When I sat down to write my first
book about airgun hunting a few years back I had no idea how long the
publishing process takes. Like most budding authors, I assumed that if a
publishing house accepted your work they would rush it onto the bookshelves before
a rival publication appeared. Having agreed a contract, I was a tad frustrated
that I wouldn't actually see the printed book for nearly two years! Most
publishers have a queue of 'work in progress' and the mechanics of constructing
a book, editing, approving photographs, passing back and forth copy for
approval and finally printing it .. are time consuming. If I was impatient with
the process, I was absolutely delighted with the end result when Merlin Unwin
sent across the first print of 'An Airgun Hunters Year'. I can't describe the
pride you feel turning over a book in your hands, with your name on the cover
as author. It is a sublime moment .. like holding your new born baby in your
hands. .JPG)
That first book was presented by
Merlin Unwin and Karen McCall in exactly the way I had conceived it. I hadn't
wanted my first book to be a 'how to' manual. There were already several airgun
books of that ilk. It is a book that was written (like my magazine articles)
with the intention of drawing the reader deep into the countryside alongside me
to touch, taste, hear and smell the ambience that surrounds the true hunter. A
celebration of life, not death. A book
that would explain the importance of conservation, species preservation and
crop protection. I also wanted to convey the value of recycling shot quarry and
so the book contains simple recipes. I even indulged myself with poetry based
around an autobiographical figure .. The Hunter. .JPG)
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My second book, produced by Blaze
Publishing (also publishers of Airgun Shooter, a magazine I write for monthly)
was definitely a deliberate 'how to' publication. Yet I was determined to stick
with the descriptive flow and written 'picture-painting' that readers tell me
they enjoy in my magazine work. Airgun Fieldcraft gave me the opportunity to
bleed myself .. to impart hundreds of small tips, tricks, observations, facts
and theories that I've absorbed or used to my advantage in over 30 years of
small vermin shooting with air rifles. Rather than poetry, I wrote at the start
of each chapter a 'visualisation' from the quarry's perspective .. life through
the eye of the creature .. which I enjoyed doing. Again, the book contains
recipes and (as with book one) it allowed me to showcase my other passion,
photography..JPG)
Will there be a book three? Of course
there will. Writing, for me, comes with supreme ease. I find it relaxing and
only rarely stressful (such as when I have a deadline!). It is addictive .. but
I haven't decided on which project (I have several in mind) I want to tackle next.
If you fancy a trip through Ian
Barnetts' Norfolk countryside, if you like a poem or want to imagine what it's
like to be a crow or a rat, if you want a tasty recipe for wood pigeons,
details on how to purchase my books can be found on my website or Facebook
page. Just tap on the links below.
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