... not least the content and design of my blog, the variety of articles, and many more things besides. Casting my mind back to that day in December 2015 and looking back at the infancy of this communications vehicle, I'm amazed and surprised that the blog is still here! Initially, I intended to use it only to launch the first book. Naively, back then, I thought that launching the book was the end of the road! I now know how wrong I was. But let me start at the very beginning.
I've always been a reader—one of my earliest memories is of visiting Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road in London and being given some money by my parents to buy a book. I was about four years old at the time. Books have been my companions ever since, and no, I can't recall the title of that very first purchase! But I do remember its final demise in my mother's washing machine! By then, I had other books, and my fever for collecting them has never waned.
What I didn't know until I was about fourteen was that my need for books and stories would become so obsessive that I would decide to become a writer. My parents were not impressed with this idea! So, the writing became secretive. Eventually, exams, study, work, and life as an adult got in the way. And life remained in the way for decades.
But then I had this great idea about ditching my very pressured and demanding job, and in 2005, freed from the daily grind, I started writing what I really wanted to write. I also increased my time spent in France, and it was whilst I was travelling back from Provence in September 2007 that I stopped off in my favourite village in the Cévennes.
On arrival, the weather was bright, the sky blue, but a bitterly cold wind was blowing across the col. Overnight, the beautiful autumnal colours of the trees disappeared beneath a clean white blanket as winter had slipped down through the trees. As I watched the snow, the first few lines of Messandrierre popped into my head.
I didn't do anything with those few words for quite some time. Back then, I thought I was writing romance. Fast forward a few years and some writing courses later, I realised in late 2014 that I finally had a story I thought might go somewhere. Having got the story to where I thought it needed to be, I then spent some time searching for a publisher, and Crooked Cat came to my rescue. I will always be grateful to Steph and Laurence from Crooked Cat for taking a chance on me and my stories.
Messandirerre was born on December 8th, 2015. It was followed by five other stories in the series before Crooked Cat/Darkstroke finally left publishing in September 2024. A long search to find another publisher, and on January 7th, I signed a new contract and finished book 7. The preponderance of sevens during this last year seemed to be have been some sort omen. What I hadn't reckoned on was my new publisher withdrawing from my contract because of an internal re-shuffle within the company. But, as one door closes, another opens, or so the old adage goes. In the New Year, I will be able to give you some excellent news. So, keep watching this space!
In the meantime, Happy Birthday to Messandrierre...
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