I think when you finally get over your imposter syndrome issues, you soon realise you have something to contribute and share with the world. I’m a storyteller at heart aiming to be myself when I write. This is where I start my narrative journey and take the same path as you, to reach the end honestly and hopefully, with some humour.

My story began by being fortunate to have the best parents I could ever wish for. My late father served in both the Sri Lankan RAF before transferring to the RAF in Brize Norton ending his career as a sergeant. He was a qualified aircraft engineer and private pilot. My dad knew aeroplanes inside out. My late mum, similarly, was a RGN nurse and later joined the Metropolitan Police.

Growing up in the 80s as an Asian catholic youth at the time was incredibly hard. You endure the worst insults, yet those setbacks drove me towards making a difference and wanting to make the world a better place.

Life has a way of taking you along paths you would otherwise not travel on and so I ended up working in mental health for an incredible third sector charity for seven years running around the country as a Service User Involvement Worker aiming to draw our residents and communities together doing everything from leading training to produce newsletters and visiting residents at every opportunity.

However, the train of life took another unexpected detour, leading me to qualify as a legal secretary, but involvement work is a tough world to leave behind as you meet so many people who openly share their lives with you. In the process, you learn about yourself at the same time and so the NHS employed me as a Peer Engagement Coordinator, taking on more responsibility and they never threw me out of the door. I can’t work out why to this day.

When I say life ‘took another detour,’ I hope it won’t become my epitaph. If you’re suffering along while reading this, then you have my deepest respect. However, this train has given me a depth of insight sparking the fire and energy to channel these experiences into something positive, whether it’s through my music, lyrics and now, my future novels. I think I ought to be grateful. When I’ve worked it out, I’ll come back to you.

My writing started strangely through song-writing, although it was a childhood ambition to be an author someday. I play metal guitar and have been crafting my own songs since 1995. I play more bass now as you can’t play this kind of music the way you did in your thirties.

My songs reflect a strong sense of social justice and lyrical journalism. I always aim to make a point and draw the reader to life in a uniquely cynical way.

Learning craft has come with hindsight, but I think I approach my novels as if I’m writing a song. It’s a challenge for sure, but this intuitive approach works for me. I leave the logical part of my brain to plot whilst leaving the more creative part to descend into story, character, and dialogue. It’s a work in progress. In short, I want to write the stories I would wish to read myself and see where those twists take me.

If you want a decent musical analogy, listen to a band called Dream Theater or Metallica. Where they take their music is a journey itself. It’s hard-wired into my thinking to follow the melody. Aiming to do what’s best for the song has translated into doing what’s best for the story and the reader.

As for my favourite author, it has to be Tolkien and fantasy is my thing, but I’ll be honest and say that I’m not the best reader in the world. If this is my only flaw, I openly apologise for it here.

At the moment I am working on a fantasy novel and I am about 40k words through. In short, if you blend pantheon and theology over with Skyrim and G.O.T., that’s what you get in my own unique way. It’s something I’ve been wanting to write since I was at school. Sadly, there are no elves or dwarves despite the heavy Warhammer and Fighting Fantasy undertones, just some unique fantasy races and creatures that I hope you will find intriguing.

Thank you once again for taking a few minutes of your time to hear part of my story. You are most welcome to join me on this weird journey if you feel brave.

There is a Facebook closed group you can join and hopefully have some fun along the way. I do not know how this will go, but there’s only one way of finding out.