The Blog

Not a proper job?

hacksaw-ridge-review

It’s been an up-and-down week for writing. I wrote 3,400 words on Tuesday, which is nearly a record for me, but Wednesday was taken up by going through the copy-editor’s notes for Son of Zeus, and Thursday I was at school helping Year 3s write biographies about famous locals. They had a choice of Martin Johnson (captain of the England rugby team that won the World Cup in 2003), Thomas Cook (who invented the package holiday) and Ernest Elliot, a local puppeteer. Some of the kids thought that – as a “famous” author – I should have been included, which was very sweet of them.

The funny thing about being a full-time writer is that friends and family don’t really think I’m doing a proper job. If I had £1 for every time a friend jokingly told me that I had nothing to do all day, I’d be at least £3 richer. Other than my wife and daughters, the rest of my family really do believe I haven’t got anything better to do. My brother booked a plumber for 11am on Friday, assuming I’d be free to hang around his flat until the job was done. I was there for three and a half hours. Not that I have deadlines, or anything…

On the upside, I watched Hacksaw Ridge while I was there. It’s a true story about a conscientious objector who joined the US Army as a medic and rescued 77 wounded men at Okinawa, winning the Medal of Honor in the process. If you like tales about sticking to your principles and overcoming adversity, then this is for you – though the battle scenes are gruesomely realistic.

Amazon feedback over the past two weeks has been encouraging:

Loved this series – 5*

Great retelling of Odysseus’ return to Ithaca – 5*

The same as all the others. An excellent read. Great series of books – 5*

Fantastic read from the first book to the last. Will keep you wanting more. Hopefully we will see more from this author, along the same theme – 5*

Read all of this series of books, and give them all 5 stars. Any one interested in Greek mythology, or just enjoys a good read and adventure, these are the books for you. More of the same please – 5*

An excellent read, as are all the books in this series – 5*

I thoroughly enjoyed the play between the immortals and the humans – certainly fired up my imagination and left me looking forward to reading the final book in the series – 4*

Many thanks to all those who have left reviews!

Finally, I’ve been happy to see lots of snow in my home town this week. British snow tends to be quite soggy, so turns to slush very quickly or becomes icy overnight; but this was more like that powdery stuff you get in Scandinavian countries, which is useless for snowballs but stays prettier for longer.

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