29th Feb 1988

29^th Feb 1988 ©

By

Michael Casey

Well what were you doing on Leap Year’s Day 1988? You were not even born? You were at school, at University, down the pub, getting arrested? Me I was excited and gently crying, I had just become a novelist. That was the day I finished my first ever novel. Today is the 26^th year anniversary. Though should it be tomorrow? As today is only 28^th Feb 2014.

Remember Romancing the Stone? As Joan Wilder finishes her latest book, well I was a bit like that. I knew I could finish it so I decided to finish it on that special day, a Leap Year’s Day. I was learning to write when I wrote it, it took me 4/5 months. I did have a great poem in it as well, because I wanted Percy the undertaker to be a poet. I also included the bit about the undertaker’s son’s life being saved. This was in actual fact a true story as my own dad had saved the undertaker’s son’s life.

By writing a novel I had learnt how to write, blame Pad because after I had written a few short pieces it was him who said, write a book. Pad is now a computer engineer, the first time I met him he was 16 and working in the computer room with us, so he must be at least 42 now.

This book was written with a typewriter balanced on a stool in front of the gas fire as I shivered. This was before I had double glazing installed. Years later I got a computer with a word processor on, an Atari 520 and started copying my novel into the Atari. This was boring though, just copy typing, so my 235 or 238 pages became 600 pages because I rewrote the book, the Atari then got into the book itself.

Now my novel can be found at   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Casey/e/B00571G0YC/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 The link is to my Amazon Kindle Writer’s Page, now I have 7 books available worldwide.

So you think you are a good writer? You are not. Without marketing behind you or luck you are, you  just are what you are. Yes I do say I’m a writer, because I write. Or you can call me the white haired old granddad on the school run. Nobody in the playground knows or cares that I spend my time writing.

Americans put John Doe - Author, on their Facebook or LinkedIn, I use the word writer because I do several different forms of writing. Being a good or great writer doesn’t make any difference. It’s just luck. If I wrote a self-help book, it’d sell 2 million, but nobody would actually read it. Trees must be screaming “make a nice book out of me.” Not just books for burning on the fire.

I’ve written loads of short stories too, and how you market them can increase sales. It’s all luck though, a LinkedIn friend said it can be an idea whose time has not come yet. So I think I’ll just have to keep waiting and writing as Sandy suggested this morning. Right now I have to hang out the washing, a hausfrau’s work is never done. Then later it’s the school run for this, silver haired dad, even if they think it’s white and I’m a granddad.