Lennon said life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. My boyhood plan was to get out and live as much life as possible and use the insights and experiences I’d gain to inform my writing. I intended to learn about different cultures and societies, I wanted to find out why things were the way they were and why people did the things they did. But while I was living life, life got in the way. I forgot what I had planned.

Then, just over ten years ago, I woke up one morning and had a ‘hang on a minute?’ moment. Although I’d never stopped being fascinated by the future and all things SF, for a while, when I was wrapped up in my business career, even reading had taken a back seat. I woke up and remembered and wondered if it had all been just a childish whim, a failed dream. But by that time I'd discovered Iain M. Banks.

Being exposed to talent can induce two very different effects. Faced with breath-taking artistry, you can either shrink back in awe and astonishment, convinced in your bones that you could never create anything anywhere near as good - or you can feel inspired. I don't pretend that I'll ever be as gifted as Banks, that's not the point, the point is he inspired me to try. Just as Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke had inspired me as a boy.

So I started writing. Baby steps first.