March Update - 'Silent As Sleeping' Now Available.

Like many people trying to get something written and looking correct, I had been waiting for many elements of (what I had envisaged as being my first project to be printed) 'Silent As Sleeping to come together. This collection was always in my head as being the first that I would publish, and I had been working on it for a long time, trying to get it ready for print. But for a long while there were two main elements missing. They were both permissions from other people. 

The first permission was from Tony Barnes to use a drawing I had commissioned him to create (from a photo of my father) for me to use as the inside front cover, and also permission from Chris Winstanley (an old friend and getting older by the day) to use a poem he wrote for me when my Father died in 1988 (and titled 'Life') as the first piece of poetry in the work.

Before I became unwell, I had been getting the whole book together as and when I had the time and could work it into some sort of order and set it out the way I wanted it to look. I was also working on the front and rear cover and trying to come up with an idea for a 'branding' that would mean that if ever anyone read one of my books and for some unknown reason wanted to read another (I know, unlikely you say), then they would be able to recognise another one of my books by looking at the format of the covers prior to reading the name or title.

It took longer due to my illness and situation - far longer than I wanted. My illness made the working on this very difficult, even though it was almost ready to be printed. I could not work on the project for very long at all and put off asking for the permissions for quite a while as I just could not cope with the 'work' involved if they said yes, and the sadness I would feel if they said No. But, after a long time and a lot of work i managed to get the cover, the format of the book, the 'branding' and the permissions sorted.

Fortunately the drawing done by Tony Barnes of my father was just what I had hoped for, and he had given me the result before my illness can to a head in early 2014. I was very pleased with it and when it came time to sort out the inner cover, the choice of this piece of art was easy, once written permission had been gained.

The poem 'Life' was a bit more of a challenge. I had known Chris for a long time but we had lost touched many years ago and I had no idea where he was or what he and his wife (the sublime Melanie) were doing with their lives. Social media, as is often the case today, supplied the answer. I found him via Twitter and Facebook and we re-connected. After a swapping a few pleasantries and catching up, I asked his permission to use the poem and he graciously agreed. 


So I am pleased to announce that I have finished this latest collection (only two years or so down the road from starting it) and it is now ready for purchase. I wish I could say it was in shops now - but only one Collection has a presence in a shop (and then only in a very small way). But it is here on the website, fully printed and waiting quietly and patiently to be read.

So what are you waiting for - go to the store section and order it now! (And while you're at it, you could look at 'Poems of the Past' as well if you like.) (Just a thought).