Derek Anderson

I’m from a small town called Coatbridge in Scotland I grew up there until I was 11 and moved away from the area to a place called Cumbernauld also in Scotland I came back to live in Coatbridge in later life, 30 years later in fact I always new I would return to my home town at some point it has special memories for me and it eventually pulled me back A lot of my family stays here.

I have worked in transport all my working life since I left school.Just the average every day person you meet on the street that’s me

I have hobbies like the next person but writing wasn’t one of them strangely enough I am new to all this I sent some poetry off to a publishers Austin McAuley they liked it and used all the poems in this my first book. I called it Hopes Dreams and Fears as that was the emotional journey I was in when I wrote the poems due to having depression.I was on the brink with the worst bout of this horrible condition I wrote to help me keep dark thoughts at bay, channeling the energy I had left into them and the more I wrote the more therapeutic it became and I began to recover with that and the enormous help of the Mental Health team in Coatbridge.

In some of my poems it’s just raw feelings and emotions of how I was feeling the day it was written A bit of a window into my soul at that time.I have always had a dark sense of humour and quite a vivid imagination especially as a kid, this is portrayed also in the book I would describe the book as like myself as it feels a part of me if that makes sense Sad at times ,funny and also Dark .The poems are very varied I didn’t want to continually write about the same thing all the time and I think I have achieved something that will bring out emotions and resonate with the reader, not every poem will with every reader but you’ll pick the ones that you relate to the most and that’s what it is all about, your Hopes, Dreams and Fears of your future If I can publish a book from the lowest point in my life what’s possible now I am recovering. Skys the limit for me and for you. Nothing is impossible HOPE is a very powerful word and feeling, it will allow you to conquer your FEARS and realise your DREAMS good luck on you journey.

Derek Anderson