I am pleased to welcome author Richard Robinson to the blog today to describe a day in his life as a busy, professional author. Thank you for making the time to tell my readers about your days, Richard.
Thank you for inviting me to your blog today. I am happy to share my life as an author. It is certainly a busy one! Writing about my day as an author needs to come with a fairly significant list of disclaimers. Firstly, I’m an accidental author (which we’ll come to); I’m the CEO of a national domestic abuse charity; the carer of an 83-year-old with brain damage; I run a Saturday League football club and I’ve just reformed an indie guitar band I was a member of in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Therefore, I am the epitome of the phrase ‘If you want something done, give it to a busy man.’ And, my word, I’m busy.
My day begins at 08.00am, which is a new thing. When I worked in London full time, it was 05.45am and then a long train journey into Kings Cross. But at 08.00am, I get up and feed my 83-year-old mother. She is very independent in spirit but her mobility is poor and has worsened since a series of strokes and the symptoms of encephalitis, which left her with brain damage. But she’s a gem. By 08.30am, I’ve left the house in Edwardstone, Suffolk and I’m heading to the office.
It's the only UK charity focused on the abuse of older people. We’re called Hourglass. We have less than 30 staff to deal with over 75k cases and calls – and we run a 24/7 helpline. Most people think we deal with carers abusing older people in care homes. But that’s less than 10%. Sadly, it’s mainly the who are abusing, robbing or controlling their mother, father or grandparent. It’s heart-breaking. The calls are mind-blowingly awful and we’re begging the government for financial help.
The author stuff is coming, I promise…
I finish at work at the office about 6pm and I then head home, feed my mum and talk to her about her day. She used to be a florist and she has such creative genes, I often wonder if that’s where my literary brain comes from. My Dad, who I lost in 2020, was an Engineer. Mum goes to bed at 9.45pm-ish and I’ll be keeping half an eye on Hourglass calls and cases. Likewise, they’ll be days when I’m in Westminster, Stormont, Holyrood or the Welsh Senedd to lobby or brief ministers on the abuse of older people. Then, I rely on carers to ensure Mum’s okay.
10.30pm is when my day as an author begins. I’m a night-owl and I know I’m at my most creative when it’s later and the thoughts of the day have been decompartmentalised a little. I’ll write a chapter a day – or I’ll spend an evening researching. I find shaping chapters easy, as I used to work as a journalist and I hone my chapters rather like a series of headlines on a white board. With different post-it notes for characters and themes.
I wrote TOPAZ the first book in my series in 2022. It look me less than four months to finish the first draft and it was my escape pod from the grief of losing my Dad. I never intended it to be published – but I am delighted that SpellBound Books Ltd, the only publisher I sent it to, were interested. Sumaira Wilson has been an inspirational advocate and I’ve been blessed.
My books follow an MI5 training team called the Young Communicators Unit (YCU) and it has been compared to Slow Horses, although I’d never read any of Mick Herron’s work until very recently! Jones, the main protagonist, and his partner, Jenny Richmond, are based on my experiences as a journalist during the mid-1990s in Troubles-era Belfast. The novels are interlaced with historical fact and they have a large element of dark humour. I’m proud of the books and still shocked that they’re out there.
Thiepval Barracks, in Lisburn, and Northern Ireland generally, is the setting for book one (TOPAZ – published June 2023); book three (THE MAINSTAY – due early 2025) and book four (DEEP SWIMMERS – due autumn 2025). The second book (WILD FLOWERS – published in June 2024), sees the main character trapped on a container ship on the Atlantic Ocean, and sees the team visit the British Virgin Island, Bermuda and French Guinea.
I’ve recently started writing The Topaz Files Book Zero (GERMAN BITE - a prequel, based on Declan McNally’s experiences in Cold War Berlin in the 1960s). I researched hard and the book WILL be published but I’ve not touched it since July. I have a little writer’s block and need to jump that fence of creativity soon. Instead, I’ve started writing a fifth Topaz Files book, which has a working title of SEEN/UNSEEN. And features an IRA bomb-maker who has returned from training revolutionaries across the globe and now wants to turn supergrass. I’m on chapter twenty two, 50k words, and it’s been three weeks.
I tend to stop writing before 2am and I do minor edits. Which I realise isn’t standard practice, but everyone has their quirks. I then spend maybe an hour doing some socials and checking up on book-related news.
On the Saturday, I run Boxford Rovers FC, a passion of mine since 1997. They’re all aged between 16-38 year-old and there are little threads of conversations I overhear that find their way into Jones and Jenny’s chats. I’m in Northern Ireland for work fortnightly and I catch up with friends (and family). That also gives me an opportunity to research and to get the vibe right, and Belfast very much has a vibe and an ethos.
Writing is still an escape and an opportunity to immerse myself in 1995. Remembering a time in my life that shaped my personality, as well an historic period in social history that still resonates today.
The Author
Richard W. Robinson is an author and journalist and spent his early days freelancing or working in agency positions across the UK and Ireland. The Topaz Files is a series of spy fiction novels where we follow the missions of Jones and Richmond as they make their way through the early years of a career in espionage. The first, published in May 2023, is Topaz and this was followed by Wild Flowers a year later. The novels are works of fiction but reference historic events in 1994-1996, around the time of the peace talks in Northern Ireland.
Outside the literary world, Richard lives in East Anglia, England, with his wife and two daughters. He is the CEO of a charity focused on ending the abuse of older people. He's a very committed cratedigger (vinyl collector) and can occasionally be seen in the stands at Loftus Road and Windsor Park. Look out for the Topaz Files on social media and for the forthcoming releases of The Mainstay (book three) and Deep Swimmers (book four).
The Links
If you’d like to meet Jones, Jenny Richmond, McNally and the Young Communicator Unit at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn, please take a moment to download or buy the books here: https://amzn.eu/d/ggr52AG (Topaz) and https://amzn.eu/d/drdtVt0 (Wild Flowers). They can be read independently too. Follow me on https://linktr.ee/thetopazfiles or at my FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thetopazfiles/
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