Welcome to the Newsletter of Colin Payn Writer [email protected]
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I had written articles for magazines for some years, but felt that 'real' writers were those with a book on the shelf. Five books later . . .
Dot's Legacy
The book that started it all began life nearly ten years before it was published. It came from the single thought of what tensions would exist if a Park was privately owned, but there was a covenant requiring it to be run as a public Park, like those owned by the local Council. Followed by, what if, the person running it was a very strong female character, often in conflict with the Council, but who built a vibrant community in the Park? And, what if, when she died, the Park was inherited by a young couple, who knew nothing of the background and found themselves thrown into a mixture of colourful characters and downright weird situations?
It took me eight years to retrieve the 68,000 word wodge of A4 sheets from a drawer and, tentatively, read some of it at a local writer's group. It took another year to revise, before I took it back again. One brave person kindly offered to read the whole thing, and it took another six months to edit it yet again.
Years later, Dawn Knox, the brave person, and I were to write a book together, The Future Brokers, (see it here), but Dot's Legacy was finally published in 2016, and followed by Dot's Surprise and Dot's Secret, as the characters took me on a journey I never expected all those years ago.
I am often asked , why the little girl on all three books? I'm afraid you will have to read Dot's Secret to find that out.
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