James P Gavin

Hi, my name is James Gavin,

I am 68 years old and a retired lorry driver, driving for 48 years all over the country.

I have self-published seven books, (See below) and it has been, without doubt, a learning curve.

I have received some good feedback from people who have read them, but to be honest, I never had a benchmark when I started.

Writing books is easy. Writing good books is hard.

My English grammar and punctuation are mediocre, purely for the fact that when I left school at fifteen, I was what I myself considered to be the original “short plank”

I had no interest in the written English language, my only skill was spelling, I loved spelling as strange as that may sound. But my only interest at that time was to get a job and earn a wage, there were many jobs at that time, and I was lucky.

Since I left school all those years ago, I have self-taught myself many things, Maths, plumbing, electrics, and even computer building and fault finding. Even at my age I still have a thirst for knowledge.

As a lorry driver, I had plenty of time on my hands and started writing songs and poetry, based purely on observation, and any love interest I had at the time.

I once stopped at a pelican crossing and watched two very old people crossing, they were so old and so slow. I went to get out of the lorry to give them a hand, but the old man looked at me and shook his head. The woman held on to her husband with pure trust and ancient love, she kept looking up at him, he kept patting her hand reassuringly. None of us drivers who were now patiently waiting, really cared how long they took to cross.

I was not alone in watching them with deep admiration. I asked myself then, how many stories they both carried around together?

By the time they reached the other side, I had their whole life history in my head, and it involved two world wars and so much more. That Story is still there, and they are waiting patiently for me to let the world know of their lifelong Love.

I have so many stories still in my head and transferring them to the written word is time-consuming, but I do enjoy it. I am improving with every chapter, every paragraph, every sentence, and every line.

I am severely hard of hearing and can only communicate via email, text, or face to face.

Many thanks.

Jim Gavin.