Starting out

I started writing in 1994 when I had finished university. My first book was my account of the time I spent as a soldier in the Middle East during the first Gulf War. I knew it would be a bestseller but my hopes were confounded when, having finished my great tale of men at war, no publisher would take it on.

Was I disheartened?

Yes.

Did I give up?

No.

So, what was the problem?

I know now that the book simply wasn't good enough. I was competing against writers like Andy McNab who had served in the SAS during the same war and who had genuine ripping yarns to tell. My story of an ordinary soldier who drove a Land Rover and occasionally operated a radio just didn't cut it. Even being able to recount the day when I received four boxes of Tayto crisps through the post didn't quite give my book the edge it needed...