BRINDLE BOOKS INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL JUDGE, AUTHOR OF STENHOUSE: GROWING UP IN EDINBURGH AND BEYOND.

22nd September 2026 

Whatever town or city we grew up in, most of us have memories of childhood that stay with us long after the places, people and routines have changed. For Michael Judge, those memories are rooted in Stenhouse, Edinburgh, during the 1980s and early 1990s. His debut book, STENHOUSE: Growing Up in Edinburgh and Beyond, captures his childhood world through the everyday experiences of growing up — but the feelings, memories and characters at its heart could belong to almost any hometown.

Michael Judge, AKA Bill Rectangle,
author of STENHOUSE: Growing Up in 
Edinburgh and Beyond

Written under the name Bill Rectangle, the memoir isn't a conventional history of Edinburgh. Instead, Michael focuses on the ordinary things that made up childhood — the streets he knew, the people he grew up around, family stories and the seemingly small experiences that can become surprisingly significant to us all as we get older. His route to becoming an author is perhaps unexpected: after more than 30 years working in IT, he turned his attention to capturing those memories, completing the book in around 95 days.

Michael calls his approach the “Cinematic Layering Technique”, using atmosphere, sound and sensory detail to bring genuine memories to life. We caught up with him to talk about growing up in Stenhouse, the Edinburgh of his childhood, the memories behind STENHOUSE, and his journey from IT professional to first-time author.

STENHOUSE: Growing Up in Edinburgh and Beyond

Firstly, Michael, please tell us a little about your book.

STENHOUSE: Growing Up in Edinburgh and Beyond is a literary memoir about growing up in Stenhouse, Edinburgh, from the late 1970s through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. It is about family, friendships, school, football, ice skating, skiing, skateboarding, music, early technology, local characters and the freedom of an outdoor childhood, but it also includes the harder moments that helped shape me. At heart, it is a warm, honest and sometimes chaotic portrait of an ordinary Edinburgh childhood during a period of enormous social and technological change.

How or why did you come up with the pen name of Bill Rectangle?

The appeal of Bill Rectangle was that it was very clearly a pen name — something memorable, a little unusual and slightly humorous rather than another ordinary-sounding name. It gave me a distinct creative identity for STENHOUSE while still allowing me to be completely open that Michael Judge is the person behind it. That balance suited the book quite well: it is personal and truthful, but there is also a lot of humour and personality running through it. 

What prompted you to write this particular book?

I reached a point where I realised how much of the world I grew up in had already disappeared. The streets were still there, but the atmosphere, routines, local characters, childhood freedoms and way people interacted had changed enormously. I wanted to preserve those memories while I could still hear the voices, picture the places and remember the small details that make a life feel real.

I also wanted to record a working family history that might otherwise simply fade. The book began as something personal, but as it developed I realised that many readers of my generation could recognise parts of their own childhood in it even if they had never been anywhere near Stenhouse.

Tell us a bit about the difficulties that you encountered and how they affected the way you went about writing this book.

One of the most important parts of my story is that written English did not come easily to me when I was young. My Edinburgh accent affected the way I heard and spelled words, and I needed additional support at primary school. I later moved through further and higher education and built a long professional career in IT, but I never forgot what it felt like to struggle with writing at the beginning.

That experience made me very methodical with STENHOUSE. I worked slowly, reviewed repeatedly, checked consistency and treated my own lived experience as the single source of truth. Modern digital tools helped with organisation, spelling, grammar, accessibility and production, but the memories, decisions, tone and final verification remained mine throughout.

How did your experiences growing up in the area you describe shape the course of your life?

Stenhouse gave me a mixture of independence, curiosity and resilience. We spent a huge amount of time outside, moving between football, bikes, skateboards, parks, the Water of Leith and whatever adventure appeared next. At the same time, I had a very secure family home, so I think I grew up with both a willingness to explore and a strong sense of having a base to return to.

My fascination with early technology also started there. Calculators, video recorders, electronic games and the first home computers seemed almost magical to me. That curiosity eventually became a career in IT spanning around three decades. In that sense, the child in STENHOUSE who kept trying to understand how things worked is recognisably the same person I became professionally.

Do you have plans for more books in the near future and, if so, what can we expect?

Yes. STENHOUSE is Book One, and the natural continuation is a second major memoir beginning around the point I left school at sixteen and moving into the 1990s. That period opens a very different world: work, growing independence, music and club culture, technology, friendships and the transition from adolescence into adult life.

I am also developing age-appropriate younger-reader adaptations of the original material. I do not want to rush any of them simply to meet an artificial deadline; I would rather develop each project carefully and make sure it has a genuine reason to exist.

Having put a lot of work into establishing White Hat Media, what further plans do you have for its development? Are you sticking with books/audiobooks or planning to branch out?

White Hat Media began as the publishing identity behind STENHOUSE, but I deliberately built it as a broader creative platform rather than just a logo on a book. The project already includes paperback, Kindle, an author-narrated audiobook, video material, extracts, bonus content and an independent website. I am interested in developing further books, audio, interviews, documentary-style material and other formats where they genuinely suit the story.

I am also open to working with professional partners on rights, publishing, documentary or adaptation opportunities where there is a sensible creative and commercial fit. Judge IT Consulting is separate but connected through the technical side of what I do. My professional technology background gave me the skills to build much of the publishing and digital infrastructure independently, and the website is credited to Judge IT Consulting: https://www.judgeitconsulting.org/

How do you think your own experience of growing up there compares with that of kids growing up there today?

I would describe it as different rather than automatically better or worse. We had freedoms that would probably surprise some parents now: being outside for long periods, making our own games, cycling around, exploring parks and learning social rules directly from other children. We also had far less instant access to information, entertainment or communication.

Children today have extraordinary opportunities through technology, education and access to the wider world, but there is a trade-off. My childhood gave us a lot of unsupervised imagination and local community life because there simply was not a screen offering something else every minute. I think both generations gain things and lose things, and that contrast is one of the reasons I wanted to preserve the period honestly rather than pretend it was perfect.

Which writers would you say have had the biggest influence on you?

I would not claim that STENHOUSE was modelled closely on one particular writer. Its strongest influence was lived experience itself: family storytelling, Edinburgh voices, remembered dialogue, music, places and the rhythm of ordinary conversation. I wanted the prose to sound natural and close to memory rather than imitate somebody else’s literary voice.

I have always been interested in memoir and social history that can make ordinary lives feel worth recording. That principle influenced me more than any single stylistic model: the belief that a family house, a street, a park or a conversation can carry just as much human meaning as a traditionally ‘important’ historical event.

What has been your highlight or biggest achievement in this field?

Finishing the book and then taking it all the way through independent publication has been the biggest achievement. I did not only write it; I built the publishing identity, produced the paperback and Kindle editions, personally narrated the full audiobook, created the website and promotional material, and learned the practical realities of bringing a memoir to readers.

The fact that this began with somebody who once needed help with written English makes completing that full process especially meaningful to me. Whatever happens commercially from here, nobody can take away the fact that the book now exists in three formats and the memories have been preserved.

Can you tell us about your research methods?

The foundation was memory, because this is literary memoir rather than conventional history. My own lived experience remained the single source of truth. I then strengthened it by talking through family stories, looking again at photographs and locations, checking the sequence of places and people, and verifying period details where dates, technology, music or public events could be checked independently.

I was careful not to turn uncertain memories into false certainty. Dialogue is naturally recreated from memory and family telling, and some names and identifying details have been changed for privacy. The aim was emotional and factual honesty without pretending that human memory works like a recording device.

Can you tell us a bit about your writing process?

Most of the work was done in my own time outside my normal 9-to-5 professional life. I would work through memories in sections, expand them into scenes, then repeatedly revisit the material for chronology, tone, duplication and consistency. I found that one remembered object or place often unlocked several other memories, so the book grew organically rather than being produced from a rigid daily word-count target.

The editing stage was at least as important as the initial writing. I wanted the final book to feel like one continuous remembered world rather than a collection of disconnected anecdotes, so I spent a lot of time making sure people, places, ages and themes flowed naturally across the manuscript.

What advice would you give to new writers in your field?

Start with the truth you actually own. Do not worry about making an ordinary life sound artificially dramatic. The tiny details — a room, a smell, a pair of trainers, a local phrase, the way somebody laughed — are often what make memoir universal because they make it specific first.

I would also tell new writers not to be intimidated by the fact that the first draft is imperfect. Writing is not only inspiration; it is review, correction, structure and patience. Use whatever legitimate tools help you work, but keep responsibility for the truth, voice and final decisions firmly with yourself.

For more information and bonus material, please visit White Hat Media:

https://www.whitehatmedia.org/

You can see the short advert for the book here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t7GQyo-vJk&feature=youtu.be

…or the full advert here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS0XmZhEVqQ

STENHOUSE: Growing Up in Edinburgh and Beyond is available in e-book, paperback and audiobook formats. Follow the links below for buying options:

Paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H5WY8CGY

e-Book: https: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H5KWPX2F

Audiobook:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H8ZV8JZG/

If you are an author and have a book out, either self published or traditionally published and would be interested in being the subject of one of our author interviews, please email us in the first instance, at:

contact@brindlebooks.co.uk 

Great Free Resources for Writers: LibreOffice.

 15th April 2026

Here's why authors should be using LibreOffice (and Other Free Open-Source Tools):

Let’s be honest: writing is hard enough. Staring at a blinking cursor. Wrestling with plot holes. Rewriting that one stubborn paragraph seventeen times.

The last thing you need is to pay a monthly subscription just to open your own manuscript.

That’s where LibreOffice — and other free, open-source tools — come in.

If you’ve never tried them, you might assume they’re “basic” or somehow less powerful than the big-name office suites. But here’s the truth: LibreOffice is seriously capable. And for authors, it can be a game-changer.

Let’s talk about why:

LibreOffice can do pretty much anything that Microsoft
office can do...

LibreOffice is a completely free office suite developed by The Document Foundation. It includes:

    • Writer (word processor — your main writing tool)

    • Calc (spreadsheets)

    • Impress (presentations)

    • Draw (diagrams and graphics)

    • Base (databases)

    • Math (formula editor)

For authors, Writer is the star of the show.

You can download LibreOffice HERE

No paywall. No subscription. No “free trial.” Just download it and use it.

Downloading LibreOffice is straightforward...and totally FREE.

What Does It Run On?

One of the best things about LibreOffice is that it doesn’t really care what computer you use.

It works on:

 Windows

Windows 10 and 11 (and newer versions)

 macOS

Current macOS versions

 Linux

Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, Arch — pretty much all major distributions

If you use Linux, there’s a good chance LibreOffice is already installed.

There are also browser-based options like LibreOffice Online and Collabora Online if you want cloud-style access.

Basically: whatever machine you’re writing on, LibreOffice probably works there.

Why Authors Love It (Once They Try It)

1. It’s Free. Actually Free.

No subscription. No annual renewal. No “premium features.”

If you’re:

    • Self-publishing

    • Writing part-time

    • Teaching writing

    • Running workshops

    • On a budget (which, let’s face it, is most writers)

… this matters.

You can install it on multiple computers without worrying about licenses. That freedom feels surprisingly good.

2. You Own Your Work (Formats Matter)

LibreOffice uses the Open Document Format (ODF) by default (.odt files).

That might sound technical, but here’s why it matters:

    • Your files aren’t locked into one company’s ecosystem.

    • You’re using an open standard.

    • Your documents will remain accessible long-term.

And if your editor insists on a .docx file? No problem. LibreOffice opens and saves Microsoft Word formats just fine.

You can also export directly to:

    • PDF

    • EPUB (for ebooks!)

That’s built in. No plugins needed.

3. Writer Is Surprisingly Powerful

If you’ve only ever used basic formatting tools, you might be underusing your word processor.

LibreOffice Writer includes:

    • Styles (for consistent headings and formatting)

    • Automatic Table of Contents

    • Footnotes and endnotes

    • Indexing tools

    • Track Changes

    • Comments for collaboration

If you’re writing a novel, nonfiction book, academic paper, or long-form guide, these features are gold.

A Quick “Getting Started” Guide

If you’re curious, here’s how easy it is to install.

On Windows

    1. Go to https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/

    2. Click Download (Windows version will auto-select)

    3. Open the downloaded file

    4. Follow the installation wizard

    5. Open LibreOffice Writer from your Start menu

Done.

On macOS

    1. Go to the same download page

    2. Download the macOS version

    3. Open the .dmg file

    4. Drag LibreOffice into Applications

    5. Launch Writer

You might need to confirm that you want to open it (standard macOS security prompt). That’s normal.

On Linux

If it’s not already installed:

Ubuntu / Debian:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install libreoffice

Fedora:

sudo dnf install libreoffice

Or download packages directly from the LibreOffice website.

If you've used Word, it won't take you long to get used to LibreOffice writer.

Tips That Make a Huge Difference for Authors

Here’s where many writers level up.

Use Styles (Seriously)

Instead of manually bolding and resizing chapter titles, use Styles.

Open the Styles sidebar (press F11), and apply:

    • Heading 1 for chapter titles

    • Heading 2 for sections

    • Body Text for normal text

Why?

Because then you can automatically generate a table of contents.

Insert a Table of Contents Automatically

Once you’ve used headings:

    1. Click where you want the TOC

    2. Go to Insert ? Table of Contents and Index ? Table of Contents

    3. Click OK

Boom. Instant TOC.

Edit your chapters later? Right-click the TOC and choose “Update.”

It’s weirdly satisfying.

Use Track Changes for Editing

Working with an editor?

Go to:

Edit ? Track Changes ? Record

Now all edits are marked. You can accept or reject them later.

This is essential for serious revision work.

Export as EPUB

Want to turn your manuscript into an ebook draft?

File ? Export As ? Export as EPUB

That’s it.

You can fine-tune metadata and cover options inside the export settings.

Other Free Tools Authors Should Know About

LibreOffice is just the beginning.

Here are a few more free tools writers love:

Calibre

https://calibre-ebook.com

Perfect for managing and converting ebooks. Essential if you’re self-publishing.

FocusWriter

https://gottcode.org/focuswriter

Minimal, distraction-free writing environment. Great for drafting.

GIMP

https://www.gimp.org

Free image editing software. Useful for cover mockups or graphics.

Zotero

https://www.zotero.org

Amazing for managing research and citations (especially nonfiction writers).

All free. All open-source. All powerful.

The Bigger Picture: Creative Freedom

Here’s what it really comes down to.

Using free and open-source software:

    • Reduces your overhead

    • Keeps you in control of your files

    • Works across platforms

    • Supports open standards

    • Avoids subscription fatigue

And there’s something philosophically nice about writing your novel in software built by a global community rather than a corporation trying to upsell you.

It feels… independent. Which suits writers.

Should You Switch?

You don’t have to delete your current tools tomorrow.

But if you:

    • Want to cut costs

    • Care about open standards

    • Use Linux

    • Or just like trying smarter tools

Download LibreOffice and give Writer a week.

Most authors are surprised at how quickly it feels natural.

And once you realise you can write, format, export, and collaborate without paying a cent?

It’s hard to go back.

REALISTIC TIPS FOR INDIE WRITERS WHO WANT TO ‘MAKE IT BIG’.

 5th July 2025

The internet is full of tips and advice articles for would-be authors, many of them promising the world to just about anyone who can open a Word document. There are countless posts out there giving the impression that “everyone has a book in them” and all you have to do is type it up, stick it on Amazon KDP and then wait for the millions to start rolling in.

The reality is, of course, somewhat different. The vast majority of authors worldwide, (especially fiction authors), don’t ever make any meaningful amounts of money from their writing, even when they are published, leaving them dejected and disillusioned with the whole writing process.

When starting out on our writing careers, we all automatically think about the successes – the J K Rowlings, the Robert Ludlums, the Dan Browns and many others…The list seems endless. However, for every successful author on this list, the ones who got lucky, (and yes, even with good writers, luck plays a huge part in it), there are thousands of authors out there who made nothing.

Before you decide that you’re going to be a successful author and make millions just from tapping away at a keyboard now and then, it’s worth thinking about how much competition you actually have out there and how much work you will really have to put in.  

So, here are ten tips for writers grounded in reality:

Rather than writing books, get a job with a paying magazine or newspaper. Of course, it isn’t easy, but if you’re actually looking for a career as a writer, you stand more chance of making a living this way than by writing books. Once you’ve made a name for yourself and established your reputation, you may even get a book deal and if you’re famous enough it may even help your sales.

Get famous for doing something else and then publish a memoir. Of course, many people waste their whole lives trying to become famous for its own sake, and it relies on luck as much as anything else. However, if you’re famous enough already, the chances are that your book will sell no matter how bad it is, and your chances of success by this method are undoubtedly just as good as most new authors. You only have to look at all those ‘celebrity’ memoirs outselling genuinely good books to realise that fame sells better than talent.

Write non-fiction rather than fiction as that often sells better, especially if your book contains useful information that will help readers do a specific thing. Self-help books and books giving advice to desperate wannabe writers tend to sell the best, (even if the author has only ever written books giving advice to wannabe writers).

Don’t concentrate too much on getting into brick-and-mortar bookstores unless you have a deal with a reasonably large traditional publisher. If you want to see your book on the shelves of your local bookstore, the best thing to do is befriend the staff (and management) of your local independent bookstore and ask them to stock a couple of copies, (assuming that your book is in Gardner’s catalogue), or write a local history/local interest book. Even Waterstones will sometimes stock local interest books if approached by the author in person, but only for that specific area. In other words, if you write a local interest book about Leeds, don’t expect any Waterstones in any other towns or cities to stock it. There are forms that can be filled in with larger chains like Waterstones asking them to stock the book but the fact is that they will not stock it unless they think that it is going to sell, no matter how nicely you ask them. They are in business, first and foremost, to make a profit, not to risk those profits by ‘taking a chance on a new, unknown author. There are thousands of books published in the UK every month, many of them published by the big five, and it is very rarely that a big bookstore chain will even consider stacking your book unless you can guarantee them a profit.

Don’t Look down your nose at e-book sales. I know that many authors (especially new ones) are only interested in print books because they think that makes them a ‘proper’ writer. I understand that writers like to see a physical, printed version of their work, (and of course, with the advent of print-on-demand, it’s not that difficult or expensive to get your book into print). The fact is that a much better indicator of what makes a ‘proper’ author is if they sell books, irrespective of the format. If you’re a new and relatively unknown author, the chances are that nearly all of your sales will be e-books. E-books are considerably easier and cheaper to produce than print books and you can make a much bigger profit on the sale of an e-book than a print book, even when the e-book price is considerably lower.

It is worth noting the difference in profit margins for different kinds of book sales for self-publishers using the main print-on-demand and e-book platforms:

Amazon eBook: Cover price: £3.99. Royalty Rate from Amazon 70%. Royalty per copy: £2.76 (The few pence difference between 70% of the cover price and the actual payment £2.76 covers delivery of the eBook. Yes, there are actually some costs involved in sending an eBook electronically, and it can vary a few pence, depending on the file size of the eBook). 

Amazon paperback: Cover price: £8.99. Royalty rate from Amazon 60%. Print cost (deducted from the 60% royalty): £4.17. Royalty per copy: £1.22. 

Let’s compare this with Ingram Spark, the most effective Print On Demand service for making your book available to Bookstores:

Ingram Paperback: Cover price: £8.99. Minus Retailer Discount set to 40%* : (£3.60) , which leaves: £5.39, minus print cost (£4.97), leaving: £0.42.  Royalty rate (between 60% - 70%, depending on region – so let’s be optimistic and assume 70%), leaves a royalty per copy of about: £0.29. 

If you’re a self-published author, or are published through a small independent publisher, Amazon is your friend. We are constantly told that Amazon is some giant corporate Devil, killing off independent bookshops and taking over the world by destroying the High Street. Of course, this is utter nonsense. This one company, however large and far-reaching cannot realistically be held responsible for the shopping habits of the modern world. If people decide to shop online for the convenience of being able to order a massive range of items from books to electricals and home décor, in their lunch break at work, on their mobile phone, and have the items delivered to their door, this isn’t because any one company is somehow inherently evil. If you want to blame someone because your local high street doesn’t have an indie bookstore, you’d be better off looking to a) the consumers who don’t go into town to buy books, or who only buy second-hand, and b) the big brick-and-mortar bookstore chains who have priced independents out of the markets, (why go to an indie bookstore and pay £8.99 for a book by an author you’ve never heard of when you can go to The Works and get 3 for £5?). The fact about Amazon, (at least as far as indie publishing goes), is that they have made it possible for self-published authors and small publishers to put books in front of an audience without having to spend a fortune. The vast majority of books that are published globally (including books published by big publishers) do not make a profit and there is no sure-fire way of knowing whether a book by a new author will be a success. Big publishing houses therefore only accept books for publication that they feel stand a good chance of making them a profit, not books that they think are good, you understand, just books that they think will make a profit. With the advent of Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and print on demand services, it is now possible for small publishers to take a risk on publishing books based on whether they think the book deserves to be available, not just on their return on investment. In this way, small publishers like ourselves can now afford help authors develop their craft over time, irrespective of what the sales figures are for their initial books

Be prolific: The most important thing that you can do to increase your chances of making a profit. Very few authors (even new authors published by major publishing houses) make more than pocket change from their first, (or even second), book. The best way to increase your chances of making anything from writing fiction, (other than writing for paid fiction magazines like ‘People’s Friend’), is to write a series in a popular genre. By the time you have written three or four books in a series (if it’s good), you stand a reasonable chance of making a useful amount of money (though it will still probably not be enough for you to give up your day job). If you can only manage one 60,000 word novel per year, it will take a long time for your book series to gain traction. So, what do we mean by being prolific? To be realistic, writing 500 words per day, every day, should be considered your absolute minimum, and any editing, tweaking etc. should be done in addition to your 500 words per day. If 500 words seems like a lot to do in a day, please bear in mind that it amounts to just under one A4 page of 12 point text. Hardly a grind, even if you have a 12 hour a day job, and considerably less writing than most of us did in a day when we were at middle school. 500 words a day equates to 182,000 words per year, so about three 60,000 word books in a series per year. I know a lot of authors these days like to churn out massive doorstep sized volumes, but they won’t necessarily sell any better than a readable 60,000 page novel, especially in crime, thriller, romance genres. (Most of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels ran to about this length, for instance and they were quite popular, even before the film franchise began). If you can’t manage 500 words a day, and you’re not famous enough to have a guaranteed audience, your chances of writing for profit are pretty slim. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t write, it just means that your writing will, in all probability, never be more than a hobby or a side-line.

Build your own audience by interacting with potential readers, either with an email list, personal appearances, or on social media. This means genuinely interacting with your potential readers. They aren’t going to warm to you if all you ever post is adverts for your latest book. Don’t rely on publishers to do this for you, whether they are a tiny independent or one of the big five. The smaller publishers don’t have the resources to advertise you widely and the bigger publishers feel that they don’t have to. Sure, some of the larger ones will pay to advertise their big name authors because they know that all they have to do is tell the public they’ve got a book out and their fans will buy it, but if you’re new and don’t have a track record, they’re not going to use up their cut of any potential profits on advertising an unknown author.

.

 Don’t be too proud to take advice. I know how it is: You’ve spent ages on that manuscript, you’ve read it through, edited it, honed it to perfection. You just know that it’s perfect…and then some editor wants you to make changes. They advise you to cut some of your beautiful, oh-so-perfect words. What do they know about it? Actually, if they work in the publishing industry, the chances are they know a lot. If they say that the gratuitous and explicit sex scene in chapter two of your adventure novel sounds clumsy and uncomfortable and not suitable for readers of adventure, they’re probably right. If they’re from a publishing company that releases the kind of work that you’re pitching, they probably have a good idea of what their readers are looking for. If you’re after a deal, swallow your pride and take their advice. Or don’t; it’ll be your book that they turn down. Wherever possible, take advice, not just from editors but from well read beta-readers, if you can find them. The only time I feel you should ignore this advice is if you’re a very prolific pulp fiction author, and when I say very prolific, I mean ‘Edgar Wallace prolific’, and you’re producing a new novel every month. Even then, a trusted beta-reader is a godsend for spotting the huge errors and plot holes that are surprisingly easy for authors to miss.

Don’t wait for the perfect time or place to write, it will never come if you sit around waiting for it. As writers, we’re constantly advised to have a special writing place where we can sit without distractions and allot a specific time each day to make the magic happen and that’s great. It’s great to have that special place, whether it’s a private study in the attic, or a desk in a quiet corner of the house. By all means get one, but don’t (as many would-be authors do), use it as an excuse not to do any writing today just because you haven’t had the chance to sit at your desk. If you’re working a 12 hour shift and you know that you’ll be too tired to sit at your desk and write, you should still be producing your 500 word minimum during your lunch break, your commute to and from work…anywhere. You have to get the word count in if you’re going to finish the work. It doesn’t matter whether you get your words down in a notebook, a voice-recorder, your phone or wherever. You can always go to your special place to type up your work neatly when you do have the time later.

The Writing Process by David J Blackmore

 

19th June 2025

In the third of his fascinating guest posts, David J Blackmore, author of the thrilling 'Wellington's Dragoon' series, tells us about his writing process for the series...

David J Blackmore on Johnny, the inspiration for
Michael Roberts' horse  in the Wellington's Dragoon Series

The Writing Process

This is a tricky topic, because for every book I have written there have been variations in the process. It is also a personal process, every writer has their own way of working and I also believe that it is something that can’t be taught. All of which renders this piece rather unhelpful, except that my experience might help you find your own methods. So, let me start with the most commonly asked question on this subject. It goes, roughly, as follows; “Do you have a set time for writing and/or do you write until you have written so many words?” The answer to both is no. I write when I can, by which I don’t mean when I have the time, but when I can actually sit down in front of my keyboard and be creative. Days can go past when I can’t write, some days the words just flow, but more on that in a while.

To The Douro
Wellington's Dragoon Book One

When I decided to write the Wellington’s Dragoon books, and the name came later, I wrote a brief plan for the series. It was going to be eight books from the very beginning, although there have been times when that has come close to changing, sometimes to seven, once to nine. The plan consisted of a few lines for each book, outlining, very briefly, what time period it was going to cover and what would happen. It has stood up remarkably well, but that’s probably because it was all rather vague.

Secret Lines
Wellington's Dragoon Book Two

When it comes to each individual book I create a very detailed plan. I start it based on the historical narrative of the period covered by the book, which gives me a framework in which to work. This stage involves quite a lot of research and I always start with the relevant volume of Sir Charles Oman, “A History Of The Peninsular War” in seven volumes. It was written at the beginning of the 20th century, with a brief break for war work during WWI. It is a monumental achievement and my constant guide. Then I go to more recent studies on particular campaigns and battles. At this point the plan is beginning to get quite long and has nothing in it about Michael Roberts.

Behind The Lines
Wellington's Dragoon Book Three

This is when it gets interesting. As I do my research I am looking for ways to fit Michael into the events. Perhaps the most obvious comes in the first book, “To The Douro”. Sir Arthur Wellesley, as he was then, drove the French through Portugal until they crossed the Douro at Oporto and blew up the bridge of boats that spanned the river. History will tell you that a staff officer, exploring the river upstream, discovered the wine barges, or Rabelos, secured them and Wellesley launched an assault across the river using them. I asked myself, what would he have done if the wine barges hadn’t been so fortuitously discovered? Wellesley was no fool, surely he must have anticipated that the bridge would be destroyed? In which case, what was his plan? We don’t know, and he was notoriously tight lipped about his plans. Enter Michael and the plan to make sure the boats were there.

A Different Kind of War
Wellington's Dragoon Book Four

Having got the historical framework sorted out, and decided what Michael’s role will be, I begin to sketch out what will happen in each chapter, what Michael will be doing, creating his personal narrative, gradually moving from a broad outline to a detailed plan for each chapter. Once I am happy with the plan I start writing and the advantage of having a detailed plan is that I can forget about the plotting and concentrate on the story telling. 

The Road to Madrid
Wellington's Dragoon Book Five

One thing that I have discovered, however, is that, sometimes, I don’t follow the plan. I find myself bashing away at the keyboard, the words just flowing, but they’re not taking me where I planned to go. The first time it happened was rather disconcerting, but it turned out that what just flowed was better than what was planned, it was, somehow, more natural. I have learnt to go with it, even if it means a bit of rejigging of the plan.

Some of the books that David uses for
his research

“To The Douro” had thirteen drafts. Of course, I was learning how to write, finding my style, developing characters, and it took time. The second book, “Secret Lines”, had seven drafts as I learnt what to do. Since then the process has settled down. The first draft is all about the basic story, getting that straight and all nicely worked out. The second draft is about adding colour, the detail that, I hope, gives it a veracity, a period feel. Sometimes there may be a third draft, particularly if I’m not happy with some aspect of the story or I feel it needs a little extra something. This is when I start to be unable to see the wood for the trees. I once had a friend who was an artist, and he also taught art. One of the things he taught me was knowing when to stop. There comes a point when you have to say, for better or worse, I can do no more. And that is it, when you can no longer see the whole wood, just lots and lots of trees.

So, is that when it goes to Brindle? Oh, no! Then it goes to my two wonderful and patient test readers. They tell me exactly what they think of it, spot plot anomalies, general gaffs and the inevitable typos. The time lapse while they read it, however, does clear the mind so that when it comes back I am ready to tackle their comments and write the final draft.

And that is why it’s one book a year!

You can read David's Wordpress blog by clicking HERE

You can find David's Amazon Author Page HERE

Re-enactment and Research by David J Blackmore

9th June 2025 

In his second guest post, David J Blackmore, author of the exciting Wellington's Dragoon series, tells us about his experiences in the historical re-enactment world and the research that went in to creating both his fiction and non-fiction books.

Waterloo Re-enactment. Photo by Kevin Wolf

I started re-enacting in 1973 at the age of eighteen. Like most people back then I started in the Sealed Knot, as a royalist, which surprises many as, in the early 1980s, I raised a Parliamentarian regiment in the Roundhead Association. (It’s a long story). At about the same time I got a job as a curator, actually the most junior curator, with the Armouries in the Tower of London. That was when I started to get serious about research. I needed to for my work, if you are cataloguing arms and armour you need to be able to work out what you have in front of you. I also wanted the regiment I was forming to be as authentic a recreation as was possible. I was, of course, well placed to research the arms and armour of the English Civil Wars, and that led to my first book, with the original title “Arms and Armour of the English Civil Wars”.

In 1989 I became Lord General of the Roundhead Association and, soon after, the first LG to command from horseback. I retired from that position in 1995, and subsequently tried my hand at various other periods, but always as cavalry. First came a British Dragoon unit of the 1740s. I set out to research it and ended up writing another book. “British Cavalry of the Mid-18th Century”. Then came American Civil War cavalry, both sides, and, lastly, the 16th Light Dragoons of the Napoleonic wars.

In 2012 I was awarded my PhD and my thesis was published as “Destructive and Formidable, British Infantry Firepower, 1642 – 1765”, which I undertook after leaving the Royal Armouries in 2008, after twenty six years.

As a result I was well prepared to research the 16th when I got involved with them in 2014. This has resulted in me having a thorough knowledge of their uniform and equipment, or, rather both uniforms, as it changed in the winter of 1812-13, as you will read in book six of the Wellington's Dragoon series.  I had to learn the drill they used, including the Sword Exercise. This knowledge was then put to practical use as we worked to create as correct a recreation as possible.

We found a cloth supplier, Kochan and Philips, who recreate the fabrics used two hundred years ago. We examined original items, or were generously helped by knowledgeable individuals like Sean Philips of Kochan and Philips. We had the correct regimental buttons reproduced. Leatherwork was researched and reproduced. There was, however, a lot more to it then just reproducing the kit.

Photo by Ellie Wout

There was the important matter of recreating the way the cavalry did things. I spent hours in the back garden, sabre in one hand, a copy of the Sword Exercise in the other, trying to work out what it meant. No one at the time learnt the Sword Exercise from a book, they were taught it by someone who knew it, a luxury not available today. 

Then there was the matter of the drill. You can’t do cavalry drill without horses. We were lucky as we had the invaluable assistance of Mark Atkinson of Atkinson Action Horses. One of his horses, Jonny, became my favourite and the model for Michael Roberts’ Johnny. I can also assure you that waving a sabre around on a horse at speed is a very different kettle of fish from one’s back garden. Although I say so myself, I got quite proficient. My ‘party piece’ at events was to slice a Jersey Royal potato in half while galloping past it.

Then, in 2015, I had the privilege to be asked to command the British Light Dragoons at the 200th anniversary of Waterloo. We ‘refought’ the battle on part of the original battlefield. We rode across ground the original 16th rode over. The British cavalry numbered some hundred and twenty, and we did manage to execute a charge as a single unit, the equivalent of a single squadron, which put everything in perspective. There was so much smoke that at times you couldn’t see fifty yards. We charged through wheat so high it brushed our feet. We finished both days, yes, we did it twice, in the dark, just as they did. It was about as close to the real thing as one can get today.

Photo by Ellie Wout

After that incredible experience, I discovered the whereabouts of the diary of William Tomkinson, but not just that, also his order book for the Waterloo campaign. I started searching and found more material written by other officers, journals and simple letters home written in the night after Waterloo. I was fortunate enough to make contact with the descendants of Tomkinson, Swetenham, Luard and Polhill, the last two only with the 16th in 1815. Another book followed, “So Bloody A Day, the 16th Light Dragoons in the Waterloo Campaign”. Writing that I felt as if I actually got to know the men of the 16th.

I have written in my previous piece for Brindle about how the Wellington’s Dragoon series and Michael Roberts came into being. I hope that this piece explains how I have been able to achieve the realism that I hope you have found in the books, the sense of what it was like to ride and fight with the 16th.

You can follow David's Wordpress blog by clicking HERE

David's Amazon Author Page can be found HERE

Where Authors Find Inspiration - Writer's Groups

 

22nd May 2025

In our latest post, Dr David Blackmore, author of the successful Wellington’s Dragoon series, discusses the inspiration that he got for his writing by being a member of his local writing group…

David Blackmore signing contracts (and enjoying a beer)
with Richard Hinchliffe of Brindle Books Ltd.

My Writing Group

 by David J Blackmore

I’m lucky. I moved to this small, East Yorkshire town eight years ago and very early on a neighbour asked me if I liked books and writing. Naturally, I said yes and I was soon the latest member of a small writing group. A few words of explanation; it wasn’t all about the act of writing, we also discussed the books we had been reading, the use of words, prose and poetry and the problems we all faced as writers. This last aspect has been, for me, very important. Writing is a lonely occupation, it’s just you and your pen and paper, or screen and keyboard. It is comforting to discover that the problems you experience, writer’s block or whatever, are common and that your challenges are not unique. Sometimes solutions are offered, sometimes it is simply the benefit of a trouble shared. The great thing is that the group is supportive, friendly, and constructive in its advice. 

One of my group has become one of two test readers of my books, and pulls no punches in the nicest and most constructive manner, which is just what you want. If you write you will reach that stage when you can no longer see the wood for the trees, or the plot for the words. That is when the help comes in useful. My readers have saved me from more than a few blunders and spotted the inevitable typos, a few of which still escape me, them and the publisher.

One other thing the group does has developed slowly. We started giving ourselves occasional writing challenges. This has become a regular feature and every gathering ends with the setting of our homework. This will be something that has come out of the evening’s conversation and is very liberally interpreted. One such challenge was to write the first page of a book, on the basis that it has to grab the readers interest.  My offering was the first appearance of Michael Roberts of the Sixteenth Light Dragoons. The group liked it and wanted to know what happened next, which is just what you are aiming for. So, I wrote a short story. The reception that got was what encouraged me to undertake the Wellington’s Dragoon Series. The first page makes an appearance in altered form in The Road To Madrid, but here it is, in its original form, written some six years ago:

Lieutenant Michael Roberts, of His Majesty’s 16th Light Dragoons, lay in the shade of a stunted olive tree, eyes closed, listening to the crickets, the murmur of quiet conversation from the two dragoons with the picketed horses, and the occasional clink of harness. The tree was almost at the top of a ridge, from which could be seen miles of rolling plains, shimmering in the heat of a Spanish summer.

‘Dust, sir’. The words came from Sergeant Taylor, where he lay at the top of the slope, watching the landscape for any signs of movement.

With a groan, Roberts rolled over and wriggled up next to his sergeant and squinted in the direction indicated. Several miles away a small cloud of dust rose from where the road they were watching left a small village. He extended his telescope, covering the lens from the sun to avoid any tell-tale reflection, and focussed on the slowly moving cloud.

‘Cavalry’, he said, ‘about half a dozen’. Suddenly he saw tiny specks of reflected sunlight flashing above the riders. ‘Damn it, they’re bloody lancers’.

He rolled on to his back and looked down at where the two dragoons were already bridling up the horses and tightening girths and surcingles. ‘Evans, ride back to Captain Rowlandson and tell him there are lancers coming down the road, about half a dozen, three miles off. We’ll watch for a bit longer and then fall back on the picquet. And try not to raise too much dust, I’d rather we weren’t seen’.

As Evans mounted and headed off at a trot, keeping to grass where he could, Roberts turned back to watch the distant enemy. They were French lancers, they had to be, coming from that direction, where French Army was known to be. The French were moving cautiously down the road that passed through a shallow defile to the left of where Roberts and his men were concealed. Feeling their way forward, looking for the British Army, and no doubt keeping a very close eye on the ridge, an obvious vantage point.

Suddenly a much larger cloud of dust issued from the road in front of the village. ‘God damn it, it’s a whole bloody squadron!’ He swung his telescope and focused on the rolling plain beyond the village, shimmering and cut across with silver and blue mirages. ‘It looks like a whole brigade behind them. Right, mount up, keep below the skyline. Another five minutes and we will be off.’

You can follow David’s own Wordpress blog by clicking HERE 

David’s Amazon author page can be found HERE 

COMING SOON - David Blackmore on research
and his re-enactment experiences

Authors: There is no excuse for your book to stay out of print.

 

18th May 2025

You spent all that time writing it, so why not make sure it stays in print?

Back in the old days, when traditional publishing was the only realistic option (for authors who didn’t have access to the massive amount of funds that self-publishing used to require), it used to be the case that books would routinely go out of print when it was no longer cost-effective for publishing companies to put out another print run; when sales had dropped to levels where printing a run of, say, 1000 copies was not deemed worth it because it would take too long to sell these copies, (if indeed they would ever sell out).

Since the advent of the e-book and print-on-demand services, however, the cost of actually putting a book out and making it available to potential readers is now negligible, so there should be few real reasons for a book to stay ‘our of print’, however small the potential audience.

In some ways, of course, going ‘out of print’ can be good news for authors, (or whoever owns the rights to the work). In most instances, when a book has been out of print for a certain length of time, the author (or owner of the original rights to the work), is free to sell the publishing rights to another publisher, or to self-publish the work.

Whilst most ‘out of print’ works that are re-published in this way are unlikely to become ‘best-sellers’, (after all, they went out of print for a reason; usually low sales figures), it may often still be worthwhile to get the book back out there for other reasons.

Simply having an author’s back-catalogue out there and available for posterity is a good enough reason. After all, not all readers, or even researchers, have the time or resources to trawl through the catalogue of the British Library just to visit and look at a book that they can’t take home and enjoy at their leisure.

Of course, authors and rights-holders do need to be wary when signing over publishing rights to a publisher. Should that new publisher put out the book by print-on-demand, or electronically, this would mean that the book would never, technically go out of print again.  Whilst this might not appear to be a problem, (after all, your book is back in print), there is always the possibility that the author may miss out on a potentially better offer by being tied in a contract with their new publisher.

At Brindle Books Ltd, we allow all our authors to terminate their deal with us at three-month’s notice, meaning that they are always free to take their work to another publisher if they are ever offered a better deal. We can do this for two main reasons: i) we are confident that our author contracts are the fairest in the business, so it is rare that an author would want to leave us, and ii) because we commit only to publishing e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks, which means that we are not left with a large inventory of unsold books that we cannot get rid of in the event that an author does decide to try their luck with another publisher.

Of course, our business model does mean that we don’t pay advances, (though we pay a considerably higher royalty share than any other publisher that we are aware of), and it does mean that we can choose to publish books based on whether we think that they are good and worthy of publication, rather than picking books to publish based purely on whether they will make us a profit.

See our previous post about these great out of print books

If you have had books published in the past that have since gone out of print, or have inherited the rights to such works, it may be worth looking into re-publishing them and putting them out there in front of the reading public. A simple enquiry to your previous publisher will usually be enough to find out whether you’re free to take the work elsewhere. In some cases, your query may even prompt your original the publisher to offer you a new deal for e-book rights or suchlike. The main thing is to ensure that, since going out of print, the rights to your work have reverted back to you. It is always worth getting that confirmation in writing, especially if you are going to approach another publisher to re-publish your work.

If you do have a work that’s gone out of print and are looking for a publisher, Brindle Books are open to submissions of many such works. We’d be happy to hear from you even if you don’t want to publish with us but just want some free advice on how to go about self-publishing.

If you want to know more, we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction. You can email us at:

contact@brindlebooks.co.uk 

THREE GREAT BOOKS THAT SHOULD STILL BE IN PRINT…BUT AREN’T

 

1st May 2025

On a recent holiday in Scotland, I stopped by one of my all-time favourite haunts; the second-hand bookshop in the Mill On The Fleet, a small arts and exhibition centre in Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway. They have a marvellous selection of books and I often spend many a happy hour there perusing their shelves. 

On this particular visit I picked up a hardback collection of Bulldog Drummond stories, covering his Four Rounds against Carl Peterson. (I like to collect old adventure stories, or ‘shockers’, as the author H.C. MacNeile described them).

I also came across a paperback, the cover of which appealed to me due to my love of pulp fiction from the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. I had never even heard of this one before, but I thought I’d give it a go. The book was One By One, by Penelope Gilliatt.

I raced through it in just two sittings. It is quite a short novel, but it is also what marketing people might describe as ‘unputdownable’.

The book tells the story of the effects of a deadly pandemic affecting the UK, and more specifically London, seen mainly through the eyes of a young woman and her husband; a veterinarian who ends up working as a volunteer in a treatment centre for victims of the mysterious illness. With the benefit of hindsight, after the whole Covid 19 affair, the premise of the novel intrigued me.

Gilliatt’s writing style was interesting and, in some ways, quite unusual. Some sections of the story are delivered in an almost stream-of-consciousness manner, though this suited the story and emphasised the atmosphere of confusion brought about by the pandemic.

Some of her observations on everyday life, and her ability to make even the most mundane activities of middle class life interesting even put me in mind of the great George Orwell.

Upon finishing the book, I did a quick check on the author. Penelope Gilliatt (born Penelope Ann Douglass Conner; 25 March 1932 – 9 May 1993) was an English novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and film critic. As one of the main film critics for The New Yorker magazine in the 1960s and 1970s. Gilliatt was known for her detailed descriptions and evocative reviews. A writer of short stories, novels, non-fiction books, and screenplays, Gilliatt was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971).  

I was quite surprised to find out that this book is now out of print and that it can only be found second-hand. It got me to thinking about some of the other books in my ever-growing collection, which I have picked up over the years from second-hand bookshops and bargain bins, so here, including One By One, are three great but overlooked books which have undeservedly gone out of print. 

The authors of all three books have sadly passed away, but it will still be many years before these titles make it into the public domain and become available for anyone to access and publish.

One can only hope that whoever owns the rights to these books, and to many other works that are (at least for the foreseeable future), lost to the wider public might at some point realise that, with modern on-line and print-on-demand publishing methods, there is no real reason that these books need to vanish, even if they are not deemed commercially viable for traditional publishers.

Here then, are three great books that definitely deserve to find their way back into print:

One by One by Penelope Gilliatt

Penelope Gilliatt’s One by One (1965) was her debut novel and is a short, literary dystopian tale set in plague stricken London. The story centres on a married couple, Joe and Polly Talbot, as a mysterious “plague” kills people in the city “one by one” while each struggles with personal secrets (Joe’s hidden homosexuality is a key subplot) The novel blends domestic drama with apocalyptic themes, reflecting Gilliatt’s sharp observational style (she later became better known as a film critic) Originally published in London by Secker & Warburg (and Atheneum in the US) in 1965, One by One never saw a modern reprint; it is long out of print and today only survives via vintage hardcovers and paperbacks on the second-hand market. It has had no adaptations, though recent readers have noted its eerie parallels to real epidemics. 

The President’s Grass Is Missing by Patricia Breen-Bond

Patricia Breen-Bond’s The President’s Grass Is Missing (1980) is a satirical caper thriller about a bizarre political kidnapping. The novel’s plot hinges on the theft of a section of the White House lawn, which just happens to conceal the U.S. President’s secret stash of marijuana. The pranksters then demand a one billion dollar ransom for the plant’s return. The tone is farcical (one reviewer likened it to Donald Westlake style heist comedy) and mixes absurd humour with suspense. The book was published in New York by Belmont/Tower (Tower Pub. Inc.) in 1980. It never entered the mainstream; no film or TV adaptation exists, and today it is effectively out of print. Only the original paperback edition (and occasional used copies) remain available through second-hand dealers.

Man on a String by Michael Wolfe

Man on a String (1973) is a Vietnam era suspense thriller by “Michael Wolfe” (a pseudonym of Gilbert MacLean Williams). Set during the Vietnam War, it follows Michael Keefe, a photojournalist (with the U.S. Defense Photo Operations) who becomes entangled in espionage and combat intrigue on the front lines. The novel was praised on release and even became a finalist for the 1974 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. It was issued as a hardcover by Harper & Row in New York. Today Man on a String is out of print; only the original 1973 editions (and later paperbacks of Wolfe’s sequels) circulate in libraries and used-book shops. No screen adaptation was made, but the book launched Wolfe’s four novel “Michael Keefe” series (with later titles in 1975–77). 

If you can track down any of these three works, I would heartily recommend getting hold of them and giving them a read. Perhaps you can come up with your own list of titles that you'd like to see back in print, or even have books of your own that are out of print. If so, we'd love to hear from you. drop us an email at: 

  contact@brindlebooks.co.uk

[Sources: Contemporary publishing records and book reviews lornebair.com   jasondeanbooks.blogspot.com  barnesandnoble.com tbclrarebooks.com literary databases (Open Library, Stop, You’re Killing Me) and book trade listings openlibrary.org stopyourekillingme.com for publication details and availability.]