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Writing is a bug, and I caught it very early on in life. When my parents cleared their storage room out recently, they found The Story Book Special I wrote when I was nine years old. I couldn't believe my imagination was so wild. Reading it reminded me of how special words had been to me at an early age. It's a feeling that has lasted, through my school years and far, far beyond.

At the age of 18, I joined Kent Police and spent twelve years living every little boy's dream of driving cars fast and playing cops and robbers for real. It's safe to say it's a career I'd still be in now, if not for what happened when I was 28.

I was a fit man when, unexpectedly, I was diagnosed with an incurable heart disease. It's the disease you hear of when a sportsperson suddenly drops dead on the field of play. But, you know what, it's one of the best things to have happened to me.

When this happened, I made a to-do list. At the top of it was to write a full-length, "proper" book. I wrote the first draft of my first novel in three months and loved every minute of the process. I knew this was what I wanted to do, more than anything, and getting into publishing can't be that hard···right? Wrong!

As every author knows, brick walls are everywhere, and when you knock one down, there's another one. After a few false starts, I coupled with my wonderful agent, Nicky. We spent eight solid months editing and sent the manuscript off. Once again, we received some dressed-up " no's" , until Rachel, an editor I'd really wanted to work with, read it. Her vision for the book is exactly consistent with mine!

Now my first novel is optioned for television, and is in the hands of a wonderful production team both here in London, and in Australia where it will be filmed.

Writing is what I love, and seeing my little story book from when I was nine really drove it home to me. We don't often get another chance in life, but I was given one when I survived something tragically fatal. Now, with my second chance, I'm giving it the best go I can.