Strangely I'm Still Here
A Journey With a Brilliant Author, Blogger of the Year,
and All-Around Great Guy
I am very excited to bring to you a dear friend Seumas Gallacher, who has just released his autobiography. He is a fascinating Scotsman with an intriguing background in international banking and finance, then corporate troubleshooter turned best-selling author. Please check out his post to learn more! I'd love for you to follow him over on his blog here.
A Journey to Myself – Writing my Autobiography
By Seumas Gallacher
For authors, the
old maxim is often quoted, ‘Write about what you know.’
I’ve been at this writing
game properly for over a decade now, with a back list of five crime thrillers,
a book of my poetry, a self-help marketing and promotional guide for authors,
and almost 2,000 blog posts. Add to that a catalog of half-a-dozen ghostwriting
assignments for other people’s ‘autobiographies’, and it’s of little wonder
that the thought occurred to put my own life story and experiences to print.
‘Write about what you know.’
What happened next
was a sometime bewildering, sometime painful, sometime joyful, but always
exhilarating, writing trip of discovery. I now understand more clearly than
ever before just how much I am truly an amalgam of everything, everybody and
everywhere with which and with whom I have ever been associated.
Were there regrets?
Of course. Probably far too many to register. I doubt if more than a handful of
people on this planet have led a flawless, blameless existence. But I do know
that every single incident and experience, good, bad and indifferent, was
necessary to bring me to this moment in my life. And I would not seek to change
one second of it.
It is amazing how
memories bring back not only the plain telling of the story, but for me, it
also recalled the feelings and emotions that I had in most of them. I felt them
again, and again, and again, some with laughter, but also many of them attended
with a quiet tear.
I believe, at this
age, finally, I am aware of who and what I am as a person. I like the man I see
in the mirror each morning, although it was not always thus. I have acquired a
tolerance of myself and my own shortcomings, but more importantly, I have
learned to ‘live and let live’ in relation to others whom I meet day to day.
What surprises me,
is that having published the book just a few weeks ago, I find that I am remembering
many other things which could have been included in the memoir. I will resist
the temptation to edit online the Amazon Kindle version, which is easy to do,
on the same premise that once I finish writing my novels, I leave them
finished.
To all my author
friends and even those who have not yet caught the writing addiction, you may
want to consider a similar project. It is a wondrous journey to yourself.
Here’s the book blurb:
Fact is often more
incredible than fiction.
Seumas Gallacher has survived
long enough to savor places, characters, and events for more than forty years
in the Far East and the Arabian Gulf.
He started life in
Scotland traveled far and wide as a wannabe Trainee Master of the Universe,
but the Universe had other plans for him.
From a career in banking,
he escaped to become a corporate troubleshooter.
He discovered the joy and
torture of becoming a wordsmith, writing five best-selling crime novels, a book
of poetry, and being hyper-active on social media.
‘Strangely, I’m Still
Here’ is his story.
Other Amazon books by Seumas:
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