Deirdre Cossette is the self appointed carer for the elderly on The Avenue and all of her friends have stories to tell. Margery, whose comfortable life was destroyed by a knock on the door. Stan, who made a mistake as a young footballer which cost him his friends and his self-respect. Marina, whose slim and stylish figure hides a terrible secret from the summer of Live Aid. And, Oliver and Archie, who have survived everything from post war homophobia to a family tragedy – and they have done it together. Deirdre believes that everyone should have a choice. If they want to live on a diet of cakes, drink the alcoholic equivalent of a small hydrotherapy pool, or take on a toy boy lover in spite of a dodgy heart, Deirdre believes it is their right to do so. If they remember her in their wills afterwards, that’s not her fault, is it? However, not everyone agrees with her. When disgruntled relatives from the present meet up with disgruntled ghosts from her past, Deirdre discovers the cost of being kind.
The Accidental Novelist
Thank you so much for inviting me onto your blog during the tour of Killing Them with Kindness.
I always wanted to write a book. I even thought there may be a chance that I might be good at it. I wasn’t even put off at school when my brilliant re-imagining of the ending of Lord of the Flies came second to my friend’s effort, which he copied word by word from Hamlyn’s Book of Short Horror Stories Volume 12.
However, I never really thought that I would actually do it.
There were always excuses. My life is too busy, I don’t have the time. It would be so much easier if I had a computer. It would be so much easier if I had a better computer … with a better spell checker. It would be so much easier if I had a better spell checker, which sorted out my punctuation as well … Nobody would want to read it anyway. Certainly nobody would want to publish it. I haven’t got good enough concentration to see the whole thing through to the end.
But, I did it … somehow.
I must have been somewhere around page 200 of my first novel Postcards From Another Life when I suddenly realised that, this time, I might just do it. Over the years I had many pieces of paper, lying forgotten in drawers, and latterly, files being equally ignored on the computer. However, this time, I was on a roll, I knew the ending, had decided where everyone was going to end up and had a pretty good idea of how they were going to get there. All I had to do was write the rest of it! To my amazement, I wrote the remaining 200 pages of the book in just over two months.
What to do then? I was very much out of my comfort zone. I did some research, wrote to many literary agents without success. I had always said that I didn’t really care if it was published. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. As soon as I had finished Postcards I knew that that wasn’t the truth. I wanted people to read it. I did a little more research and discovered the possibility of self-publishing. Luckily, unlike myself, my partner, Ian, is very tech-savvy and he guided and cajoled me all the way through the possible hazards. My friend Emily, is a wonderful cartoonist and she produced a very original cover and other friends read through it for me and started to make encouraging noises.
On 17th December 2017 Postcards From Another Life was published. Ian ordered a copy straight away and made sure that I didn’t see it when it arrived. The first time I saw a book that I had written in print was on Christmas morning when I unwrapped my first present of the season. I don’t think it’s an over-statement to say that it was the best present I have ever received – and I’ve received some cracking gifts in the past.
Since that time I have discovered writers’ groups, the wonders of an editor, book blogs, literary seminars, book promotions, the power of social media when trying to sell a self-published book, not to mention the terrifying prospect of a two-handed talk to a room full of people who want you to tell them all you know about self-publishing. Thankfully, mostly due to Rihanne, my fellow contributor, it wasn’t the shortest talk on record.
There is still one thing I would still love to happen (short of one of my books being made into a Hollywood movie and achieving writer fame in the style of JK Rowling …) I would love to see someone reading one of my books on a train, with a huge smile on their face. I guess my sister doesn’t really count ...
Killing Them With Kindness has now become my second self-published offering and I am immensely proud of it. The tale of Deirdre Cossette, a woman who looks after people, maybe a little too well, started life as a poem about twenty years ago and languished in a drawer for many years.
It’s for this reason that I say to anyone who has the slightest desire to write a book. Don’t be put off by all the failed attempts. Don’t be disappointed by all the excuses you find yourself making. It might be that it’s just not the right time. Keep on trying though, and one day, it might be.
Andy Paulcroft grew up in Weston-super-Mare, and his love of books started when he borrowed his sister’s copy of Five Run Away Together and exaggerated a minor illness in order to finish reading it. He has since worked as a chef in France, Switzerland, Corsica and the North Highlands of Scotland before settling as a catering manager at a boarding school in Dorset. After many years of writing two to three chapters of a book before discarding it, he finally published his first novel Postcards From Another Life – in December 2017. The wonderful feeling of completing a novel was only surpassed by receiving a positive reaction from people who had read it. He retired from catering and recently published his second novel Killing Them With Kindness. He is now working on his third book.
Follow Andy @Andy.Paulcroft (Facebook Page)
https://twitter.com/AndyPaulcroft
PUBLICATION DATE: 15th November 2019
PRINT LENGTH: 405 Pages
PUBLISHER: Independently Published
ISBN-10: 1708450041
ISBN-13: 978-1708450045
GENRE: Romantic Comedy
PURCHASE LINKS:
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Them-Kindness-Andy-Paulcroft/dp/1708450041
US - https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Them-Kindness-Andy-Paulcroft/dp/1708450041
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