The story, so far

Who can genuinely say that they have been unaffected (directly or indirectly) by the Credit Crunch? Those of you who can say "Me!" with any degree of conviction are lucky people. Lucky that your home hasn't been down-valued, lucky that your job is safe, lucky that the soaring price of oil, electricity & gas has not stung, lucky that your savings have not stagnated or worse, dwindled, lucky that your family and friends have also remained financially secure.

To you fortunate people I say (with genuine sincerity) "Well done!" and I hope that you continue to escape the effects of the global financial downturn. Many, though, have been affected and as a consequence, the "unlucky" ones have had to "think outside the box" as they try to negotiate their way through the maelstrom.

My way of attempting to fill my enforced free time came as much of a surprise to me as anyone, but I decided I was going to sit down and write a novel.  Credit Crunched is fictional, of course, but also reflects (in parts) the true-life traumas I was witnessing around me - Obviously not the attempted assignation...but wait, I don't want to give too much of the plot away...

So anyway, it appears that writing a novel is the easy bit!!!...getting it published is a whole new ball-game. I have submitted countless manuscripts - most returning on my doormat with a thud, by self addressed post...unread or sometimes accompanied by a standard "...not for us!" generic letter.

However, despite the lack of interest from the traditional publishing industry  I still have faith in my book and so I am beginning to look at other options; self -publishing maybe?... Or serialisation in a blog...?

Credit Crunched is basically a family saga that chronicles how three generations of one family are affected by the financial downturn. 

Here's the synopsis;

The Richmond family has worked hard to reach a certain level of success but, as the credit crunch takes hold, they are all tested to the limit. When, on New Year’s Day, an anonymous man throws himself into the path of a train, containing two of the family members, his death initiates a chain reaction of events that will threaten the life of our Prime Minister.

As billions of pounds are wiped off the Stock Exchange during its free fall, daughter Cassie’s banking executive husband, Jeremy, suffers a heart attack and the picture-perfect marriage they portray is threatened by a clandestine visit to his bedside from an enigmatic woman making Cassie question his fidelity and the life they share.


Meanwhile, the financial chaos, causing banks to close their doors, turns High Streets across the Country into seas of panic, with violent consequences that affect the family personally, compounding Will's anger and his initial empty rhetoric turns into an unquenchable thirst for revenge...!

Who's to blame?



To end this post on a more positive note I have to say that writing my novel was the best, most fulfilling time I have ever had....every cloud has a silver lining and all that. There are a lot of people struggling at the moment and although I do think things are going to get worse before they get better I also genuinely believe that when this madness subsides and we're all back on track, this world will be a better (and hopefully less materialistic) place to live...But more of that next time...