So, where did 'Russian Redemption' come from? No idea! I can honestly say that writing a book has never been on my list of 'things to do', it didn't appear on my top 100,000 bucket list, had never interested me.
I'm not the most educated person, basic school curriculum stuff and left school without taking any exams. (but only after I'd secured an apprenticeship with HM Forces so I wasn't completely stupid - probably?!)

Anyway, out of no where, totally left field, a blind assault, came this overwhelming compulsion to write. I rejected the idea at first, why on earth would I want to write a flippin book. In a very short period of time the compulsion became so strong I caved in. But I waited until the wife and kids were out of the house because I didn't want anyone to see me sit down at a laptop and look like I was going to try and write a book. I was actually nervous, I didn't think I could do it, and I wasn't keen on the idea of holding myself up for public ridicule.

I spent a few minutes trying to force ideas out of my head, searching for a start point, an idea, actually pretty much searching for anything! Once I stopped searching around in my head and just sat back, things started to happen.

At this point I seem to recall my only goal was to write a first draft of anything but once the story started to 'arrive' that was it, it just didn't stop. I remember thinking 'this is fun', and it really was, it was almost enlightening, refreshing even. And so it continued.

I secretly showed a couple of people the first few dozen pages expecting to be advised to take up carpentry but met with some positive encouragement. And so I carried on. My goal now was to finish what I had started. On the horizon I was daring to dream, not of being a world famous Author, or of a Nobel Peace Prize, or a big boat in the marina but of actually putting together a fictional novel that was good enough to be published. The good bits and the bad bits between this admission and the realisation of that dream will be discussed as we go on. What I will say here is that the best thing I did was enrol the skills of a proof reader early (at about 10,000 words). OK, if you've made it this far in the post you're probably due a break so I'll wind it up on a positive: If any of this frightens you or gives you reason to doubt your ability to start the 'Authors Journey' you are only experiencing the same emotions that I did. But here's the thing....... No, seriously, here IS the thing: Russian Redemption

Come back again for the next insight.