A career.......A job

So as all us budding bloggers and writers know it takes a lot of time, effort and rejection before we get to the possibility of being successful and earning anything near the amount of money we would like so that we can pay the bills and put food on the table as writers.

So the question is....What jobs have you done? Or are doing? So that you can write and and keep on writing to one day hopefully become successful. Or have you always been successful with your writing and have been one of the few lucky ones. I have been thinking a lot recently on what I have to do for work and to ensure I can provide for my family, though nothing would make me happier then to see my book published for you all to see it.

I am currently helping out in a kitchen at a local National Trust for Scotland site and although the money is reasonable and I do feel as though I am contributing to the site, there is a part of me that feels as though I am dying inside without the prospect of a long term career. Something to show to my daughter and any future children I may or may not have of the hard work I have put into my life. For those that have read the story of my life for the past few years in "Shingles to ME" you will know that I once did have a successful career in I.T but this was sadly taken away from me due to my illness. Now living in the Highlands of Scotland I am struggling to get back into that career as it is not as it once was when I started all those years ago, with new cloud technologies available there is little need for someone like myself unless I live somewhere like London. I have tried running my own business on multiple different areas but all have been unsuccessful and between my writing and working in the kitchen I am also studying part time in the field of History in the hope that one day I can work in that field. But whether it is in History or in the work of my books and my blogs we all need a successful career to show that we have made something from our lives, something to proud of that we can show our children how best to live a life and not just sit on our sofas wasting away.

I as always welcome your feedback and comments and would be interested to hear in how you all survive.

Take care

David

My first Vlog

Hi everyone

Well it has been a little while since I last wrote a blog entry so thought I better get my brain into gear and get typing. But even though I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I have been idle, I have continued writing my latest novel, UES Excalibur and as the title suggests I have also done my first video blog (I will also include the link at the bottom of this page).

The reason behind the video blog was to put a face to the author and also give me another platform in which to reach you all. The experience I putting this up onto YouTube was certainly a new one to me and not something I have done before but I was certainly happy with the finished product baring in mind I was a little nervous when I started filming it (hope you can't tell). But the video is just under three minutes long and gives you a quick introduction to where I live, the type of person I am and also what I have been up to as well as putting a plug in there for Shingles to M.E.

With regards to the progress of UES Excalibur it is progressing nicely, however the format of how the book is now going has changed somewhat after a change of heart on how I wanted the story and some of the characters to progress, has that happened to anyone else I wonder? I certainly know that some writers will plan out that story so much that there would be no chance of that happening but I prefer to write with the heart and go with the flow.

I will of course continue in putting up video entries online to YouTube so please do subscribe to the channel and keep an eye out for upcoming videos, hopefully as time goes on the entries will get longer and hopefully a little more exciting! If in the meantime you would like to ask me any questions with regards to the new book or on the video blog please do not hesitate to get in touch with me, I will be more than happy to answer any and all questions.

In the meantime, take care and speak soon.

David

Star Struck

Hi everyone, well since my last post I have the t-shirt tan marks from where I was writing my last blog entry and some additional words for the new book, who would have thought it up here in the Highlands of Scotland. But I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it in the sun.

So for those who follow me on Twitter and Facebook you will have noticed that I recently met someone very famous, Diana Gabaldon who of course wrote the great Outlander series and still continues to do, from what I have heard with another book on the way. She was an impressive woman with a great personality and an interesting story behind how she first set out writing her first book and probably not to dissimilar from many authors, working more than one job to pay the bills but at the same time writing a book which they hope will change their life for the better.

Below you can see a picture of me with Diana Gabaldon for the book signing.

She gave me great inspiration to crack on and finish my next book, which for those who are interested is making great progress and again for those who do follow me on Twitter will have seen that the cover has now been done along with the title. This will hopefully start to give you an idea of the story which is progressing with great momentum thanks to the meeting with Diana Gabaldon, I will continue to drop hints of the plot and the story and would welcome any and all feedback.

Look forward to hearing from you and look out for my next blog. Take care.

Wow it's hot!!! - Author Q&A

So it is currently twenty five degrees here in the Highlands of Scotland and some would say this is freak weather and they would be right, but it is certainly nice to be outside with the laptop writing my blog entry and keeping you all up to speed with how things are going on.

The new book is going well and I am keeping people up to date with Facebook and Twitter, I will include my usernames in the bottom of this blog entry. Word count is currently at 7,600 and there is still so much story left to write, I recently spoke to a friend of mine recently about the new book as I am looking for someone to design a cover for me for the new novel and he asked me a series of questions which I thought were quite good and would share with you now.

What would the final word count be like?

The final word count of a novel would be around the 50,000 word mark but of course could be a lot less or lot more depending on how the long the story is and the amount of detail that gets put in it. I estimate currently that the new novel would be around the 30,000 word point, but of course these things change.

Is there a sequel planned?

I was quite shocked by this question, I hadn't even finished writing the first book and was being asked if there was going to be a sequel. The answer to this is yes there is, it won't be a direct sequel but rather a story that revolves around a certain period of time, all to become clearer closer the time.

Do you have other stories in mind?

Yes I do, I have another story in my head which isn't a SciFi novel such as this one but probably more on the fantasy side. So similar genre but completely different.

How easy was it to self publish the first book?

Well the first book was an auto biography covering the years of my illness and was something to keep my mind occupied and hopefully help others in a similar predicament. But the process was really easy in my opinion, it of course helped that I am very IT literate and was able to understand the questions it was asking me. I decided to go with Amazon and Createspace just because they had great reviews and seemed to be able to get me the best coverage and provide additional paid for services should I need it.

Thanks for reading and if you would like to ask me any questions directly then please do get in touch.



Twitter - @dai_harrison83

Facebook - David Harrison

Relaxing the mind

2nd July 2016

So in an effort to let the creative juices flow myself, my wife and mother have to the Isle of Skye for a weeks break. We have come to stay in a self catering cottage located in the south of Skye itself and assuming I do this blog correctly I will try and enclose some pictures of where we are currently staying and the fantastic views that we have surrounding us and of course some of the friendly locals, which for the most do appear to be sheep who as I write this are currently "baaaa'ing" outside the bedroom window but for the most part they keep to themselves. The first chapter of the new book is well and truly on its way and thankfully those creative juices I was referring to earlier appear to be flowing quite nicely, we plan to explore Skye as much as possible over the coming days but I am also planning to get as much of the new book done as possible and will continue to keep you as up to speed as possible with that. But for the time being I am currently going through a food coma after consuming quite a considerable amount of food on the first day of the break, but I hope to counter some of this with lots of walking and an occasional jog.

3rd July 2016

So today we paid a visit to Armadale Castle and Gardens home of the clan Donald, it was a great trip out and only thirty minutes away from where our cottage is located, so brief walk out to try and burn off last nights guilty pleasures followed by shower and dressed. But before we went inside we decided that lunch was in order first, now myself and my daughter are both celiac sufferers and so a good variety of gluten free meals would be in order and we were not disappointed with a soup for my daughter and a baked potato with tuna (more brain food!) and of course followed by gluten free chocolate fudge cake we were both happy and fed without the stomach upsets. Once inside the grounds we had a very pleasant walk up to the castle ruins, well pleasant enough apart from the rain, I will again try and include some pictures of our visit. The castle ruins were very impressive and it was easy to see how once this castle would have been a very beautiful and elegant building back in it's day. After the castle ruins we walked round some more of the grounds before reaching the museum and visitor centre which gave us some history of the Clan Donald and the surrounding area along with some incredibly interesting artefacts from Bonnie Prince Charlie. I have an interest in the events surrounding the Bonnie Prince being a volunteer at Culloden battlefield, so it was great to see and read some additional facts. Following on from the museum and a quick visit to the playground and shop we headed off to our next stop, coffee! On our way back to the holiday cottage we stopped at Broadford for some supplies and a latte where we also discovered our place for an evening meal later on during the week and full of gluten free meal options, it is nice to know the the Isle of Skye is able to accommodate my dietary needs. Then straight back for to the cottage for feet up and getting ready for dinner made by my lovely wife, I will record tomorrow's events and see what we get up and an update from the new book. 

4th July 2016

So today we had an early start and we decided to venture out to Dunvegan castle which is approximately one hours drive from the cottage. Although the drive was slightly longer than our previous outings it was well worth it with fantastic scenery along the way and plenty of places to pull over and take pictures, again if I get this right I will post some pictures online in an effort to show you how great the Isle of Skye is. Anyways, we made it to Dunvegan with plenty of time to explore the castle however we agree that we needed a refill of energy to get us through our next lot of exploring, so it was a trip to the castle cafe. We were certainly not disappointed with our coffee and gluten free cake, highly recommended we were all set for exploring the castle and grounds. Upon approaching the castle we were lucky enough to find that we were able to roam quite freely inside and able to take our time looking at the great range of artefacts and paintings that decorated this fantastic building. In particular I was interested in the Jacobite artefacts, being a volunteer at the Culloden battlefield it was great to read up on some additional facts concerning the Bonnie Prince’s life prior to his escape and how he got off Scotland. Once we finished at the castle we roamed the grounds, had some lunch (which we made and packed before we left) and roamed the shop and once done headed back to the car for our next destination. Our next destination was a coral beach located a mile or two down the road from Dunvegan castle where, after some issues parking took a very long walk along the coast and even saw some jellyfish. After now being completely exhausted we got back to the car and headed back to the cottage and not the one driving may have had a power nap in the back of the car.

Now an update on the new book, chapter one is now well and truly completed and chapter two is on the way. I must admit I am enjoying writing this one a lot more than I did the first one mostly because this new one is purely fiction, as the book progresses I will start to drop a hint here and there about the story and some of it’s characters.  

5th July 2016

Well today was a “lazy” day in comparison to our previous few days and so this gave me plenty of opportunity to crack on with the new book, certainly this break does appear to be allowing the creative juices to flow with chapter two completed and chapter three now in progress I am certainly happy with the progress being made. But after a bacon sandwich we decided to venture out, apart from anything my three year old was starting to have excess energy that she needed to burn off, so we decided to head to Elgog which is a tiny village right on the coast and only twenty minute drive. When we arrived the scenery was outstanding and the village so small the primary school couldn’t have got any closer to the beach without actually have been on the sea itself. We spent a little time there taking in the scenery and a needed little tub of ice cream just the thing with “choppy” winds but my three year old appear to enjoy it just as much as I did. Once we were done at Elgog we headed back to the cottage to get ready for our meal out at Broadford at a cafe specialising in allergies. We enjoyed the food there very much, the cafe was called “Sia” and they were able to provide both myself and my daughter a gluten free pizza and my mother with a vegan option with the cheese on her pizza and the deserts also were equally as good. However the main complaint we had was regarding service and a certain amount of cleanliness of the establishment, it took quite a while to get anyone's attention for any assistance we needed and the floors most certainly needed a good clean with the amount of food that had been dropped but we enjoyed our food and for that we were happy. Now back in the cottage resting with a food coma and getting ready for what tomorrow might bring.

 

6th July 2016

So today we decided to have a drive around the north east section of Skye and view some of the fantastic scenery that Skye has to offer, it of course didn’t help that it rained heavy from the point we got up to the point we got back to the cottage but I feel it just added to the atmosphere that is Skye. One of our stops was the memorial for Flora MacDonald, the woman responsible for hiding Bonnie Prince Charlie and helping to get him out of the country. I had seen the memorial in pictures before but they really didn’t do it justice as it was quite a large memorial and very nicely done. Once we left the memorial we continued the drive around the north east part of Skye and stopped every now and then to take some pictures before heading back off again. I will admit at this point that I was still recovering from the huge dinner that we had last night and so a great deal of the time in the back of the car was done sleeping along with my three year old daughter. Nothing overly exciting booked for tomorrow but will update you just the same on how we get on.

7th July 2016

Today was a pretty lazy day in comparison and the weather certainly not on our side, so rather than travel to far and get disappointed we decided to head to the local village of Broadford. We had been to the village on numerous occasions for supplies but never walked around it, we found several smaller shops which we explored and found a quaint cafe/bakery which did an excellent gluten free strawberry torte and some great coffee. However once explored we headed back as the weather really was against us and I was able to crack on with the book and make some good progress.

8th July 2016

So as our last full day in Skye we decided to have a walking day, we explored one of the local churches first which had a long history with one of the local clans and then we headed to the “Fairy Pools.” We were going to the Fairy Pools for a few reasons, one as I said we wanted to have a walking day, two it was meant to be pretty scenic and the third and final reason was that we had told my three year old daughter that was where the fairies lived and she wanted to go see them. The trip to the Fairy Pools was approximately a forty minute drive from the cottage, when we arrived the parking was limited and the walk was very popular but thanks to my wife’s careful driving we were able to park up, however due to the heavy rainfall over the past few days the streams had filled up quite a bit and made a couple of sections difficult to cross with a three year old so we explained that the fairies were in hiding due to the amount of people and that seemed to go down OK and we returned to the car. After having a bite to eat and a look at the map decided to head towards “Neist Point” which was another thirty minute drive from where we were at the Fairy Pools, but we were not to be disappointed. The views at Neist Point were amazing (hopefully pictures enclosed), with a series of waterfalls around the coastline and a rather lengthy walk to a disused lighthouse we certainly got the walk we wanted, however two things to be aware of, one is that certain parts are very steep and the other is that again parking was limited but I hugely recommend heading over there if you can if not just to take in the amazing views. With regards to the book it is well on its way with a word count of seven thousand and rising, but I will keep you well informed.  

9th July 2016

Time to head back. We have had a great break and explored some great parts of the countryside and some historic and cultural sites. We had to be out by ten in the morning and we were packed by nine, we picked up some last minute supplies and headed back over Skye bridge and diverted to Plackton to take in some more fantastic scenery that the Western Isles had to offer, and hot chocolate. I hope you have enjoyed reading these little snippets of our break in Skye as much as I have enjoyed writing them, feel free to leave comments and will post again soon.

My first book......and blog

So firstly thank you for taking the time to come and read this what will hopefully be the first of many blogs that I will be writing while I put together and write a series of books for the first time.

First perhaps a little about myself, I am (at time of writing this) thirty-three years old, married ten years and have a gorgeous three year old daughter and reside in the Highlands of Scotland. In regards to my career I have for the most been working in the IT industry, which hopefully means I shouldn't have any trouble writing this. I started writing my first book after needing something to keep my mind busy while I was at home ill, I was diagnosed with CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) back in 2014 and so as a result do get tired very easily, but through the experiences I picked up through the years it took me to get diagnosed I decided I wanted to share this in the form of a book and hopefully help someone in the process and so "Shingles to M.E" was born.

As the book was going to only experience the years in which I was diagnosed and leading up to it, it was going to be quite a short book however this was probably the best thing for me as not having written a book such as this before perhaps starting short was going to be the best bet. However being short didn't mean that it was going to take me a short amount of time and altogether "Shingles to M.E" took approximately six months to write, proof and publish online so might say that this was quite quick but for me this took longer than I wanted, I'm not a very patient man. One of the main issues while writing the book was that I am Dyslexic and so everything had to be checked and re-checked and quite often words and sentences were in the wrong order which made proof reading quite a challenge for my wife. So Dyslexia and CFS it was a little bit of a challenge but once it was completed it was a challenge I felt very happy with, it was a sense of accomplishment. There were times where I did think, "can I do this?" but I did and I was very glad when it was finished.

In conjunction with blogging, I will also be letting you know about the books I am writing or at least planning to write (without giving to much away of course). So hopefully I can give you a sense of my thought process, the difficulties of writing much larger books with my health conditions and also HOPEFULLY give you something to look forward to with regards to your next read. So for my next book I will be writing a science fiction novel and I will keep you up to speed with its progress.

I will put links below for "Shingles to M.E" and look forward to hearing on any and all feedback.

Thanks

David Harrison

Shingles to M.E (Kindle)

Shingles to M.E (Paperback)