I fought readers would like to know why I chose to be a writer. It didn’t happen overnight, well thinking about it now, it kinda did I guess. Growing up I was a socially awkward kid without many friends. So the one way I got my entertainment was through books or video games.

Not being very good at video games, and sick of always dying and being stuck on certain levels ( I’m looking at you final fantasy) I fell in love with books.

I remember my first book, which started that journey for me. It was the Hobbit, it was a really old copy and for the life of me I can’t find it anymore, but that book sparked something in my brain that I couldn’t stop.

I kept on reading and reading everything that I could get my hands on. Till one day I said aloud, I wonder if I could do something like this. My first book was appalling and I remember putting it online in some writers forum and getting chewed out because of it. Thinking about it now, I can’t stop shaking my head and smiling at how terrible it all was. It was a rough and I mean rough first draft, but I didn’t know any better and  I was just learning my craft.

Fast forward nearly ten years, and I am uploading a mobi file to Amazon into the great wide world. So far I have had no reviews, and I must admit awaiting for my first one is nail biting to say the least. I know the story is great, I just don’t know how it will be perceived. For me writing that book, uploading it and putting it out there wasn’t the harddest part. It’s waiting for that first review, good or bad I know I will just grow from it, but it’s still the waiting that is killing me.

So after I decided that I wanted to do this, the first thing I said was why.  Well; no the first thing I said was am I good enough, but sooner or later the question popped up as to why do you want to do this. And the simple answer is, I want to craft something in the world that helps people. For me if it wasn’t for books, those wonderful stories that made my life a bit easier, I would have had it a lot rougher than I did.  So for me, I want to write for you. I want to write for the person who is being bullied, or is going through a divorce, be it you or your parents, or someone who is dealing with an illness or a death. I want my words to take you away from all that, for the briefest of minutes or hours.

That when you finish at whatever chapter that you have read, you feel a slight sense of relief.

Fiction should never be a way for you to hide away from your problems. I learnt that the hard way. Whatever makes you miserable, I want you face that head on.  Because once you do, you will be a stronger, better, person because of it. Don’t hide from it, embrace it. That’s one thing I wanted to address with my current series Fallen Angels. I didn’t realise the theme of the book before I started but as I continued writing, the theme slowly revealed itself to me.  It was one of struggle, of pain, of defying the odds. Of fighting back no matter how strong and unbeatable the other side seem,  and the more I wrote the more it become clear to me.

So if you don’t take away nothing more from my new series, than just some light hearted relief that’s ok. But I hope you find some words in there that can inspire you onto your own journey of greatness.

One thing I wanted to create above all else, is art. But when you say that to people they automatically think of a starving artist, hell even artist think that they need to live that life to succeed. They think that you can’t create something great without being in a lot of pain, or that living in some dirty flat where the cupboards are bare of food and you’re debating where to put your next pay check. In your stomach or in your art, and I don’t think that has to be the case.

I believe you need some life experiences to create good art, yes. But I don’t think you have to listen to every Hollywood depiction of it to get there.

I want to get paid for my hard effort, I put a lot of time, money and sweat into everything I create. And I wouldn’t feel right in asking someone to read it, if it wasn’t the best thing I wrote. In my eyes if I didn’t put out my best work, then I am wasting everyones time, and my time would be better spent doing something else. I take my craft very seriously, a lot of artist don’t and I think it’s about time that they did.

For me it all comes down to respect.

Respect for yourself.

Respect for your audience.

And respect for whatever craft, you decide to call your own.

Not everyone will be the next JK Rowling or Stephen King, but you should at least try to be the very best you can be.  Stephen King had a great saying from on writing, there are bad writers, there are competent writers, there are good writers and then there are great writers.

If you can only be bad or just ok, be the best bad or ok writer that you can be, so when those reviews come in you can be happy in the knowledge that you did the best that you could do.

Fallen Angels is out for sale free  everywhere: Amazon, Kobo, Barns & Noble, ibooks.

Get it you!!

You won’t be disappointed.