…I may have touched on this story before, but I make no apologies for its reappearance here… in my ten years of ‘serious’ writing, this ol’ Scots Jurassic scribbler has experienced so many emotional ‘highs’… from the first-ever typing of ‘The End’ – on THE VIOLIN MAN’S LEGACY, ten years ago, which lifted me onto a pink cloud that I refused to vacate for months afterward… from the astonishing award of ‘BLOGGER OF THE YEAR’ in December 2013, in which, as far as I know, my Granny did not vote… from the receipt of the first-ever Auntie Amazon Kindle royalty payment, even though it fell somewhat short of the downpayment on the Rolls Royce convertible… to the mind-boggling realisation of aggregate sales for my Jack Calder crime series novels surpassing 100,000… all of these were terrific, not only for my confidence, but for that ever-so-fragile ego that, deep down, many of we authors confess to owning… today, however, I was musing on an incredible day a few years back, of a time when I was blessed with a regular driver to look after my transport needs in Abu Dhabi (I’ve never owned a driving licence… and thereby hangs a story for another time)…
…he is an Indian national from the great area of Kerala… I won’t name him here, as he may be unnecessarily embarrassed by this recounting… for the early years of my writing of the series of Jack Calder and the ISP lads, he drove me around, unable to avoid hearing my countless phone calls on my mobile in the back of the vehicle… I would be discussing with others such things as character development, story lines, distribution channels for the novels, Guest Speaker meetings at book clubs and associations…
…one day in the car, he showed me a bundle of papers… from a filled, school-type jotter, written in ball-point pen… the language was his own Indian script and dialect from Kerala… he was writing the story about his childhood and the environment where he grew up… with the recollections of how different life was back then… black and white televisions, sparsely scattered around the district… the first time he saw a TV was the Mexico World Cup games, in a village miles from his own, where everybody went to watch… he described the village neighbours all pitching in to tend flowers in their wee street, open doors at all times… and the bit that floored me was he said he had been so inspired by listening to me and my writing journey, he had decided to embark on his own narration of his years growing up… it brought more than just a lump to my throat, which I can feel again even as I write this now… and it remains the single most wonderful thing that my writing has ever given me to date… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!
ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH—BE MY GUEST!
Well done BOTH THOSE MEN 👍😃
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…cheeeers, that man, Chris 🙂
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Congratulations and thank you for inspiring the writing dream in another and helping to keep the fire alive. GOOD ON YA! You mentioned your first novel in your post, The Violin Man’s Legacy. Per Kindle I’m now 70-something-percent through reading it. So far so good! I’m especially enjoying the plot, the quirkiness of the twin antagonists, and the action scenes. I still plan to leave a review when I’m done reading it.
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…your comments are most welcome, that man, Russ… and thanks for reading the ‘first-born’ … cheeeeeers 🙂
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What a wonderful moment, Seumas – not that I’m surprised you inspired him…
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…it blew me away then, and still does now, m’Lady, Sarah 🙂
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Magical. Thanks for sharing, Seumas!
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…mwaaah, m’Lady, Olga 🙂
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We never know how far our words travel. 🙂 … but every now and then stories like this remind us.
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🙂 🙂 cheeeeeers 🙂 🙂
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I met an author from Kerala not long ago. There are, in our local hospital, a considerable number of medical professionals from that state. Having discovered his work, they arranged to have the author pay a visit, since finding material to read in their native tongue was such a rare treat. They also contacted the writing group to which I belong in the town so that we could meet with him and hear about the life of a writer from that place, and he about our humble efforts.
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excellent, that man! 🙂
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What a lovely story Seumas. I am sure you have inspired many others. 🌼
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…thank you, m’Lady, Brigid 🙂
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Reblogged this on Have We Had Help? and commented:
More from that man in Dubai 😉
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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Pingback: Sunday Post – 22nd October 2017 | Brainfluff
If we can all be so fortunate Seumas. Well done!
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…cheeeeers, that man, Allan 🙂
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Great story. Goes to show we never know the influence we have
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…indeed so! 🙂
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I thoroughly understand your feelings when the driver told you his plans. How wonderful. I used to teach reading back when it was totally taught in Grade One in the U.S. It was thrilling to see the little ones start reading on their own and thrilling for them when they found they could. My mother used to say it opened up a whole new world for them. I hope the man you inspired had success. 🙂 — Suzanne
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…it’s sum’thing of a shared glow, I think 🙂
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