Max Robinson

In writing this new book I have rambled my way through twenty chapters and 25,274 words.

I said I would finish the book by the end of January. I have another eleven chapters I want to write although several will be quite short so I expect in the coming twelve days I may indeed achieve my goals.

Chapters so far written include:

1. RIDING ALONG IN MY AUTOMOBILE

2. 1967 THE SUMMER OF LOVE

3. DAMN INVENTION

4. TEENAGE RAMPAGE

5. YOUR FIRST TEDDY BEAR

6. WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU HEARD

7. RIDICULOUS

8. TELL THEM TO GET STUFFED

9. WISE WORDS FROM A SILLY OLD MAN

10. WHEN DID YOU LAST HEAR A CUCKOO

11. CLOSE DOWN THE BBC

12. HAVE YOU EVER MET ANYONE FAMOUS

13. HOW BIG A BRUT ARE YOU

14. THE THREE R's

15. WELL DONE ENID

16. I USED TO BE A DRUG ADDICT

17. I NEED A CHAIN SAW

18. STRANGE EATING HABITS

19. STUPID MONEY

20. SOD'S LAW

You can read what I have so far written in DRAFT FORM by Clicking Here.  I would be quite grateful if you did take a peep and tell me what you think. I emphasise this is a DRAFT, when you are writing your brain will always work faster then your pen so typo's are inevitable. Then there is the damn stupid American spelling system of Microsoft and Google. I have just decided to include another chapter on this subject.

21. GREAT BRITISH WORTHIES

22. MY FUNERAL MUSIC

23. A DIFFERENT LIFE

24. IN MY DAY

25. A STRANGER IS ONLY A FRIEND YOU HAVE YET TO MEET

26. SLEEPY JOE

27. FAMILY

28. DAMN AMERICAN SPELLING

29. AND MAN CREATED GOD IN HIS OWN IMAGE

30. IT IS BETTER TO KNOW JUST A LITTLE

31. SMILE AT THE WORLD AND THE WORLD WILL SMILE BACK AT YOU

32. MY SIGNATURE

Twelve chapters to write and twelve days to finish the book. If each chapter averages one thousand words that will be a total of 36,274. That's a bit short for a novel which usually pitches in around 80,000 words.

It is what you could call a novelette.  I am not the first Ashford to be a writer you know, my ancestor Daisy Ashford found fame if not fortune writing novelettes in the Victorian times.

When I was a teacher I used to say to my students, you write to say what you want to say - do not worry about how long or how short your story is. Do not be mechanical like best selling writer Jeffery Archer who disciplines himself to write a specific number of words a day. I guess he wrote more when he was in prison ! 

For me writing 1,000 words a day is easy. I keep a pen and notebook with me at all times then scribble away when the mood takes me. Most of my books were written when I was in hospital waiting rooms with Rebekah.

I would always say to my students WRITE FOR FUN, write for your own enjoyment. If somebody reads what you have written then that is a bonus. I that person likes what you ave written it is a double bonus.

Writing this book is different, I need it to make

money. I have never bothered promoting my books, I follow my own advice above. But The Ramblings Of A Silly Old Man is different. It has to make money.

I am thinking this book will sell as an e-book for 99p from which I will make 20p royalties. Paperback books vastly outsell e-books. If I can price this book so I make 50p in royalties for each copy that would be great.

I am not writing to fill my own pockets with cash but to generate money we can use within The Sunshine Smile Crew.  There are Amazon millionaires, I will be happy f this book makes a couple of hundred pounds a month. Yes, I publish on Amazon, I am an accepted author within this global giant so can publish anything I like.

Jeffrey Archer writes his entire novel by hand then puts it away for a month and forgets it. He then reads it through, edits it and types it for publication.

I do not work that way.  I scribble in my note book then type up what I have written. This is a hard and boring task, if I did not work this way I would never finish anything.

I do not like the typing up bit but it has to be done. Why not write direct to the keyboard ?  No I could never do that, besides I could not drag that round in the same way as I do my notebook.

My Dad will be celebrating his 94th birthday this coming week, I plan to print off everything I have written and give it to him for his birthday. 

For me the editing, eliminating the typo's and rewriting various bits and pieces if the hardest task. When my first novel was published, published in traditional form by a publishing house I must have read through the text ten times.

I am not looking forward to doing this with The Ramblings Of A Silly Old Man but it has to be done. I want the book to be available by mid February. The royalties can then start coming in at the end of March, royalties to help fund The Sunshine Smile Crew.

I am hoping to find someone with marketing skills who will take off my shoulders the burden of pushing the book up the Amazon Best Sellers list.  I'll  split the royalties 50/50 with the right person.

Why do I write using a pen name ?  If you read the BOOK PAGE on my website that is explained.

Some rites use their real name, Jeffrey Archer is Jeffrey Archer and Enid Blyton was Enid Blyton. When

I first started writing as a teenager I used the name Craven Chesworth - OMG how corny was that. Thank goodness none of my writing ever made it into print, The Obscene Publications Act is still in force isn't it ? When I started writing seriously both with books and having a regular newspaper spot I used Jonathan Flie, much of my newspaper work was fly-on-the-wall. I became Max Robinson some time in 2015 and guess I will always be Max Robinson.

So there you go.