Do any other authors out there remember the first piece of work they had published? Of course you do.  There’s that sense of ‘I’ve made it;  I’m published!’ then there’s that euphoria that carries you along for the next few days.

My euphoria came in the publication of a true story in the local newspaper.  I recalled the time I was being bullied at school. But by the time I’d written it and re-written it, which incidentally was extremely therapeutic, it had turned out to be an amusing article. So I was delighted when the local newspaper saw fit to publish it with a half page photo of school children at play in the playground.

I bought half a dozen copies of the paper and waited with baited breath for my £25 … and I waited; the euphoria faded and once I’d landed back in the real world it dawned on me I’d been forgotten.  A few weeks later I was forced to write a grovelling letter asking for my money.

Ah well!