A Note from me
Hey - if you’re reading this, thank you. Honestly, not in a million years did I ever think I’d write a couple of books, and as someone who’s always been quite private, I certainly never imagined I’d have a website sharing bits of my life!
I hope my experience might encourage others. Many of us ladies and gents of a certain age have plenty of life experience and stories worth telling. I’ve recently retired, but I actually started and finished my first book, 13, while I was still working.
I’ve lived most of my life wrestling with dyslexia, and throughout school that meant endless frustration. I was a bright kid, but labelled as “lazy”. Every report said the same - great at sports, not much good at anything else. My biggest struggle was with numbers; algebra and equations might as well have been rocket science.
One of my lasting memories from maths class was when the teacher filled the chalkboard with a complicated equation - and the answer. Somewhere in the question there was a mistake, but the answer was correct. The clever kids in class were stumped. The teacher looked smug until I raised my hand. Suspiciously, he asked me to stand and give the answer. “Sir,” I said, “you’ve written it on a slant!” And he had, the whole thing was sloping down from left to right. The class erupted with laughter, and the teacher dragged me out by my newly grown adolescence sideburns while whacking me with a massive wooden triangle.
Numbers have never been my thing. Even now, when my bank sends me a six-digit code, I have to write it down or I’ll forget it in thirty seconds. When I write I have a few problems and my spelling and grammar were pretty awful. Thankfully, modern spellcheckers and software have been a godsend throughout my career.
So, no excuses! If you’ve ever wanted to write a book, a story, a poem, just do it. There are so many tools out there now to help you.
What’s Next!
My summer writing project brought together several ideas I’d had floating around for a while. I knew I wanted to write something inspired by Bailey, but I couldn’t imagine much of an adventure based purely around walking the dog! Then it struck me: why not combine Bailey with two other things I love — steam trains and my model railway?
The final piece of the puzzle came from real life. While I was looking after Bailey when my daughter was away on holiday, we had a tremendous storm and lost the power. That gave me the missing link I needed: what if the storm created a time portal between Bailey’s world and the world of Grandad’s model railway?
And so, The Amazing Adventures of Bailey: The Time Travelling Cockapoo was born.
With this book, I decided to try something a little different and write a story that my young grandchildren might enjoy reading. I used illustrations throughout and a larger font to make it an easier and more enjoyable read for younger readers.
I thoroughly enjoyed writing Bailey’s first adventure. It was great fun bringing together family, dogs, steam trains, a little history and a lot of imagination - and I have a feeling Bailey’s time-travelling adventures might not be over just yet. There could well be another one or two to come!
A Final Word
The whole point of me sharing this is simple: to encourage others to write. If I can do it, honestly, anyone can. My long-time friends and family would all say the same thing I did at the start, “not in a million years” would they have thought I’d end up as an author.
So, if you’ve got a story inside you, tell it. You never know where it might lead.
The scariest moment is always just before you start.
Stephen King
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ME
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SHAUN DRYDEN
North East, United Kingdom