Gary Yates

So first off, I'm from the UK but don't hold that against me!

I have been writing in some form or other for close to a decade now and whilst I originally wanted to write screenplays, I made the switch to fiction as it gave me greater control and broader creative potential. I love to write for a younger audience – YA/teen, maybe one day for children. I’m a kid at heart and basically feel like I’ll be a snarky, pop-culture-referencing teen forever. Although, my thinning hair and bad knees like to disagree with me.

I have worked in retail since I left school as initially, I had no clue what I wanted to do. After a failed attempt at getting into web design, almost on a whim, I started writing with a friend. We were both working in Woolworths at the time and would often draw humour from everyday encounters with customers and colleagues – ultimately deciding that our situation would make a perfect premise for a television show. Over the course of a few years we worked on a six part comedy drama entitled Static, following the trials and tribulations of staff working in a failing retail store. Little did we know that our vision would become reality when the recession hit the UK and Woolworths went under. Despite sending out our work to production companies – our script was seen as promising but needing work - we saw each other less and less as a result of no longer working together. Eventually, my friend decided that writing wasn’t for him and stepped aside.

I then found myself at a crossroads. In one direction was the possibility of working on, alone. I’d become so used to the dynamic of writing as a pair – able to bounce ideas off one another – that I initially found it hard to write by myself. The other direction saw me commit to retail full time in an attempt to build a life for myself. Unfortunately, I chose the path most trodden and worked my way through the ranks at a high street electrical store, starting as a part time sales advisor, working my way up to Assistant Manager. For the most part, I enjoyed the job and gained many friends but I always felt something was missing.

A few years ago, I attended a creative writing course and was amazed at the confidence it gave me. I felt so far ahead of the other people attending the course, realising that I knew far more about the medium than I ever gave myself credit for. From then on, I only wanted to write fiction.

One problem remained, however. Now working as an assistant manager I was dealing with far more responsibility than I was prepared for. Days were long and stressful and my writing suffered as a result. Ideas would come and go before I could write them down and I rarely found a moment to sit down in front of the laptop. Then something wonderful happened. I met Vicki.

Vicki made me realise that what I was doing was not making me happy. Working 40+ hours a week in a job I didn’t really enjoy allowed me to do one thing, live in a great apartment, right on the edge of town. I had freedom and independence and a beautiful medieval town right on my doorstep. But I wasn’t appreciating it, I couldn’t. I worked merely to pay bills. I found money to be tight and failed to see any benefits. Being alone, I could gloss over this, losing evening after evening to Playstation and pizza, but being with someone led me to realise that I wanted more, I wanted a future where I was happy and not just going through the motions to merely pay bills.

So two years ago, I made the most difficult decision of my life. I quit my job, moved back with my parents and decided that if I don’t try to do what makes me most happy, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. And what makes me happiest, is writing.

It’s been hard work and at times I doubted myself. Doubted if I was good enough, doubted whether I’d done the right thing. But now, I’m the author of my first published book. Something I’m incredibly proud of. I may be a dreamer but I’m also a realist. Nothing may ever come of this – agents, publishers and readers may decide that I’m not good enough. But honestly, what matters to me most is that I did something. I made a tough choice and at times, I’ve suffered for it. But ultimately I’ve done something which I’ll always be proud of. If only one copy ever exists and it sits on my very own bookshelf, I’ll never regret the decision I made. And if Vicki is my only fan, then she’s the only fan I’ll ever need.

I did something which only a small percentage of the population can say: I wrote a novel.