turningleft

“Turning Left at Albuquerque” is a humourous novel about Jason Danovan. When I had the original idea it was going to be a sitcom (working title of “Degrees of Success”. Hmmm, well….). I developed it and even submitted to a BBC Talent competition but to no avail.

Jason refused to be silenced and at the end of last year I decided to write this book. I kept the chapters short because I wanted them to be small segments of Jason’s life - bitesized episodes of pulling his strings and making him suffer (in a caring way, of course!). I had just written a webseries and there keeping each act short was essential to keep the viewers interest.

The story needed to move along quickly because there was so much to tell…142,000 words later and I realised that this was not a book. It was a series of books. And I really, really wanted to do more. I have made some big edits and consequently book two is already mapped out a partially written. In the meantime I wanted to do more with “Turning Left…” while I find an agent.

Over the past eighteen months I’ve been building up an online presence (blogging as worldofhiglet) and following the careers of some truly ground-breaking authors such as Scott Sigler and Seth Harwood. Scott’s book “Infected” was one of my favourite books from last year and I started reading it because he gave it away as a PDF. I downloaded it on a whim and was hooked. When it was published I purchased straight away. Scott has been podcasting for years, as has Seth.

When I was writing I had it in the back of my mind that I would like to podcast it but wasn’t sure whether I would be able to manage it, or if it would be the right thing to do, or if it would harm my chances of getting a publishing or agent deal or….there were many reasons not to do it. In the end, though, the decision was easy. I wanted to share this story because I think it’s funny and moving and people will enjoy it. Yes, I want to be published but I don’t want to wait around for that to happen.

I truly hope you enjoy the episodes. They are short, about 5 to 6 minutes long, and there will be an omnibus. Let me know what you think!