I live in Scotland, UK and have written numerous documentary voice-over scripts broadcast on television in the UK and USA (Discovery Channel, PBS etc.). I also work as a ghost writer, copywriter and part-time chef. I have two children, one of whom I tipped out of a kayak on her 3rd birthday while writing the non-fiction book, Why Have Adventures?
I also love cooking, cricket, reading and cycling. My other books include: The Family Travel Journal Volumes 1 & 2: Look. Laugh. Talk. Together: Two volumes of fun family activities to get families talking together more and reduce their screen time while traveling. The Invincibles: A boarding school adventure novel set in Scotland for children aged 10+ Why Have Adventures with Sam Sykes: A free non-fiction book for parents of teens exploring the lifelong benefits of outdoor education.
Tell us about your book.
After a mysterious impact in the dry Oklahoma landscape, three teenagers discover they can enter a world within a world where they can do anything they want. Anything at all: Create. Build. Explore. Fly. Destroy. But as a ripple of consequences impact on reality, Sonny, Isla and Dan realise this is far from a game. Do they now have the power to change the real world? Because if they do, they know exactly what they want to change first.
Dirt-poor Sonny Monroe blames the oil company that fracked his family farm for his problems. Dan Hawk, a Native American from the Chickatawa tribe, has never forgotten who stole his native Homelands. Idealistic Isla Duncan, a Scottish Paralympian junior on a fundraising handcycle tour through the Old West, would just like to make the world a fairer place. As the three teens attract global enemies and the killings begin, grave doubts divide them: Do they control this new-found power? Or is it controlling them? If so, what on Earth does The Sandbox want?
Why did you want to write a book?
I’m so argumentative. I imagine arguments happening all the time even when they are not. The first elements of all my books that I write down, are characters arguing. Then I plot around these arguments!
Why did you choose to self-publish?
Every publisher that has read my books, even the ones who “couldn’t put it down” always wanted to make strange changes, i.e. I wrote an adventure novel about kids solving their problems without violence. A well-known publisher actually asked for Ninja’s to be inserted because they were popular at the time…
What tools or companies did you use, and what experience did you have?
Createspace. Straightforward and positive, on the whole, to use.
What do you think are the main pitfalls for indie writers?
Self indulgence! I’m as guilty as anyone but we all need to be honest with ourselves.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
Just do something else. Read, walk, play. Do a random course. Online or in the Real. Meet new people. Change jobs. Do something new. Never just sit down in front of a keyboard and wait.
Tell us about the genre you wrote in, and why you chose to write this sort of book.
The Sandbox is sci fi. Perhaps sci fi-lite as it’s written to be accessible to “people who don’t like sci fi.” It breaks my heart to see so many fabulous books and writers not taken seriously by the MSM just because they are sci fi.
Who are your biggest writing inspirations and why?
Iain M. Banks is my favorite author. I adore his writing style, his politics, his acknowledgment of the sometimes brutal human spirit. Yet he never (or rarely) abandons hope that somewhere, somehow, rightness will prevail.
Why did you write about this particular subject?
The Sandbox is about empowering the disempowered. Turning the tables always makes for an interesting story…and humorous too, I hope.
What’s next for you as an author?
The Sandbox, Books 2 & 3.
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