I'm branching away from my normal writing themed posts today, as in light of my recent spell instructing skiing (I've been away teaching the Army for two weeks), I wanted to talk about something else - skiing, and its dubious link to writing.

Firstly though, I feel there's a question to answer - how does a kid who grew up on a council estate on free school meals in northern England end up teaching wealthy Londoners to ski?  That's a long story, but I'll try to keep it brief.

It all began back when I was 19, when I quit my university degree to join the Regular Army.  I was studying mechanical engineering, which sounded cool when I chose it, but I rapidly realised my aptitude for maths didn't quite compliment my often half-arsed approach to study.  In other words, I realised that if I was going to pass, I'd have to work hard, bloody hard.  And I wasn't terribly keen on that, so I quit before I failed and trotted off to the Army Officer Selection Board, known to most as AOSB. 

I didn't fail, but I didn't get the grade I wanted.  At AOSB you can get a category 1, 2, 3 or 4.  1 means go straight to the next stage of selection, 2 means you can go, but you have some stuff to work on first (I won't bore you with what 3 and 4 mean, the details are online if you want them).  I got a category 2, and was told I had to wait 12 months to go to the next phase of selection.  I was a little stumped.  "Now what?"  I thought. 

Some of the feedback I got from my assessment said that I needed to get a bit more stuff on my CV, like exciting stuff.  The kind of things that rich kids have as standard because their parents could afford to pay for it.  All I had were a load of part time jobs on my CV and little else.

In light of this feedback I started looking for random jobs abroad, something with a little adventure attached that wouldn't cost me anything and would sound slightly more exciting on my CV than 'barmaid at local pub'.  I came across some jobs as Chalet Assistants in ski resorts in the French Alps - all expenses paid and £50 a week spending money.  Sounded perfect.  I applied, I got a job, and off I went.

I should note, that back then I knew nothing about skiing.  Skiing was for rich folk.  I didn't even know anyone who knew about skiing.  I remember seeing 'salopettes' on the kit list and not having a clue what they were.  I set off to France without even the clothing I needed to go skiing. In the winter of 2004-5 I began my ski season.  Lift pass paid, ski hire paid, accommodation and food all paid with £50 beer money a week in return for cleaning rooms, serving food and washing up.  But no skiing lessons.  I had two choices, don't ski or teach myself.  I chose the latter. 

Over the next 5 months I kept hurling myself down a mountain at ever increasing speeds until I worked out how to ski. That's how I learned, and afterwards I decided not to join the Regular Army just yet, I returned to Reserve Service and I decided to give uni another go.  This time I studied Earth Systems Science and I even made it to the end with a 2:1.  But during the three year course I also had managed to pass the next stage of officer selection and commission in the Army Reserve. By the time I graduated I'd been a commissioned officer for two years and I had a long term boyfriend (he's now my husband).  I didn't fancy re-doing all my officer training and selling my ass to the Army, so I decided to remain as a Reservist instead. 

Years passed, Army skiing was a distant thing that other units did.  I didn't have a clue how to get involved in the early days.  But eventually opportunities presented themselves and I got on a military course.  Cue two weeks of having my self-taught bad habits beaten out of me (not literally).  But bad habits aside, I was still a good skier.  It's about the only sport I've found I'm any good at.  

After my course I was recommended to move straight onto instructor training and so I did.  In 2014 I did my foundation ski instructor course, the year after I did the intermediate one.  I've taught skiing every year since, usually for a few weeks per season.  And in the Army, we get all expenses paid and we get paid our daily rate as well.  I'm a Major, I get around £140/day.  Its a slight pay rise from £50/week.  

So what the hell has this got to do with writing?  Very little, except that my route to teaching skiing is quite reflective of my outlook on life.  I meet hurdles, I find a way to over come them.  I seek opportunities, I grasp them.  I take risks, I throw myself into commitments I make.  Not long back I quit my job to be a writer; 18 months ago the Gallantrian Legacy didn't exist, now its 6 books long.  In 2004 I'd never skied before in my life, now I teach other people how.  I love skiing, I love writing.  I made a success of skiing, writing's next.

Big moment time - today I am releasing a video of me reading chapter 1 of my debut novel, the General's Son!  So, if you want to see what I look like in real life, if you want to hear what fantasy read with a Lancashire accent sounds like, or if you are just interested in getting a taster of my novel, please check out my video.  You can find it here:

​After you watch my video (its around 16 minutes if you're interested), you may be itching to hear the next chapter.  Well you can.  In one week's time.  I'll be releasing them every week until the book is complete.  There's 35 chapters, so that's 35 weeks of entertainment.  If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, the Gallantrian Legacy, you will never miss a release date.

If however you can't wait 35 weeks to get to the end of my story, you are of course welcome to buy my book.  It's not been released yet, I'll be publishing it in March but I aim to open it up for pre-order at the end of this month or early February.  If you want to be the first to find out when, and get all the latest updates, plus a chance to get a free copy of the sequel to The General's Son, which is The Queen's Daughter, then sign up to my newsletter.  There's a handy button below:

Well, that's 2022 out of the way.  Phew, I'm glad that's over!  It was another busy year, another year where so much stuff happened and I've manged to end it in a completely different world to where I started it.

So where was I on 1 Jan 2022?  I was working full time for the Army.  I was on a Full Time Reserve Service contract doing a job where I managed basing operations for the North of England and Scotland.  I was getting a Major's pay for not working terribly hard.  And I'd already made my mind up I would quit.  Most people thought I was nuts.  Why would I want to quit a secure, well paid, public sector job where I had things pretty easy?  Simple.  I was bored.

I don't do bored well.  I can barely sit through a film without reaching for my phone part way through.  I struggle to finish books.  If it doesn't grip me in the first few chapters, its unlikely I'll make it to the end.  If it moves too slowly I'll give up.  That's why I try to make my own books gripping and fast paced.  I write how I like to read.  

In whatever I do with my life, I like to feel like I'm making a difference.  That I can effect change.  That I can work to build something, create something, improve stuff.  Make things work better.  I don't do steady jogging, that's not me.  Many people who work in the public sector will probably agree that these aspirations are incompatible with the way the sector works.  So I concluded, I'm not cut out for the public sector.

So what happened next?  Well, back in December 2021, a recruiter got in touch with me to ask if I wanted to work for Amazon.  By the end of January 2022, I'd been offered a job.  It gave me the excuse I needed to quit my full time job in the army and return to being a proper Reservist again.  So that's what I did, and after working my six months notice, I began my job at Amazon in August 2022.

I've talked about Amazon and my reasons for leaving that job in previous posts, so I won't bore you with the details again.  But to summarise, after just four months in the role, I quit, and by Christmas 2022, I was officially unemployed!  Or self-employed?  I guess you need an income to claim that one.  No, actually, I do have an income - it's sporadic and at times, unreliable, but the good old Army Reserve still pays me.  Propping up my fluctuating career path since 2006!  With the added bonus being that I love it. 

After returning to traditional Reserve Service in September, I was reminded how much I love being a Reservist.  There's lots of things I like about it, I could write a whole essay on that one.  But the biggest thing I love is the people.  I've met some awesome folk though my years of Reserve Service, including my husband and most of my friends!

So where does writing fit in?  It's not exactly a secret that this whole website exists to big up my books.  So you probably want me to talk about those, right?  Well here goes.  On 1 Jan 2022, I'd finished my first draft of my first book, The Queen of Vorn.  I hurled it at a load of folk to read and got on with the sequel, The Prince of Vorn.  That was drafted by March, and The King of Vorn followed.  By May 2022 I'd written my first trilogy.  It should have been over then, but it wasn't.  I missed my characters so I started another trilogy, beginning with The General's Son.  The first book I'm planning to publish.

The General's Son was done by June, The Queen's Daughter followed.  I wrote The Prince's Nephew in August/September and did a fair bit of editing in-between.  The feedback trickled in.  I adjusted, I edited, I polished.  I sent The General's Son for a proper edit in October, then worked though my editor's notes after that.  The Queen's Daughter was sent for professional edit yesterday, the Prince's Nephew will follow in February.

It's been a manic year of writing books!  But that's me, to a tee.  If I get into something I'm like a dog with a bone, or a hound on a trail.  I'll keep going and going until I reach my goal, or kill myself trying.  From bitter experience, if I fail, I don't take things well.  Four years ago I started a property business.  A combination of Brexit, Covid and inexperience drove my endeavour not to fail as such, but it wasn't the success I'd envisaged, and it certainly defeated me.  Its taken me well over a year to come to terms with my lack of success.

But here I am, alive, well and stronger for my experience.  Ready to throw everything I have at trying to make it as an author.  I'm confident that if I don't make it, it will be because my books aren't good enough.  Because I'm sure as hell going to try everything I can to market the pants of my work.  I've not done marketing before, but there was a time when I'd never renovated a house before, I didn't have a clue how to lay a carpet, let alone plumb in a bathroom.  But I taught myself to tile, fit kitchens and doors.  I learnt to plum, plaster and lay flooring.  I've renovated 14 houses and made profit on them all.  I designed and built a workshop from scratch, in my garden.  I've managed the construction of a basement conversion and three extensions and have built an entire house from scratch.  I taught myself how to do all of this.  If I can manage that, a bit of marketing should be a breeze, surely?