Retired Newbie

As a newbie I thought I would drop in and say Hi!

I’m Geoff, I retired from an interesting but ultimately frustrating job in engineering in April 2018 after twenty six years in post and almost fifty years since I left fulltime education. A lifetime.

I wrote essays and short stories at school, but at that time I hadn’t figured out the concept of plot and planning, I only arrived at that point relatively recently and then I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I have been good at starting aimless tales that wander on for a while until my ideas dried up.

Then I started to “properly” read about the mechanics of writing and construction and it seems I understood the basics but hadn’t been smart enough to push that envelope out far enough. I probably still haven’t.

So having reached this lightbulb moment I am now devouring any book I find on the shelves of charity shops and free local book exchanges which in the same or similar genre in order to learn how the experts do it. Interesting in lots of ways, but also a little devastating when I compare my ideas, but that is what learning is all about.

My story telling is on hold at the moment as I work on my characters and put a lot of serious work into my plot and research sites such as Jericho Writers for nuggets of advice.

Looking forward to sharing coffee and cake with you.