How I keep plodding along

When people tell me that they are ‘finding it hard to write these days’, I usually advise the following:

1. When you receive a positive thank you note PRINT IT OUT AND PUT IT WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT.
2. Ask for feedback from people you trust.
3. Recognise that if someone wants to publish your work, even if you do not receive money for it, this shows that they believe in you.

I go so far as to keep the thank you cards I receive on my office shelves for years. I print out lovely emails and stick them on the wall too. I have no idea if there is a statistic out there, but I reckon the impact of praise diminishes by about 50% a day. When I receive praise, I believe it for maybe a day or two, tops. I don’t think I am alone. And so, today, not because I want to brag, but because it gave me a real boost, I want to share the following piece of feedback with you. It comes from Colin Guest, who took one my on-line writing course, How to Write Your Life Stories, a few years ago and offered to give me a reference.

A few years ago, while searching online for some ideas re writing, I came across the name of Jo Parfitt. On contacting her and asking a few questions, I thought her ideas were inline with what I was looking for. I then signed up for a course on memoir writing. This covered a variety of hints and suggestions on how to get the best results with my writing. The course was interesting and I later used suggestions in my own writing work. Since then I have had a number of articles published online, and one in a UK expat magazine. Several of my articles have been published in Escape Artist and Escape from America. I was well pleased when they told me they would be interested in seeing any other articles I write too. I can only put this down to my taking the course I did with Jo. In view of this I would recommend anyone wishing to start writing seriously, to consider taking one of Jo courses. Even better still, if you are able to, join one of her many classes. In this way you will receive personal coaching from Jo. These classes are held in a variety of exotic locations, so if one is not suitable for you, most likely another one would be. Just think, you could be having a holiday in the sun while gaining first hand writing experience! [Thanks for this, Colin. I have a writing class in November in Phuket if anyone is interested].

​Like thousands of others I have spent many years travelling and working as an expat in numerous countries. My work mainly involved fitting out interior finishes to numerous five star hotels and a few palaces. The experiences obtained during working on projects in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa are now what I am writing about in my memoir entitled Follow In The Tigerman’s Footprints. It is books like this that Expatbookshop specialises in. Here you are able to purchase a variety of books written by expats themselves.

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