Day One of the Virtual Book Tour for A First Christmas

November 15, 2010


Day 1 of the Virtual Book Tour For The National Writing For Childrens Center





“I believe that our imagination is our key to a happy life and we

should nurture the positive imagination of all children.”



Honestly? I am an author by accident. My life has not been full

of literary achievements. I completed high school and attended

St Andrews University at the age of sixteen. But I soon realised

that academia was not my calling so decided to have some

adventure and I joined the merchant navy.



Life at sea was good and I worked my way up from cadet to

captain with a sea going career of twenty years. When I sailed

around the world I saw many things that only a few will ever

see. I have even been at sea in the eye of a hurricane. Did you

know hurricanes have blue eyes? Rather like my wife Liz. That

was a thrilling and yet scary night with waves taller than

houses and a wind that was so fast it could rip the breath out of

you. Even though it was a very dangerous experience (not one I

would want to repeat) I found myself intrigued by the storm’s power.



My trips took me to many different countries and allowed me to

see the diverse and colourful world that we live in. In fact there

are few countries I haven’t been to at some time over the years.

One of my ambitions is to see Antarctica but so far that one

eludes me. One day



I left the sea at the turn of the millennium and was fortunate to

land a good job with a local Scottish ship owner based in

Edinburgh. Following on from that I started my own company

and I provide a service of safety management and risk

assessment to clients that involves me travelling around the

world visiting ships in foreign ports. I know what I do makes a

big difference to the lives of seafarers and I enjoy that sense of

achievement when we have helped the ships become safer.



So how did I go from being a salty seadog to being a writer?



Well, I have always been a reader and will always have at least

one book with me in my travels around the world. I love to read

fun books such as Terry Pratchett’s Disc World novels. He

writes fantasy books steeped in humour and colourful

characters that provide excellent entertainment for the reader.

My current book is the Hobbit by Tolkien such a well balanced

book which starts with good humour and introduces us to the

delightful hobbits.



Being an avid reader is a key component to being a writer. I

think my love of books led me to think that I may have a book

in me. Most people hope they do, don’t they?



I started writing the ‘Everlasting and Fantastical Adventures’

for my children in the second half of 2009. Liz (my wife) and I

always read to them every night, so I thought it might be fun to

create stories that would give my kids something special to

hear at bed time. The stories went down well and I happen to

tell Sam’s nursery teacher about them. She asked for a copy to

read to her children and, after she had, said it was a wonderful

tale.



I thought that maybe we had something so I tried them out on

Liz’s parents, Charles and Sandra. Charles is as ex royal

marine commando and shoots straight from the hip, Sandra is a

prolific reader and reads several books a week. I knew they

would tell me what they truly thought and was very pleased

that they both loved it. But what would the professionals think?



I was recommended the publishers, OutskirtsPress, by a writer

in Ireland and I sent them a copy of the manuscript. I waited

with baited breath for their reply and was bowled over by their

enthusiastic acceptance of the book for publishing. And the rest,

they say, is history ….





Follow Sean Noonan on his 6-day Virtual Book Tour and

leave comments and you could win the Giftbox Giveaway from

the National Writing for Children Center. Please follow Day 2 with Sean Noonan at http://terri-forehand.blogspot.com/