I am a journalist who has written for many years about food in particular, and I'm currently editor of a weekly fruit and veg magazine.
I've been writing fiction in my spare time for about 20 years, having started out in my bedroom at the age of 13 coming up with short stories about alien invasions and all manner of far-fetched adventures. I previously worked as an actor, teacher, tour guide, window salesman and on the production line at a bottle factory, among other things, but always found the lure of writing too much to resist and finally settled on a career in journalism.
I've recently completed a manuscript called 'The Improbable Tale of How I Saved The Universe', in which I'm trying to fuse travel writing with soft sci fi in a light hearted narrative. I see it more as travel writing, but without limiting locations to the boundaries of the Earth and instead creating a world that allows the reader more freedom of imagination.
I am not setting out to write high brow fiction with cutting social commentaries and I realise it won't appeal to all. Instead the target audience is those people who are simply looking for a good story with characters they can root for. I think that above all fiction is entertainment and I'm trying to set out to be readable and entertaining rather than write a genre novel that takes itself too seriously.
I'm still dreaming of that first novel being published! I welcome all constructive feedback and would be delighted to correspond with fellow budding authors.
Michael