GOING PART TIME FOR A WHILE

GOING PART TIME FOR A WHILE

A few years ago I determined I wanted to write a novel.

Initially I wrote much of the story line, carried out a fair bit of research both here in Scotland and also going on a trip from my US home in Clearwater, Florida to West Virginia where I identified potential locations and got a feel for the local geography , in particular the mountains and forests.

I filled out the storyline to completion then started a review process. I quickly recognised a lot more work was required. In particular, for the book to “come alive” it was going to require a verbal narrative amongst the characters. My work to that point had been largely concentrated on telling the story and mapping out various events, particularly conflicts and other events that were taking place between settlers, the British, and the Native Americans.

It is set some ten years after Culloden, continues over a forty year period and centres on the inhabitants of a Highland village who emigrate to America in the face of the greed of English factors who have been granted their previous clan lands in punishment for supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Where it differs from the normal narrative, instead of conflict with the local Native Americans , they form an alliance with one particular tribe, where a joint settlement is established. 

That is enough of the plot, hopefully it is sufficient to confirm that I am serious about this but I must admit I have allowed the project to drift in the last few years as I got involved in other projects, including this blog. As a result my book remains unfinished.

I have therefore determined that is unacceptable so I have decided I need to give it a much renewed effort over the next few months to complete the task without any further delays.

The only way I can do this is to cutback on my writing for this blog. I will not drop out altogether but the number of articles, written by myself each week will drop significantly. As always I will welcome well written guest articles and will publish them as received augmented by some articles written by me. Please send any articles to Iain.lawson27@gmail.com I do intend to continue my involvement in the weekly Scottish Prism broadcasts as required. I also intend to invite a number of regular guest columnists to ensure a regular flow of articles.

I will be back full time as soon as I can. It is a lot of work running a blog that publishes as frequently as mine has since I created it. It has already surpassed over 1 million views this year involving some 350,000 unique visitors to my site. I can only dream my book will do the anything like that.

Anyhow may I take this opportunity to thank all my readers. I have always had a lot to say. There are many who would say in response “far too much”, but I genuinely care about my country and our future. 

I have always been fortunate, running my own successful businesses over the years has allowed me to travel all over the World, I have built from scratch and run businesses in several different countries and have been blessed by enjoying great friendships with people in many different lands. Having said that there was never a country I visited that I thought capable of supplanting my love for Scotland and her people. My novel, while being a work of fiction, will highlight many of Scots best characteristics and will seek to further enhance our nation.

As General MacArthur said “I shall return”