Time

With plenty of time on my hands I decided to write a memoir based on my childhood growing up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. Bangor, where I grew up, was one of the safest towns but it had it's share of attacks. My story therefore included just general things about growing up shot through with a Northern Irish slant: a bit of bigotry, a bit of violence and lots of bitterness.

I tried to keep it light-hearted though, because even in the midst of terrible times there is humour.

This great new work was entitled 'Made in Ulster' and upon completion I sent it off to agent after agent, each time getting the same response, that is to say, rejection.

Rejection dejection wasn't my only problem. The situation with regard to my job was getting worse and new charges against me were being created, each one a nail in my career coffin. I began to realise that this was a conspiracy but that's an emotive word which you daren't use when you are the subject of that conspiracy.

Of course, every cloud has a silver lining as you know. The problem was that I had a lot more to deal with before I got the chance to see if this saying held true.