Martyn Vallery is a 60-year-old Englishman who has decided to be a professional writer. He wrote tourist guides a few years ago, and has a background in bookselling and fiction publishing. He has never written or published a work of fiction, except for a bit of unfinished dabbling over the years, but has a few blog posts under his belt.
He has dreamt of writing fiction since he was eight years old but until now has not had the time or the guts to do it. He is still afraid, but he is ready to give it a go.
He is a beginner, a newbie. He thinks he knows what he needs to do to get where he wants to be, but, really, he is flying blind.
Martyn has cleared the decks for six months so that he can concentrate fully on learning to be a writer. He has committed to three hours writing per day, and two hours learning, and hopes to increase his commitment as time goes by.
As part of the process, he has decided to write as honestly as he can to this blog about his development as a writer, his successes and failures, his thoughts and ideas and insights, and hopes that other new writers will find inspiration, encouragement and entertainment there.