I was introduded to usenet and made some very good friends in the NewsGroups - this was not difficult as they were 'in the box' and not seated by my side. The computer became my window on life, it became my sole means of social intercourse. It became my lifeline and road to recovery.


I came across this medium and posted quite a collection of stories, then invited members of the newsgroups to read them. I was basking in the praise for these when I received an email from one gentleman with instructions to remove them forthwith as they were too valuable to be given away.

So I did just that, but this still left me with the question of what to do.

I had also begun writing a novel, The Golden Rose and am presently some 80000 words into that, but haven't touched it for a couple of years, and here's why.

I began to assemble certain of the early-life stories, the result being "The Chicken has found a New Worm", the first of a trilogy of these stories, each book covering a different period. I published this via Lulu (see www.Lulu.com/content/1212621 )

I'm presently nearing completion of "Plodding Along".

I joined the Bassetlaw Writers' Group because I thought it would be a help to me, which it has. Not only did I receive help and guidance with my stories, but I was also to come gradually back into the world. After early hesitation and reticence , and not a little fear, I learned that these people, with whom I had much in common, could not hurt me, and I was content to sit in the same confined space as themselves. Perhaps this was because they too were immersed in other worlds as they presented themselves through their writings.

Some are published writers, if only in a small way, like myself, some are prizewinners but all are excellent poets and writers.

I can meet people now, I can converse again but I still cannot attend funerals without a great deal of upset - it is ME in the coffin, d'you see?