The Author's View (April 2024)

Hello and thanks for dropping by! In this article I wanted to bring you guys up to date with my progress as an author - I might even include some musings on life now that I have entered my sixth decade on this planet. Hopefully you'll find it interesting, maybe even entertaining - fingers crossed!

Each month I will bring you up to speed with my current writing projects and short term plans for those pieces of work. I will also include a quick review of one of the books I've read in that particular month, these could be from well established authors or from independents that have yet to make a breakthrough. Finally, there will be a section on my observations about the literary world from an authors perspective.

The White Haired Storyteller

Since I left my IT career 10 years ago I have run several small businesses, some more successful than others. I have however always been an avid reader and so a few of these involved the world of books and publishing, including:

the buying and selling of collectible books,

self publishing non-fiction books including diaries, journals and logbooks,

writing various self help and eco-living blogs.

However, it was all a mere bagatelle. Back in the mid-80s I had an idea for a story which was a satire against the concept of famous musicians being hailed as Rock Gods. The idea that society revered them somehow just seemed funny to me. I wrote four chapters and gave it to some friends to read who loved it. And there it stayed as my life took its course. Every so often I would get the manuscript out (Yes I'm so old that I actually typed it up on paper) and dust it off. I would then stare at it demanding that it write itself but to no avail. Apparently this is a common trait of authors!

The Keyholders Apprentice

Fast forward to the summer of 2023 and on a particularly wet Wednesday afternoon I finally took the plunge and started to type. The manuscript had long disappeared which was probably a good thing. within 7 weeks I had written a 97k word story. I hawked it around family and friends who loved it and urged me to get it published. However imposter syndrome hit me, the lack of confidence was all consuming. After all I had never written a book before, how could I be so arrogant as to think that anyone would want to read what I had written. again another common characteristic of being an author. It wasn't until March 2024 that I decided to revisit The Keyholders Apprentice once again. I trimmed the excess, I made the story tighter, I enhanced the characters - in summary after a 4 week rewrite it is a much better story now. I am confident enough to try and get it in front of a literary agent, but more on this process (and progress if any) in next months blog.

The Dark Harvest

The Keyholders Apprentice is a comic fantasy tale akin to the Discworld novels of Sir Terry Pratchett, or the Myth Series of stories by Robert Asprin. It's a light hearted, easy to read satire. It is full of popular cultural references, music lyrics and film quotes. But above all else it a bloody good story with characters that resonant with the reader. Its funny, it's sad, it's charming and uplifting. but it is not The Dark Harvest.

When I was a kid I vaguely remember reading a book which was a guide to the Islands Of Scotland. it painted a glorious picture of various Hebridean Islands, Shetland and the Orkneys. But there was one island that stood out in my memory, namely Gruinard Island. It's a small island a mile or so off the coast of the Scottish mainland. Ullapool is the nearest town for reference. The significance of this island was that it was used in WW2 for biological weapons testing with the locals knowing it as Anthrax island. Back in the 1940s/50s it was untreatable and very deadly. But I remember thinking at the time that it would be a great place to hide as long as you had the antidote.

The BBC recently ran a story and it triggered that memory. I had already been mulling over a story about a scientist who creates an eternal youth serum but it kills 60-70% of patients. Racked with guilt they want to hide away to perfect it but corporate greed rears its ugly head. It cares nothing for the population and seeks only power and money. Hence The Dark Harvest was born. The title references a small group of terrorists who highlighted the fact that successive governments had failed to clean the island up, it was the name they chose. No one was ever prosecuted as being involved or related to any of the activities this organisation undertook, which also adds to the mystery.

I didn't think it suited a light hearted approach. In my mind I saw it as a post watershed crime thriller, the kind the BBC does so well with on a Sunday evening at 9pm. I had also never written anything so dark, it was a challenge to me as a writer to pen to paper. The story starts at the turn of the Millenium and moves forward a generation. It has a cast of characters both likeable and loathsome. There is sex, drug abuse, violence and murder. The readers of the initial draft were very complimentary about this 67k word novel. so much so that I decided to self publish this after a couple more revisions. It launched on Amazon just before Christmas 2023. I am pleased and proud to say that so far the reviews have been outstanding. There are currently 3 x 5 star reviews, this is one:

I really enjoyed reading this book. The characters are fantastic and the fast pace keeps you turning the pages and needing to know what happens next. When you start reading it you just don't want to stop. I will definitely be looking out for more books by D. M. Cartwright and if he wrote anything else with these characters l would be delighted.

Elemental - working title

In common with a lot of people I like to keep a journal. Musings, thoughts, rants and ramblings are to be found in my not so little black book. It's a place were I make plans and record any story ideas that might spring to mind. and so it was on the 1st Jan 2024, when normal people are recovering from the previous nights excesses, that I opened my journal. During the Christmas / New Year lull I happened across a story about the Dogon people in Africa that had told early Western explorers their 'Origin Story'. Although considered to be uneducated they knew about a star near Sirius and claimed to have been visited by 'people' from this star. It was dismissed as myth until the advent of more powerful telescopes confirmed the existence of this star were the Dogon people had said it would be.

Conspiracy theory, definitely. Idea for a story, absolutely. My idea was simple what would happen if this was 'true', would there be any interbreeding, the Dogon claim to be the offspring from this union. The Sumerians have a similar origin story with the Anunnaki creating human slaves. When you dive into our prehistory it becomes clear that many ancient civilisations have some correlation across various myths and legends, tales of a great flood being one example. From this I began to see the opportunity to coalesce some of these stories into a single tale. By the end of February the first draft of my 3rd novel was done. In the interest of the challenge I decided to write this from the perspective of a young woman. Orphaned at 16 her life was about to take her in a different and at times violent direction. Unbeknown to her, there is a path she must follow, it is her destiny but there is a price to pay. It is ultimately a tale of maternal love with strong female main characters who have to fight to survive in a male dominated world where violence is common place. This story is currently awaiting an initial edit.

Book Review

THE TWYFORD CODE by Janice Hallett

As mentioned earlier I used dabble in the buying and selling of second hand books. One of the problems with this is as an avid reader the actual selling of a book was not always as easy as it should have been. The opportunity to read a wide variety of works by authors that you might not have heard of was all to apparent to me. This was definitely the case with Janice Hallet with novel The Twyford Code. I read the blurb and thought let’s give it a go - it sounded intriguing to me so top marks to her marketing team.

From the outset the way the story is told is innovative and I think this is what really attracted me. The main character is a missing ex-convict by the name of Steven Smith. The police have found his iPhone 4 on which there are 200 audio files, it is the transcripts of these files that tell the story.

We soon discover through these transcripts that Steven left prison over 10 years ago and is “going straight” but is struggling with the rejection by his son who never knew him. We become increasingly aware that Steven has a history and recounts a former teacher who disappeared when taking Steven and a few of his classmates out on a school trip many years ago.

This teacher, we learn, believed that a certain Edith Twyford, a somewhat twee and much maligned children’s author had put coded messages in the children’s books that she wrote during the Second World War. This teacher had mysteriously disappeared whilst she was investigating these encrypted messages. Steven also becomes equally fascinated and decides to decipher these secret codes which he believes will lead to solving the disappearance of his former teacher as well as the discovery of some hidden treasure.

As a young child I grew up reading the works of Enid Blyton and it’s clear that the author has created her Edith Twyford character as a pastiche of Enid Blyton. However, she has reimagined Edith Twyford as some sort of spy where I don’t believe Enid Blyton ever was – however I have to concede that maybe Enid Blyton was such a good spy no one ever knew !!!

Janice Hallett’s book The Twyford Code is a wonderfully clever composition. I found myself going back to previous pages just to confirm some of the details (one definite advantage of actually reading a physical copy rather than as an eBook). The story is inventive and filled with many page turning plot twists. Once I started reading this book I found it so hard to put down. And then just as you think you got your head around it all and you think you’ve worked it out, Janice throws you a massive curveball.

This book is a joy and I would highly recommend - 5/5.

The View From Here

In this edition I wanted to take a quick look at book reading itself after all there is little point in being an author if no one wants to 'hear' your stories.

Does anybody read a book anymore?

But the simple truth is that we don’t bother, we cite lack of time, other commitments etc. Research by Kantar Media shows that in 2019 as much as 49% of the adult population in the UK did NOT read a single book in the previous 12 months. Similarly, Pew Research carried out in the US for the same time period showed that 27% of the US adult population did not read a book in the previous 12 months. It went further to say that of those people that did read a book only 27% read 1 book per month.

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one! George R.R. Martin

It should be noted that this figures include ebooks and audio books as well as physical books. Interestingly, the reports also show that the reading of physical books remains steady at 65%, ebooks at 25% with audiobooks at 20% (during 2019). So while it is safe to say that the reading of an actual physical book is waning, it is not all bad news – after all it’s not that people don’t read at all. It’s just how we choose to consume our reading material.

Why you should read a book.

What reports show us is that we humans are massive “consumers of information”, we spend an inordinate amount of time reading online news, blogs, tweets and posts, as well as magazines and other short content.

Clearly we read so why should we bother reading a book? After all it will take up our valuable time as well as even having to pay some money for these books. Below we take a look at the top 5 reasons why you should make the small sacrifice in time and money to read a book.

Brain Exercise

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or, surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. Confucius

Like our bodies, our brains need to be exercised every day to stay fit. Keeping you brain healthy and active is a key component to making you less susceptible to the cognitive declines associated with the aging process. It keeps your memory sharp and help reduces the risks of neurological disorders such as depression etc.

By reading a book as little as 30 minutes a day we stretch our brain. It allows us to think, to use our imaginations and to cultivate new ideas because we have to grasp and comprehend the concepts and reasoning contained within each book we read – we become more creative.

Increased Concentration

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set I go into the other room and read a book. Groucho Marx

In our fast paced world full off computerised gadgets and TV’s we are constantly bombarded with things saying “read me, read me!” They are attention seekers but it is superficial. Once that one thing has finished, something else will demand to take its place – constantly wanting our attention.

However, a book needs active engagement and concentration. By reading the words you are exercising your mind, you are concentrating on what those words mean and why they are written that way. You, mentally build images, thoughts and opinions in your head just by reading the lines on a page. You use logic and critical thinking to process and understand the concepts and ideas passed to you by the author.

This builds concentration levels and the ability to concentrate leads to clearer thinking and greater awareness and understanding.

Stress Reduction

Some books leave us free and some books make us free. Ralph Waldo Emerson

There have been many studies carried out about ways to reduce stress in general and most have concluded that reading is by far the best way to relax, better than going for a walk or even listening to music. Reading eases the tensions in the rest of the body by allowing your mind to concentrate and escape into a literary world.  A recent study showed that only 6 minutes of reading can slow your heart rate and ease tension in your muscle.

As far as sleep is concerned, studies show that reading a book before bed is so much better than watching TV or surfing the internet. Reading will relax your brain and you might get actually some sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

Promote Self Confidence

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries. Rene Descartes

A major benefit of reading, particularly in the variety of reading material you consume is the increase in vocabulary. It seems pretty obvious but the more you read the greater you vocabulary becomes.

Research shows that having more words at your disposal can make you a better communicator and being able to communicate your ideas will boost up your confidence in them. You will have a great foundation to explore your imagination by having confidence in your own ideas.

Increased Knowledge

The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you'll go. Dr Seuss

No matter what books you read, be they fiction or nonfiction, high-brow, low-brow etc. they will do one thing above anything else – and that is they will teach you something. It may be one word, a concept, an idea or premise, it could be one single solitary fact or a whole database of information.

Whatever it is reading books will enable lifelong learning and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Books are windows to the world from where you glimpse into past, present and future of the cultures. The more you read, the more you know. You’ll be a better problem solver, better conversationalist and quicker thinker. In any creative field you work, these skills come in pretty handy.

And Now The End Is Near

Anyway I have just about finished with my musings for this month. I sincerely hope you found it interesting. I am always happy to hear from any bookworms, so if you have any comments/opinions please drop me a note, I would love to hear from you - my only request is to be civil - oh and to be a real human!

As a gentle reminder, just in case you needed it, above all else – books are quite simply fun to read! Just half an hour a day immersed in a book will improve your life, it is after all, a super drug!!

Til next time - take care and stay safe!