Guest Blogger: Robert Seymour, author of WIG BEGONE

We have a special guest today! Robert Seymour is the author of the humorous fiction novel, Wig Begone (Matador/Troubadour) and he's here with us to tell us the background of his new book! Welcome Robert!

The Story Behind Wig Begone by Robert Seymour (aka Charles Courtley)

Many years ago, really only as a hobby, I wrote a children’s book – scribbling away whilst I waited for my cases to be heard in court. At the time, I was a young criminal trial attorney in England.

After that, I took up a writing correspondence course (long before the advent of the internet or e-mail) and wrote a number of short stories; two of which were produced for radio in the 1980s.

More recently still, I actually wrote a memoir of my early experiences in the law but when I realized that so much humor underlay them (often at my own expense), I decided to use the material instead to provide the basis for a light-hearted novel.

So Wig Begone by Charles Courtley was conceived and born.

Writing it though, meant much more than just churning out another piece of fiction. It became a cathartic process too as, in many ways, those years had been very hard indeed. At one stage, I came quite close to a breakdown as the result of the emotional pressure of the work I was doing, and only the support of my long-suffering wife saved the day.

By the same token – and hoping I don’t too sound pompous in saying this – I felt, by writing the book, that I had given permanence to a small passage of a human being’s time on this earth, by describing it in words.

Even if one person only in 50 years time, were to read a copy of my book,long discarded but now rediscovered in somebody’s attic, I would be rewarded enough.

As I had faith in my work and not wanting to delay the process, I decided to self-publish from the start. There’s one distinct disadvantage though – you have to fight the prejudice that the industry holds against those of us who have chosen to go it alone.

This isn’t insuperable however, if you have a reputable self-publisher (my own, Matador/Troubador were excellent), and are prepared to work hard in publicizing the book yourself.

Visit Robert on the web at http://courtleyprocedures.wordpress.com.