Elephant was first published by accident. I've been in publishing sales and marketing all my working life, aspired to write but only really started in my mid 30s. Had an agent, we had some interest in an early book but nothing came of it. I started Elephant when the whole Friends Reunited thing kicked off but didn't do much with it.Then at Frankfurt Book Fair, I got chatting to Simon Petherick who had just set up Beautiful Books. I told him about my novel, he asked me to send it to him and within days he offered me a contract! What fun we had when it hit the shops and I had a lot of very good coverage.I'm very aware of the economics of publishing - the average member of The Society of Authors earns £7k p.a. So a few top names can do it full time, but most like me have a day job.I'm Director of Sales and Marketing at the wonderful Search Press, a family owned specialist publisher of art and craft books. I love it, it keeps me sane but writing on top of working full time is difficult. So it's only since my kids have left home (the youngest, Hattie, is 28) that I've found time to write once more.I'm interested in a number of themes which I try to explore in my writing. Getting old is fascinating - it just happens so damn quickly like a film on fast forward and we're all terrible at dealing with it! Male relationships- there's still an element of the rutting stag for most men and I don't think this is recognised or covered much in novels. And disappointment - I don't believe anyone lives a fully contented life.So, that's a wee bit of background on me. Other things to note are that I have been an exiled Scot for some 48 years, support Heart of Midlothian and Scotland at all sports. There's that disapointed theme once more.I lived on Teesside when I was a teenager which was an experience. I now live in Kent.More to come in the follow up to Elephant, What Jamie did Next, and a darker book called Bounded in a Nutshell. Watch this space!
