In the words of Mary Poppin's, "Lets start at the very beginning, A very good place to start".
Was it Mary Poppins?
No I don't think it was. I think it was Julie Andrews and I think she might have also been in Mary Poppin's.
Yes it was Julie Andrews but the song song she sang with those words was called Do Re Mi in the Sound of Music.
Of course it was, anyway as the lady said, "Lets start at the very beginning / A very good place to start".

So I've been making up stories for the kids for years, keeping them amused, calming them down before they go to sleep at night. Then the kids say to me why don't you write them down? Of course on the face of it, it sounds like a good idea but there is a commitment to make. That commitment is time, and time is something we all have but it is a valuable commodity and we don't want to waste it, do we? Because our time is so valuable we want to use it as wisely as we can and that fact coupled with the fact that at that moment in time the only realistic way of getting your ideas down on paper was to type them using a typewriter. This was not only an initial commitment of up to 100 hours it was more than that because if a rewrite was required you could edit the manuscript by hand but then came the re type - another 40-60 hours . As a consequence the kids suggestions to get those words down on paper sat in the back of my head for years gathering dust.

As time went on I continued to try and use my time wisely starting and completing various projects priding myself on the fact that I could undertake a number of activities I had no knowledge of, learn about them and then complete them.

The early 90s brought the advent of computers. Word processors became affordable but were the sole property of secretaries (both male and female) at the time and their operation was a dark art.

In the late 90's computers became more and more accessible and powerful. As computers were being used more and more in the workplace, I began to use them more and more until it began to feel like there had always been computers in the workplace. How did we ever function with them before? The use of home computers became the norm and for business laptop computers meant we were all able to take the computing power with us wherever we went.

So what did I do with this new found computing power once I had worked out how to use it. Yes I decided to make my fortune :-

Writing my first book?

No I am afraid not, it was the time of the dot com bubble and I decided that I would go into designing websites and post advertising on those websites that would generate income. I didn't record how much time I spent on this activity but it must have been over 1000 hours and the main attraction was that once all the work was done you just sat and watched the money roll in. I sat back and watched it roll in - all $100.00 of it. That might sound like an ok return but its actually 10 cents an hour. Not much so my website building empire fell flat on its face.

Now I have a job which at this point in time meant that I had to stay away from home a lot, hotels and the like so I decided I needed to do something to fill my free time. Something that would keep me out of the bar.

What could I do?
Then it came to me why didn't I write a book?
What did I have to lose?
It was free time so all I had to do was use it and if it fell flat on its face then all I had lost was a small investment of time.

I was on my way, on a journey to who knows where?