It seems that it is easier to write a novel than it is to write about yourself, self-promotion (or even self-description) not necessarily being a favourite of mine. Nevertheless, for those who may be interested, let me start with those things that mean the most to me.
I am married to a wonderful woman, Lisa, and have four beautiful children (Mitchell, Chelsea, Erin & Kendyl, who has only recently joined us). We live in Maitland, New South Wales which is a semi-rural community situated approximately two hours drive north of Sydney, Australia.
Those five individuals are my life and everything else is secondary to them.
By profession I am a financial adviser and, prior to that, was an accountant. Not an author’s natural breeding ground to be sure. So I guess this begs the question as to what motivated me to write my first novel.
I can’t say that writing a novel was something that I had always wanted to do, occupying an ever present place upon my personal bucket list. Rather, it was something that came upon me all of a sudden. It was as though this realisation came to me as ‘you should write a novel’ rather than ‘I might write a novel’ or ‘maybe one day I’ll write a novel’. Having received the urge in this manner, it became something I knew that I must achieve, rather than being something I would like to achieve. This was fortunate because getting to this point has been a long (five years) and arduous journey, and I don’t think that ‘might’ or ‘maybe one day’ would have been sufficient to bring me to this juncture.
While being wonderfully supportive of almost everything I’ve ever done, to say that Lisa has been supportive of this project would fail to put you in possession of the facts. Until recently, she seems to have thought that this was my rather lame attempt at a mid-life crisis, and was certain that it wouldn’t amount to anything.
My older children (Mitchell, 15 and Chelsea, 13) were equally certain that my lofty aspirations would not amount to anything.
For this reason, it has been necessary for me to take on this project very slowly, so as not to disrupt, to any great extent, the normal ebb and flow of an already busy family life. This, coupled with the fact that I was in no position to give up my day job, have culminated in the protracted five year turnaround time to write and publish Premortal, the first book in the Premortal Series.
Notwithstanding this lack of initial support, I’m glad to report that in recent times each of my most precious detractors have begun the thawing process and their icy stance is softening. Mitchell has recently read the book and went so far as to give it a rating of four out of five. The target age of the novel is fifteen and upwards, so it is too early for Chelsea to read it, however I think that she has taken heart that her brother is now an advocate. Lisa, who is bound to be my hardest convert, has just started the book so we will see where that goes….
As a writer I have absolutely no pedigree aside from a love of reading and a love of all books, particularly fantasy fiction. I have no English degree or major, and at the time of writing this brief personal introduction I have not won any prize in the field of writing.
Recently, I entered my first competition with Premortal (the Los Angeles Book Festival) and was pleasantly surprised to receive an honourable mention. I have now entered the book in several more competitions and anxiously await the results. I’ll keep you posted via the blog if there are any exciting developments on this front, as I plan to leave this section of the website unchanged, regardless of my success or otherwise, such that it will remain as an authentic starting point for my journey from the point of publication of the first book in the Premortal series.
To tell you a little more of myself, I was born in South Africa and emigrated with my mother and father at the tender age of four, such that I consider myself an Aussie in every respect. I come from a mix and match family with one brother, one step-brother, two half-brothers, two step-sisters and three half-sisters. The divorce and remarriages occurred while I was young, such that I consider each step and half-brother and sister to be as much a brother or sister as they could possibly be.
Although he has never written a novel, my father was a wonderful story teller and, though I have only been back once, I still feel that I have some understanding of South African culture and I have a soft spot for both the people and the quirky accent. If I had a wish it would be to one-day have finances to start some kind of work to assist the underprivileged in South Africa, as the divide between the have and have nots appears broad.
That is more than enough about me as it is too early to tell whether the Premortal Series will be successful enough for anyone to care.
In regard to the series, I have plans for four more novels and the plan is to release one each year, starting with ‘The Fall’ in 2016.
While one novel per year may appear a lofty goal for a person who has just taken five years to complete his first, I have learnt so much over the course of the past year that I’m sure that I’ll make comparatively short work of the future books…..
Anyway, I really hope that you enjoy the journey the series takes you on!
