I am currently a writer who also works full-time as a computer systems architect.
That single sentence crystallises my priorities. Since the first time a story of mine made the rest of the English class screw up their faces in horror and disgust, I've wanted nothing more than to write. I was 12. Later that year I came second in a sponsored writing competition with a short story about how the Sphinx is really a quiescent guardian against alien invaders. I won £10. That was big bucks in 1968.
Since then, real life has stepped in between me and my writing. In my 33-year career in computing I have written dozens of design documents, created and delivered presentations to audiences from 1,000 technical experts to a handful of board members, interviewed dozens of technical candidates and taught my core skills and subjects to many younger colleagues through both formal courses and ad-hoc coaching.
But all that is just a way to hone skills that might be useful to me as a writer. And, of course, to pay the bills and support my family. A man's gotta do...
Twelve years ago, I woke up to the passage of time and decided I had to get serious about writing before it was too late. I hired a writing coach - not just to help with the quality of my prose but to help establish solid habits and accountability. My first major project - my novel War of Nutrition - took 7 years of spare time to write and was finished in 2008. After two years-worth of rejection slips I reviewed it dispassionately in light of critical feedback and rewrote it, cutting 20,000 words to allow it to become the book you've just read. Another year of rejection slips, and some gentle urging from friends who had already self-published for e-reader platforms of one sort or another, led me here.
So, a novel. Good. What else? Here's the list. As a writer I have created work as
- A novelist. War of Nutrition is my first novel. My second - in progress - is a more literary piece about four lifelong friends coming to terms with the death of a fifth. I also have plans for work in a different genre - harder science fiction - about a race of beings who are born being able to move through time.
- A songwriter. I've always loved singing. People tell me I'm good at it. You can judge for yourself - my second album 'Weird and Wonderful' is available on iTunes and can be heard at http: //www.beresfordandwallace.com. I've been lucky enough to collaborate with a friend who writes beautifu...
