You will have gathered from my blogs over the last few months that my main loves in life in no particular order are family, serving the local community, music and literature. Today I turn the spotlight on literature and writing.
Over the last two nights I have met two of the country's top authors. Mentioned Robert Goddard yesterday but last night met RJ (Roger) Ellory. I have read all Roger's books apart from his last two which are on my to read list for the next couple of months. I have put off reading them for a reason that he so succinctly gave in his talk. He was speaking about finding a book that you love. You can't put it down, you want to keep reading and devouring it as fast as possible but then you have to ration yourself because you don't want it to end. That's exactly the position I have found myself in with Roger's books. I hammered through the first seven but have left the last two in order to savour them. That probably sounds mad but I bet Roger understands.
Mr Ellory is a charming and gracious man who last night had time for a chat with everyone. He gave an excellent insight into the world of book publication and his struggle to make ends meet as debts mounted up along with rejection slips from publishers.
To me that could be a comment about publishers. Virtually every author you hear from has horror stories of hundreds of rejection slips before having a book published. This happened to JK Rowling and we all know what eventually happened to her Harry Potter series.
You only have to read one of Roger Ellory's books (try starting with the excellent Candlemoth to see that he is a classic crime writer and so much more than just a crime writer) to realise here is a highly styalised writer. His books paint pictures, his language is at times highly emotive and his plots are up there in the stratosphere. So why did so many publishers reject them, particularly in light of the fact that there is so much dross around? That is the 64 thousand dollar question. I don't use those words lightly as dollars give an interesting insight into his body of work. Roger is very unusual as he's an Englishman writing about American crime and eclipsing many American writers.
As he explained, he has always had a feel for America and its political systems. The result is nine top novels to date and more to come over the next few years. Before having Candlemoth published Roger had already written over 20 novels - all in longhand and many now residing in his loft. Here was a man on a mission who went through a period of disillusionment, but somehow hung on in there and eventually found success, partly through sheer determination and a belief in his own ability that never comes over as arrogance.
I have been in e-mail touch with Roger for a few years and he values his readers highly - which is exactly as it should be. Now that takes me onto writing.
As you know it is one of my obsessions. Just look at this blog which now runs to many thousands of words since I started it at the end of 2011. I sit and write every day and during the day things come into my mind to comment on. I am never short of ideas. Then for the past 39 years I have written a daily diary. These now amount to millions of words. So does that make me a writer? Well I like to think so because I also have various web sites including my personal one which features my writing on art, literature and music (including interviews with Roger Ellory) and another which includes stories and features from Hethersett and which is updated daily.
I currently have my village stories printed in three local newspapers on a weekly basis and over my many years as a journalist, wrote articles on general news, sport, music and the arts. So technically I suppose I am a writer of a kind. My articles don't appear on book shelves and most of them have long become fish and chip paper but over the years thousands of people have read what I have written. So perhaps I can be proud of being a writer and the internet has given me a fresh lease of life.
Today I'm off for a coffee at a nearby garden centre and then a visit into Norwich to get some photos printed and framed and then I might just spend the evening writing (okay I will definitely spend the evening writing).
Me, wife Anne and author Roger Ellory at Norwich Forum
Over the last two nights I have met two of the country's top authors. Mentioned Robert Goddard yesterday but last night met RJ (Roger) Ellory. I have read all Roger's books apart from his last two which are on my to read list for the next couple of months. I have put off reading them for a reason that he so succinctly gave in his talk. He was speaking about finding a book that you love. You can't put it down, you want to keep reading and devouring it as fast as possible but then you have to ration yourself because you don't want it to end. That's exactly the position I have found myself in with Roger's books. I hammered through the first seven but have left the last two in order to savour them. That probably sounds mad but I bet Roger understands.
Mr Ellory is a charming and gracious man who last night had time for a chat with everyone. He gave an excellent insight into the world of book publication and his struggle to make ends meet as debts mounted up along with rejection slips from publishers.
To me that could be a comment about publishers. Virtually every author you hear from has horror stories of hundreds of rejection slips before having a book published. This happened to JK Rowling and we all know what eventually happened to her Harry Potter series.
You only have to read one of Roger Ellory's books (try starting with the excellent Candlemoth to see that he is a classic crime writer and so much more than just a crime writer) to realise here is a highly styalised writer. His books paint pictures, his language is at times highly emotive and his plots are up there in the stratosphere. So why did so many publishers reject them, particularly in light of the fact that there is so much dross around? That is the 64 thousand dollar question. I don't use those words lightly as dollars give an interesting insight into his body of work. Roger is very unusual as he's an Englishman writing about American crime and eclipsing many American writers.
As he explained, he has always had a feel for America and its political systems. The result is nine top novels to date and more to come over the next few years. Before having Candlemoth published Roger had already written over 20 novels - all in longhand and many now residing in his loft. Here was a man on a mission who went through a period of disillusionment, but somehow hung on in there and eventually found success, partly through sheer determination and a belief in his own ability that never comes over as arrogance.
I have been in e-mail touch with Roger for a few years and he values his readers highly - which is exactly as it should be. Now that takes me onto writing.
As you know it is one of my obsessions. Just look at this blog which now runs to many thousands of words since I started it at the end of 2011. I sit and write every day and during the day things come into my mind to comment on. I am never short of ideas. Then for the past 39 years I have written a daily diary. These now amount to millions of words. So does that make me a writer? Well I like to think so because I also have various web sites including my personal one which features my writing on art, literature and music (including interviews with Roger Ellory) and another which includes stories and features from Hethersett and which is updated daily.
I currently have my village stories printed in three local newspapers on a weekly basis and over my many years as a journalist, wrote articles on general news, sport, music and the arts. So technically I suppose I am a writer of a kind. My articles don't appear on book shelves and most of them have long become fish and chip paper but over the years thousands of people have read what I have written. So perhaps I can be proud of being a writer and the internet has given me a fresh lease of life.
Today I'm off for a coffee at a nearby garden centre and then a visit into Norwich to get some photos printed and framed and then I might just spend the evening writing (okay I will definitely spend the evening writing).
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