I was born in Kenilworth (Warwickshire) in the UK in 1961. The fourth child of 5, three girls and two boys.

Most of us still talk and meet some of the time.

Technically, I guess, it was just after the time I learnt to write (creatively).

On and off, I've done it since I was about 15 and was inspired by an English teacher at secondary school who strangely seemed to want us to rebel against our educators and encouraged us to watch the film "If". Although I don't think he actually advocated quite the level of violence that is portrayed in the film (watch it and you'll understand.)

He also introduced me to the discipline of editing and re-editing (which I never really took to at the time but am trying to put more emphasis on now).

So I dabbled between long spells of concentrating on my working and family life. Interspersed with the occasional creative writing class.

I only started to invest significant amounts of time (and money?) in refining my outputs and getting my work "out there" when early retirement started to move into a timeframe that could better be described as "retirement".

Yes I do. But don't tell them as I am trying to keep it under the radar.

I have a wife and we live in Hereford (again in the UK). We have two daughters and three granddaughters.

Contentment is generally my aspiration for all of us and, on the whole, I think that's working.

Yes. We have a dog (Nutmeg) and a cat (Tilly “No tail”). The first (features on my home page) by choice, the second we inherited.

They are both fully assimilated into our family and treated with the same level of respect, care and attention that pets should be.

Our dog is popular - to the point that, when we ran an Airbnb, she often received better reviews than us or the accommodation.

It seems like an odd answer but it’s both the inputs and the outputs.

Any random thought, observation or quote can get me started.

The crazy (amazing?) way the mind works and the words and stories that come out of it, inspires me to carry on.

My main hobbies (apart from writing) are:

• Bell Ringing. The church/full-circle (peculiarly English) kind I have also tried the door, bicycle and hand varieties too

• Playing Badminton and Pickleball

• Board gaming - although it doesn't always involve a board

• Playing the ukulele. Did I mention I've played on stage in New Orleans. Just saying

• Walking, cycling, travelling, playing chess. All the typical things people would put on the bottoms of their CVs to make them sound more rounded but seldom do

• Dreaming (often, and sometimes rightly, mistaken for just being moody)

Probably not.