When did you first start writing?
I started writing in my early teen years, mocking up scripts for TV shows and trying to write like my favourite authors. By the time I reached 16 I knew that I wanted to write full-time, and I managed that for a couple of years in my twenties. Life got in the way, though, so I had to find a real job that paid real money, so it wasn't until I was a good deal older that I managed to create the opportunity to write full time. Curiously, I found that many of the jobs that I took included an element of writing, whether it was in the job description or not. That urge to put words on paper was always there ...
What motivated you to become an indie author?
Over the years I began to have real issues with the notion of 'gatekeepers'. At one time I had an agent and even he confessed it was becoming harder to sell to publishers, whose spheres of interest seemed to becoming more and more narrow. As an independent author I can find an audience for my books that might not (yet) be huge - or at least big enough for a commercial publisher - but nonetheless satisfies the wish to see my books in print and know that people are reading them and getting some pleasure from them. With my earlier books I did seek out commercial publication - with my latest ones I'm going straight to independent/self publishing.
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