Wales (Cymru)

I guess, because I’ve been asked to pen this, I should now consider myself to be an actual, proper writer, but between you and me, I don’t.

Three reasons why I find embracing that label problematic:

I possess a hefty inferiority complex – so hefty in fact, it has its own bedroom.
I have not one scrap of confidence in my writing ability.
Using that word, when referring to myself, is just plain embarrassing.

However, since I have a book launching next week, I’m trying to grab that epithet and run with it. So, with that in mind, here’s my take on being a writer in Wales…

…which starts, and ends, with Wales itself – its landscape, culture, and people.

Without those elements, there would be no book, no features, no writing, no anything. In fact, though you might think I’m being a tad dramatic, I think it’s fair to say that Wales has saved me.

See, before I started my ridiculous ‘DIY Dangerous Living Regime’, I was stagnating. After spinal surgery in 2016 left me with a snarling spine, and what my surgeon calls a ‘grotesque gait’ (Rude!), I was retired on disability grounds from my teaching job in Gloucestershire and had to move back home to Swansea.