Whilst travelling last week I listened to the BBC Radio broadcast: Whatever happened to J B Priestley? It reminded me that I have an illustrated essay on Priestley’s exploits in Plymouth during the Great War. He was, for a time, Officer in Charge of Funeral Parties at Raglan Barracks, Devonport.

Raglan Barracks

A line from the BBC archive of Presley himself struck me most poignantly. “The difference,” he argued, “between a professional writer and an amateur, is that the professional writes when he (and Priestley, man of his times, did say ‘he’) doesn’t feel like it.”

What am I?

So what am I, an amateur or professional writer? I write when I feel like it. Sometimes I write when I don’t feel like writing. Other times I procrastinate.

Today has been a good one, professionally speaking. I finished editing and submitted a short story (500 words, that was hard) to the South Hams Literary Festival competition – thanks to the Ivybridge Writers’ Group for feedback on that. And another one to the Yeovil Prize. But I’m 40000 words into a 60K novel with an end of June deadline and here I am sat blogging. Procrastination? Perhaps.

Motivation

If I needed it, motivation came yesterday in the form of am email form my publisher, Sapere Books. Pre-orders of ‘Dogfight’ the first book in my Gus Springer series will go online in June (only days away) and what have I in mind for a cover? Better get back to work.

Dogfight cover – something like this, maybe?

Tony's first book, Red Sky Over Dartmoor, is available from Amazon and other outlets.