Eleven books. Four genres. More to come.

May 15
3 min read

Back in 2024 I wrote three posts about my little writing journey and then disappeared for a bit. I did come back but I never finished the story, well as much as that’s possible, more of a bring you up to date thing really.

As it’s been two years (rather than the week I said it would be) I will link the previous parts of the story at the bottom of the post.

So what so you do publish next when you’re a poet writing a series of poetry books? A short story collection of course!

I’ve written a lot of stories in my life. That should read I’ve `started a lot of stories. I excel at the art of writing a beginning and then abandoning it and starting something new.

The first story I finished was The Stranger on the Bridge which I wrote for an anthology back in 2019. That version is a little problematic but after editing it became part of my short story collection. (Thanks to the person who found the ‘I shouldn’t have done that!’)

Since that first ‘finished story’ my stories have been published in other anthologies and online. This included an online magazine which was fantastic experience. Some of these have also found their place in said short story collection.

https://mybook.to/Sandcastles

People have been very kind in reading and commenting on my stories in and out of Sandcastles which was and is a huge help.

At times this writing lark can leave you a little stuck and given it appears I fell asleep in punctuation class …

You, dear readers, deserve the best from yours truly and it takes a village (ok, not quite but you get the drift).

After Sandcastles I went back to the rainbow and the sunshineyness of Yellow was born.

https://mybook.to/RainbowsYellowBook

Then for the first time ever I wrote a book. Now I know what you’re thinking. I’d published nine books by this point (ok so you may not have been counting). How can I say I’d never wrote a book? I hadn’t, not intentionally.

I say this a lot so please forgive the possible repetition, but I write stories and poems that end up in or as books, which is not the same as writing a book. The end result is the same, but the road is a little different.

Imagine me wandering off at intervals and coming back at random moments for unspecified periods of time, doubling back, running ahead, hitching a ride, sitting on a bench till the sun is almost set then using a torch to find the finish line.

Santas Hungry Christmas came about as a result of a reviewer saying they wanted the story behind Santa’s Early Christmas – yet another first! I got in a fuddle about publishing Hungry as a standalone and Christmas Capers was born and yes that was a first too.

https://mybook.to/ChristmasCapers

On Tuesday 19^th May Rainbow’s Book of Prompts will be published. My first (yes here’s that word again) nonfiction book! There are nineteen guest contributors (these firsts are piling up). I did the cover myself (with advice) which isn’t a first, it’s just been a long time. Well actually there are two and I think by now we all know what that means.

https://mybook.to/Rainbowsbookofprompts