For many years I have either thought about, started but never finished. Every time I start, there is always that doubt that I may not get past the introduction if there is one Every time I start, I am infused with passion, want, and desire to tell a story that takes someone on a ride to something different even just for a short while. That person has in the main been yours truly. Between browbeating myself and hearing others belittle anyone who doesn’t follow conventional punctuation and all the other rules of the written word, just wore me down. It still does most of the time. I say write the way you talk not how someone has brainwashed you into doing so.I’m a no-one, and I sure as hell don’t want to be someone. My first ever story completed, took over five years, and lays unpublished and read by one other, other than myself. A biography of sorts that investigated the why and why not’s of growing up in my neck of the woods in Scotland. That first real attempt at a novel or book, opened my eyes to not just the doubt that was hiding inside me as a kid, but the doubts I still have as an adult. Big ideas, big plans, easily persuaded to believe that I was not good enough, not enough talent to get things right. With that in mind, always thoughts of no one would want to read anything I produced. The problem with that thinking is that it stops you from doing anything creative. Frustration builds and builds, and it affects everything you do, think and believe in every corner of life. It took me such a long time to break that chain of thinking, I had gone through two marriages and got into so many difficult situations of my own doing, that my perspective on life was just a reflection of who I was at the time. Now I am married for a third and very hopefully last time. My two sons from my first marriage have grown up and moved on to live their lives hopefully better than I did my own. That is just something every parent hopes for, for their children. I try and keep myself to myself. I very rarely ever jump to conclusions about a person or situation. This has in the past miffed people off. Giving people and situations a chance is a must. Saying that all rational thinking goes out the window when I go and watch my beloved AUFC. There have been many qualifications I have achieved such as two degrees, one an Honours. When asked how did I manage to do them and bring kids up, the answer I always give, and it is the truth, I just did, as do lots of people these days I am sure. Both degrees unrelated to each other by some margin. Both of them, was just something I did, I don’t have an emotional attachment to that achievement.The emotional buzz if you will come from finally finding a place to write (a well-known coffee shop chain since there is not an alternative close by), that offers me the right noise pitch and enough visual distraction, yes distraction, to keep me focused on whatever I am writing at any one time. Try and write a home where there is no noise, no one to inspire me (like strangers do), to keep focused is incredibly difficult. Maybe this is what the main thing with me that has enabled me to finish and grow a set to publish anything I have done. For those who will no doubt say that ‘his writing is ####’ or worse, that’s fine. That is their opinion. I on the other hand, am not blind to the fact that the way I write is different and on the verge of ‘what the?’ And that is fine also open to criticism. Everything negative about any of my writing has all been said before, before by myself.Advice from someone like me would be to just do it. Whatever it is, just do it. Write the way you want, with the freedom to do what you want, to say what you want, just don’t hurt anyone in the process. Read more about this authorRead less about this author