I began writing in March 2004 whilst on a vacation in New Zealand. My wife and I had been spending a number of days in the Abel Tasman Park on the South Island, and it came to me that this would be a great backdrop for a Science Fiction Romance novel. Up until then, I had never had any inclination to write a novel so had no idea where to start.
When we returned to the Bed and Breakfast, I started to write an outline of the five novels on my Psion handheld device. By the time, we returned home to the UK I had written 30k words of the first book 'Island Homes’. I transferred this onto my laptop and completed writing the novel in November 2004.
The novel was too long, and grammar and formatting not at an acceptable level to consider publication. I invested in writing textbooks and attended a creative writing course at my local college. I worked on correcting the book and at the same time continued to write the remaining four books of the series.
'Island Homes' and ‘Virtual Companions’ were written entirely by typing into my Psion and laptop. During the writing course, they suggested that writing into a notebook had creative merit as it prevents you from trying to edit as you write. As a result, I wrote the rest of the series in notebooks, mainly whilst on holidays, which I completed in March 2008, whilst backpacking in Thailand.
Editing is difficult as it is impossible to find all the mistakes, no matter how careful you are. I used a proofreader for 'Virtual Companions' but I still found grammar errors. I started again and, have rewritten all five novels, and with the assistance of friends, eliminated errors.
The process of writing has been a welcome addition to my life.
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