What was your first favourite book or story?
This is a difficult one as there have been many great books that I have read over the years, like Wuthering Heights, Catcher in the Rye, Dracula, Homer’s Odyssey, The Millennium Trilogy, and I could go on and on. However, I am going to select the stories that have remained with me since I was a child and these are by Roald Dahl called “The Big Friendly Giant” that followed on from “Danny the Champion of the World”. I lived in the pages of those books.
Who or what has been your biggest inspiration?
As a young boy, creating different worlds, whether through writing or art, allowed escapism from the world around me. I could enter my creations to be free and in control. I find the act of writing and art very therapeutic, a method of communication and release of inner emotions. It calms and balances my energy, allowing my thoughts to clear, restoring my insight.
What advice on self-publishing would you give to aspiring Indie authors?
Believe in yourself. Today we are surrounded too often by negative thoughts and judgemental people. If we listen to it all, we would never do anything. Go for it! Every one has a story inside them to tell. Write it. Tell the world! Yes, we always have the thoughts “is my writing good enough?” or “who would want to read my work?” Push these thoughts away. You cannot compare yourself to other writers and you should never do it. You can do the best that you can do, and the more you write, the more you will develop your own style and pattern. There is no right or wrong way to write. Writing is a freedom of expression. What is important is that you always have your work edited and proofread by an experienced editor/proof reader.
The concept of self-publishing has changed so much in the past ten years and even traditional print authors are now choosing this route. The stigma around it no longer exists and the proof is in the sales growth for Indie authors as it continues to rise. Self-publishing platforms like Smashwords allow great access to have books distributed across many retailers exposing them to wider audiences. The power has been put into the hands of the author.