Peter Blair
Author
It has taken me quite a few years to admit that I wanted to write a book (or do anything other than just commit to the corporate life), and then more time to actually get on with it. In the end it was a Neil Gaiman quote that prodded me into write a whole manuscript:
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you
put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and that hard.”
Or, as I like to think of it, the easiest way to write a book is to sit down and actually just write the damn book.
I write in Surrey and in Normandy - in coffee shops, at home and when I am very lucky, in a study overlooking a quiet field. Much of my plotting is done while walking along deserted Norman beaches - tons of peace and quiet seems to work for me.
Hello
This is me - I recently turned 60 and was in the lucky position to be able to retire after a career which ranged from running hotels to working with barristers. I have pretensions to be a writer, and enjoy playing in a (very) loud rock band. When consulting was slow, I worked as a filming extra, something that was more fun than it probably should be - and it's something that I'm returning to now. I’m delighted to say that my wife joined in and is busier than I ever was.
I completed the manuscript of my first novel a few years ago. Mostly life got in the way - although I’m still keen to find a way of publishing it. I had it read by an agent & editor and was told (or rather it was suggested to me) to take out 35,000 words. That was much harder than writing the text in the first place, but was (probably) the right thing to do. I really enjoy that I can now describe myself as 'an unsuccessful author'!
I’m married to the most wonderful (and most patient) person on the planet, we have a lovely grown-up daughter (well sort-of grown-up…) and now have the delight that is our granddaughter. I like writing stories for my granddaughter and hope that these will stand up too in due course.
Living between Surrey and rural France, we have the best of both worlds. It’s a good life.
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