Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards. I’ve just been digging through old files to locate information relating to much earlier published work , the first when I was just 14 years old, to make sure I finally have a complete cv. It was quite a fascinating process and brought back lots of memories of times when I typed onto a typewriter, progressing to an Amstrad before finally getting a pc. Now I use a laptop mainly. There are benefits in documenting everything. It helps to complete the picture. And whenever I lose confidence and think that, because I’ve never written a major prestigious literary award winning work (and because I write genre fiction) that I’m not a proper writer, I look at my list of published works. 27 novels (many translated into 7 languages), 3 short story collections, 21 poems, 35 articles and nearly 200 short stories.
The challenge is to keep learning, keep improving. To keep working at it.
