Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first book and is a true account of my life of adventure as a geophysical and land surveyor in many parts of the world. I have lived in San Francisco, Johannesburg, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Gabon, Nigeria, Cyprus, Sudan, and Angola, as well as well as Ireland and all over my native UK.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
A Life Mapped Out – The Adventures of a Land Surveyor.
I am now retired, but I was inspired to write this autobiography by friends and relatives who said I had had an “amazing” life.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. Much of this book was written from memory during the coved-19 lockdown though it was started the year before.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have many hundreds of reference books, but I have never read a novel or travelogue. I have always preferred doing myself rather than reading about the adventures of other – either fictional or factual. Most of my books are about geography, geology, travel guides, wild life and Scotland.
What are you working on now?
I am starting a travel guide to the Scottish clans along the route of the North Coast 500 tourist route in the Northern Highlands of Scotland.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
PublishNation in London and Portland, Oregon.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Go for it !!!
PublishNation is a good start.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Cannot recall, but I would say follow your childhood dreams and do not do what others expect of you. I believe this comes across in my book, though this was not why I wrote it – it was what I concluded at the end.
What are you reading now?
Learned journals of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, the Geological Society of London, and the Geologists Association. I am an FRGS and ARSGS, plus a Friend of the Geological Society and a member of the Geologists Association.
What’s next for you as a writer?
The Clans of the North Coast 500. A unique travel guide.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Probably Scottish clan books to remind me of home.