You also work as a self-employed software consultant;
do you have to
maintain a strict daily routine?
Yes, I have always had to maintain a strict routine while working.
Until
this last year, writing,
editing and self-publishing books was a part-time
‘hobby’ that I had to plan
around my ‘day job’. This meant I had to be very
strict with myself, especially
when working from home.
Like many
of us, however, things changed dramatically with the pandemic.
The software
projects I was working on were in the hospitality sector.
All the work I had scheduled
dried up as hotels closed and implementation
projects were put on hold. In fact,
I have had no work for the past year and
there is nothing in the pipeline.
I am not
sure what the future holds, as I am close to retirement age anyway,
but I can now
devote more time to my writing. I have also become involved
as a volunteer trustee
for the Citizens Advice charity here in Eastbourne,
and that is proving
rewarding.
You mostly write travel memoirs, but do you
write other genres too?
Before I
answer your question about other genres, Kathleen, I hope you do
not mind if I
just give you a brief recap about the two travel memoirs that
I have published.
Before starting,
I should mention that Fred was a nickname given to me
while at school. It
became my travel name and people still know me as
Fred to this day.
Fred’s
Diary 1981: Travels in Asia is the edited version of a handwritten
diary that I kept during my time in
South-East Asia between February
and July 1981. It stretched to 600 pages of
closely written detail.
I almost
forgot it for many years. It only appeared when friends asked to
see it or to
read it. In 2005, I started typing up my diary onto the computer
as I wanted to
share my experiences with others. I got the first two months
completed, but
then ran out of motivation. Several years later, there was
an article in a PC
magazine about Kindle and self-publishing that
sparked my interest.
The full version of Fred’s Diary 1981 came to market
in December
2013 and sold well. It was a long book, though. The paperback ran
to
564 pages and contained 165K words.
During the first few months of 2015 further editing took
place and
the second edition, released in October 2015, comprised less than
100K words, with 360 pages. It also had a professional edit and
a sparkling new
cover.
Amazon link: getbook.at/FredsDiary1981
I will now summarise how I wrote my latest release:
Summer
of ‘77: Beaches, bars and boogie nights in Ibiza.
For a long
time, I had been itching to write a memoir about the six months
I spent on the
Spanish island of Ibiza, when I was 21. I started planning the
book in 2016. It
was fortunate I still had the letters I received while working
the season in
Ibiza. Otherwise, I would have found it difficult remembering
what happened
forty years ago. I transcribed the letters and created a timeline
around them.
This triggered memories of events from the time and I began writing.
After much prevarication and self-doubt, I completed the last
chapter in May 2019.
Then I began self-editing my words and making the story
concise and readable.
Next steps included the choice of a title, commissioning
a cover design and
creating the blurb. Then came a professional edit which
reduced the word
count by 10% and gave a real polish to the memoir. I published
the book in
October 2019, on my 64th birthday.
Summer of 77 is on my to-read list. I'm really looking
forward to read because Portugal and Spain are my 2 favourite
countries to go on holiday 💥
Amazon link: getbook.at/Summerof77
Now back to your question about other genres, Kathleen. I dabble
with writing
fiction and have written several short stories. I am also taking
an online
Novel Writing Diploma and think this is the direction my writing will
take me in the future.
Are you the only one in your family who writes?
Well, I am
now, but my father was a journalist and radio presenter in his later years.
Maybe I can just tell you about his memoirs and how I helped publish his book
after he passed away.
This started for me back in 1992 when my father, John, was frail and confined to bed
most of the time. Visits to the hospital became more frequent, and the doctors were
talking about months, not years. John had been working on his recollections for
several years and had already typed up many of the chapters. He also had plans
in place for finishing the remaining parts of his book. Now he could not continue.
My mother called me to see if I could help. I was more than happy to get involved.
In the evenings and at weekends, I sat at my computer and transcribed the sections
that John had finished. I printed these off and sent them back to him. It was a
period of reconciliation between father and eldest son as we discussed changes
and planned for the missing chapters.
During the months following his death, I continued working on John's memoirs
with the help of my mother and brother. In 1994 we printed a limited-edition
under the title Exclusive Pedigree. If it had not been for a chance remark, the
life of the book could have ended there.
Towards the end of 2015, I was visiting my mother for a few
days and gave her a
paperback copy of the second edition of Fred’s Diary
1981. Our conversation turned
to self-publishing, and we started talking
about John’s memoirs.
Then came the bombshell from Mary, “Did you know Rob,
that John always
wanted his book professionally published?”
I had another challenge ahead, and within months I published
my father’s book in
July 2016. I think John would be proud of the finished
result, a fabulous tribute to
his life.
Amazon link: getbook.at/ExclusivePedigree
When travelling, do you make a profound
research or
are you open for unexpected things?
I did most of
my real travelling in my twenties. Travel plans were very fluid,
and I went
with the flow. During that period, I had many adventures, including
the six
months in Ibiza in 1977, two months hitchhiking around Europe and then
returning
to Ibiza for three months in 1978. After that I based myself in Frankfurt,
Germany between 1979 and 1986 where I worked to get money, but also travelled
further afield. In 1979, I spent four months in the USA and Canada, often going
from place to place on Greyhound buses. In 1981, I took six months out to
travel around Hong Kong, Thailand, India and Nepal. After that I spent a
further
five years working in a bank in Frankfurt, but still took a 5-6 week
break most years.
For those trips, I toured the Canary Islands, Scandinavia, Greece
and Turkey.
In 1986, I
returned to Eastbourne on the south coast of England to be with my
future wife.
We are still there 35 years later and have taken many holidays
together in the
meantime. These have out of necessity been more structured,
but we have had
some very special times in places such as Portugal,
Crete, Madeira, Goa, Australia,
the Seychelles and New York.
We also got married in Kenya in 1994. Our most
recent holidays
were cruises; a 7-day one to Norway in 2016 and a 14-day round
trip to the
Canary Islands and Portugal in 2018.
In
addition, I have had the fortune to be able to travel with work and spent
a lot
of time in different countries around Europe, along with business trips
to
Australia, Ghana, Singapore and Suriname. Although these were work-related,
I
still found time to explore my surroundings on each occasion.
I have a long travelling wish list (perhaps too
long J )
What’s on your wish list?
There are so
many places I would still love to visit when it is safe to do so again.
I am not
sure they will ever happen, but my wish list includes South America,
New
Zealand, Sri Lanka and Japan. If the opportunity arose,
I would also love to
re-visit Nepal and the Seychelles.
Do you like to do something sporty while travelling
or in normal life?
I have
never been a sporty person, Kathleen. At school, I was the one who
would take a
shortcut on the cross-country runs, hiding behind bushes having
a crafty
cigarette. I did not enjoy the rough and tumble of rugby, so
I took part as a
touch judge. My cricket skills were limited, and
I ended up scoring the matches
instead of participating.
One thing I
have always enjoyed, however, is walking. There are so many
places to explore near
where we live in Eastbourne. I enjoy strolling on the
South Downs and along the
seafront. Even during lockdown, I found new
places on my daily exercise walks
close to home. To illustrate this,
I am including an extract from an article I
wrote in early May last year:
If anyone had told me at the start of the year what was
going to happen
in 2020, I would have thought they were crazy.
Over the past few weeks, I have learned to cope with this
new reality.
The initial feelings of anxiety and fear subsided, and my views
changed
as I became more sensitive to others and aware of how fragile our
society is.
We are among the lucky ones. Although work from my day
job has
evaporated, my wife and I live in a comfortable house, our three cats
keep us company, and we have enough money to last through this crisis.
As a
bonus, the weather has been warm and sunny for the daily exercise
walks we are
allowed to take.
When the lockdown was implemented, my thoughts turned to
those
less fortunate. Older people unable to leave home, those suffering
from
grief and depression, and residents of countries with even stricter
lockdowns.
I thought about how I might share my experiences on social media,
to give
motivation and bring a smile to the faces of those within my reach.
Living where we do in Eastbourne, on the south-east coast
of England,
we have many beautiful spots close to our home. There are several
parks
filled with trees, plants, grassland and lakes. Not far away is a farm
track
that winds through fields where horses, sheep and cattle graze. Birds
sing as
though nothing is wrong with the world. Then there is the seafront,
along which runs a three-mile promenade, with views out across the
English
Channel.
Because of the lockdown and social distancing measures,
there have been
few people around on my daily walks. I gained a sense of
tranquillity and
tried to capture those precious moments on my smartphone, so I
could
share them with others.
With video clips, I recorded nature’s sights and sounds.
These included
gentle swaying trees with uplifting birdsong in the background,
views across
idyllic farmland to the hills of the South Downs, and waves
crashing onto
the shingle beach on a windy but sunny afternoon.
Amongst other subjects, my photos captured the beauty of
spring flowers,
rainbows drawn by children hung in windows, colourful beach
huts,
seafront carpet gardens, and the pier’s golden dome sparkling in the
sunlight against a backdrop of clear blue skies.
I posted these to Facebook, both on my timeline and in
two groups.
In addition, I shared selected videos and photos on Instagram and
Twitter. Three of those images are included here.
Cherry blossom
Social distancing seagulls
