This may be the first bit of text you read on this blog, so I'd better make it good.
Perhaps I should start with a joke about writing. I like to think I'm a pretty funny guy, but my mind doesn't contain a rolodex of jokes, so I did a quick search and nabbed one that seemed fitting to this blog.
Why are writers always cold? They’re surrounded by drafts!
Careful you don't split your sides.
Okay, so, I'll expand a bit about the purpose of this blog. It contains original stories/poems/etcetera written by me, Mark Towers. As a writer I add my middle initial, so you'll find my work by Mark J. Towers.
I've been dabbling as a writer since the early 1990s, on and off. Mostly "off" for large periods of that time, but I have my periods of productivity. Some of the poems were written in my late teens - I've got plenty of more of these to add sometime, though I may have to check to make sure they're not too cringeworthy. I was studying T.S. Eliot at the time, so their was definitely some influence on the style and structure of some of my pieces of the time.
I wrote a few of the short stories and coffee break fiction as magazine submissions or competition entries whilst trying to learn my craft. I like them, though whenever I read them back I know they could be better. Would I go back and edit them and try again? Maybe, though probably not. I kind of like the fact that they're a bit unfinished. That's the story of my life really - unfinished.
In the 2000s, when I became a parent it seemed natural to try writing for young 'uns. This is how the rhymes for kids section came about. You can really run wild with your imagination, but writing for this field is harder than you may imagine. You're writing in a format requiring low word counts and for an audience with a developing vocabulary, so you have to make every word matter.
So, this brings me nicely on to my books. As a parent and a writer I wanted to create some stories to share with my kids. I liked the idea of them having a copy of Dad's book(s) on their shelf. To date, I have written and illustrated 4 picture books, and you can find out more about these on the "published stories" page or on my website. That said, he's a bit of an additional background.
The first of these books, The Christmas Starfish, I wrote around 2008. After parking it for a while (I do that a lot), I sent it off to an agent to try to get representation, but I got rejected. Maybe, I figured, if I sketch up some illustrations that might help to "show how I envision the story layout". Yeah, that doesn't help. In reality, the story needed a lot more work, but me being me, I decided I'll just use my illustrations and publish the book myself. So, I looked into the whole vanity publishing thing, and got put off by the cost. However, I discovered Amazon's KDP and decided to give it a go, and the first edition of The Christmas Starfish came out in 2014.
Having done what I set out to achieve, I parked it once more. I had my copies for the kids and even sold a few (not even double digits!) I had no time, inclination or indeed the wherewithal to market it. So, I pulled the book the following year. At that time I felt I was done with writing. I was working full-time, working unpaid over-time to the early hours most nights in that job, trying to develop a business on the side, DIYing/decorating on our new home, parenting 2 little boys, co-coaching a football team, amongst other things. I if ever got 5 minutes to myself, writing wasn't going to be high on my priority list. Maybe it was time to pack it up?
The thing is, I didn't quite stop. You see, you can't stop writing. You can ignore the urge for a while; Months, even years. But it'll come back. So, whenever I did get those 5 minutes, I still scribbled the odd thing. But nothing was typed up. Just a folder filled with notes.
Then lock-down came about, and I decided I needed something to do. I KNEW JUST THE THING! After 6 years I decided to revisit The Christmas Starfish and re-write it. A bit of proper editing for once. The illustrations stayed, but the wording improved - I felt I had honed it to perfection.
So, did I decide to get representation or approach a publisher? Nah, I just reissued it myself. After all, I'd done all the hard work of self-publishing already. I still had no capability to promote though. Yes, I set up Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even a YouTube account, but, let's face it, if you don't have a budget and don't know what you're doing you won't reach an audience, and I didn't fancy hawking my books around schools and libraries in the hope of selling the odd extra copy.
With COVID and lockdowns still rumbling on I decided to follow up the reissued Starfish book with Strawberry Scoreberries. I didn't contemplate the traditional route this time, or indeed on the next two books either. I would love to be a traditional published writer, but doing this all by myself has taught me a plenty about writing and I think it has made me a better writer. The process of just "doing it" and knowing someone may stumble across one of my gems has been enough for me to date.
We're nearly done. On to navigation. On the left you will find links to all posts, split by type of writing, or you can scroll down this page and then click "older posts" to view posts by posting date. There is also a top navigation bar where you will find a link to "published stories".
Finally, here's a few altered book titles to sum up me and writing career:
1) One Flew Under the Radar
2) Postcards from the Ledge
3) The Fault in Our Starfish
4) Mr. Daydream (okay, this one's an actual book title. To be fair, many of the the Mr. Men titles could apply!)
5) (Not so) Great Expectations
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