With a little help from my friends.

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Once upon a time in Fairy Dairy land a man wrote a book. It was a special book because it contained a little bit of his heart and a lot of his soul. He tried to get it published, but no one would believe in the book like he did.

One day he found a bottle, and when he rubbed it a genie popped out, who turned out to be an author. The Genie sent the man's book to her publisher, they published the book, and the man lived happily ever after.

Of course it doesn't happen like that in the real world. I had been reunited with my old friend, Lynn Grocott, who had already published. She got me in contact with her publisher, Lean Marketing, who were very helpful and encouraging, but as a small publishing house only specialised in specific titles and subjects. I got an email explaining that at present they were after books about people making their home in Spain. As 'Tasting the Wind' is about people with learning disabilities and a psychopathic nurse, I couldn't find a single link between it and Spain (although Spain must have its fair share of both,) so gave up on that one.

Lynn passed my details on to several of her contacts in the world of publishing and PR. The publishing contacts didn't handle my sort of material, but I suddenly felt like a serious writer- emailing and phoning publishers and PRs for advice. After the years of writing and rejection slips I was getting quite a buzz from this.

Now for a bit of name dropping.

The networking in which I was suddenly involved was linked to the confidence coaching process (more on this in a later blog.) Lynn told me of a friend of hers who had become a successful author through using the methods she was teaching me.

Soon I was in touch with Andy Cope. Admittedly I had never heard of him at that point, but if you have children you may have done. Andy is the author of the 'Spy Dog' series; he is presently working on Spy Dog 5.

Andy wrote to me with some good advice (again, his agent couldn't help me because he specialised in children's literature, but hey, I'm communicating with another published author here!) and he asked if he could be my 'Critical Buddy.' I sent him a copy of 'Tasting the Wind,' which he is wading through at the moment. His reaction has been very positive and encouraging, although he admits to preferring lighter reading. But thanks, Andy, for taking the trouble.

The main point I want to make here is the value of networking. Writing can be a lonely process, and the struggle to find a publisher can be even more lonely and demoralising. The internet abounds with information from and about writers, and linking up with people who are either travelling your way or who have arrived there can make the difference between carrying on or just lying down in the road.

I was in W.H. Smiths one day. Looking at the childrens' books I picked out the 'Spy Dog,' series. It seemed bizarre that in my pocket was a copy of an email from its author.

I turned around and looked at the adult books. Finding 'M' I made a space.

One day my book will be there.

Cut the Strings.

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PREVIOUSLY ON 'ONE WAY OR AN AUTHOR...'

Allan is having a lousy year, when suddenly he receives a message: 'Can We Join Forces.'

I wrote back. It turned out that Lynn Grocott was someone I had known quite well through both school and church, but hadn't seen for over thirty years.

Lynn had written a book called 'Cut the Strings.' I was shocked to discover that it was about, amongst other things, the horrific abuse she suffered as a child. I was shocked because I remembered this bright, happy go lucky girl in her early teens, and never suspected that her tears at the end of Church camp were not only because a good time was ending, but because she now had to return to a house of horrors.

I thought that writing my book and trying to get it published had been a difficult task. Lynn's apprenticeship as an author had been a life of suffering.

But that wasn't her only reason for writing. Despite all of the cards being stacked against her (her parents committed suicide, she contracted MS,) she is now one of the most positive and life-affirming people you could ever meet.

Lynn's life was turned around through confidence coaching. Now I have always maintained a fair share of cynicism regarding this sort of system, but I was suddenly confronted by someone I knew, someone who had been through so much, but who was positive, hopeful, and could still experience joy in abundance.

We started to exchange regular emails, catching up and reminiscing about our shared background. For weeks I either forgot to mention that I had written a novel, or when I did think to say I felt guilty that I had originally accepted the contact because I thought it might further my ambitions.

Then came the day that I did mention it, and Lynn asked if she could be of any help. From that point my approach to getting my novel out there has taken me in so many new and interesting directions. These will be the subject of my next blogs.

Available on Amazon

Find out more at: http://thelynngrocottacademy.bravehost.com/index.html

Help... There's a Mad Woman in my Tardis!

2007 was an annus horribilis...

Things just seemed to go wrong. I actually put a blog on my MySpace page entitled 'Victor Meldrew Week,' because of the number of times in one week I said the words 'I don't believe it!'

People I cared for died. I was in a car accident which wrote off my car and left me with whiplash. My wife had to leave her Primary School Headship due to ill health. My hobby of amateur dramatics had for one reason or another stopped being fun, and I seemed to be getting nowhere in my quest to publish 'Tasting the Wind.'

I felt a need to make changes, to regenerate, but didn't know where the energy to do so was going to come from. I haven't mentioned yet a sad fact about my life which is my obsession with the T.V. programme Dr. Who. I find the idea of regeneration fascinating, and think of it as a modern myth representing the changes that we all need to make at points in our lives in order not just to stay alive but to really live.

The other thing I haven't mentioned is that some years ago I was diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder. I don't know if it was anything to do with the fact that the Summer of that year had failed to happen, but when it got to October my SAD symptoms kicked in with a vengeance- tiredness, low mood, anxiety. It's like watching twenty four hour reruns of 'Eastenders.'

It was sometime in November when I was checking my emails that I found that someone had sent me a message through MySpace.

It was entitled 'Can we join forces?'

The message claimed to be from someone called Lynn, who went to the same school as me, and now wanted to be my friend on MySpace. l wasn't in the mood for making friends with anyone. I remembered David Tennant's Doctor, grieving after leaving Rose in a parallel universe, (non-afficianados please bear with me) then suddenly finding that there was a strange mad woman in his Tardis.

That's all I need- a stalker.

I popped downstairs to refill my glass, and mentioned the message to my wife. She suggested it might be someone after money.

Of course! The profile mentioned fundraising.

Then I saw it. This lynn was not only a fundraiser, she was a public speaker. And not only that. She was an author. A published one. Someone who had been published was trying to contact me...
TO BE CONTINUED...