Who Am I & Why Do I Write?

This is my first blog post so I think it only fair that I tell you a bit about myself, and try to attempt to explain why I write. It’s a question that every writer should ask themselves. The more you understand about ‘you’ the easier it becomes to tap into that stream of subconscious madness that we call creativity.

I’d love to tell you that I’ve lived a typical writer’s life jumping from one exciting job to another. Truth is I’m your everyday normal guy. I was brought up on a rough council estate where burnt out cars and burglary were the norm. Thankfully, decent parents ensured I stayed on the straight and narrow. These days I live in a peaceful village in the Northamptonshire countryside.

From an early age my Dad instilled in me a love of comics. My first true literary loves were Tintin, Asterix, and Spiderman. Yeah, the use of the word literary in that last sentence was intentional.

At that point – I was 13 - I was an occasional reader of books. Then I encountered one of the greatest teachers known to education, and that’s probably an understatement. He lent me a book: The Golden Apples of The Sun by Ray Bradbury. My world turned upside down. The back of the book said it was science-fiction. Sure there were amazing stories set in space, but these were stories about people, emotion, fear, love and hate. After Bradbury I never looked back. I read everything of his I could get my hands on.

That same teacher lent me another book: Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein. What can I say? Here I was reading an exciting story about space faring infantry. At the same time, in the same story, RAH is throwing political hand grenades my way. If you haven’t read this book I’d go read it now. I went back to it years later when I was in my twenties, and for a time I was reading that book once a year without fail. It’s as controversial as they come but it makes you think and that’s where it excels whether you agree with the authors views or not.

After Heinlein it was Arthur C Clarke, Tolkein, Conan Doyle, Sax Rohmer, Robert E Howard, Clarke Ashton Smith, Walter Mosley, Scott Lynch, GRRM, Bernard Cornwell, Agatha Christie, Terry Brooks, Raymond Carver, and the list goes ever on.

Why do I write? That’s simple. I write because I have to. There are two things in my life that allow me to totally relax and switch off from the outside world. One is riding a bicycle, the other is writing. If I stop doing either I start getting miserable and start feeling depressed.

About four years ago I decided to start putting more effort into the writing to see if it was possible to make a living out of something I enjoy. I’ve never been published but my work tends to get editorial feedback which is just the encouragement I need to carry on persevering.

The point of the blog is to share my experiences both good and bad in an attempt to help other writers.

Please feel free to contact me.

Take care, Mike.