NORMAL LIFE: Unlikely Source Of Inspiration

Maybe books are not such an unlikely source of inspiration, after all. I just finished reading Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, which tells of his life as an English Teacher in some hellhole - and some exclusive - schools during the 1950s and 1960s in New York. It's interesting because, for the first time, I came to realise how challenging it must be to teach a group of kids of such varied backgrounds during a period of enormous change. What with Frank McCourt's miserable childhood - I have read his preceeding books, Angela's Ashes and 'Tis - he was able to wow them for weeks on end with tales of woe and dreams of moving to the US for a slice of the American Dream.

What I learnt most from this book is that the author has had an otherwise unremarkable life. Born and raised in poverty in the slums of Limerick, moves to US, becomes a teacher, blah, blah, blah! Sometimes I feel that he is like poor little me, the Irishman who had the miserable childhood. Yawn, yawn! But on the upside, he inspired me. At 30, I could easily write a book about my life so far. Without a hint of vanity, I could write about deafness as a child, my speech impairment being mocked by my own cruel Uncles, suffering from acne for nine years before receiving a miracle cure let alone my homosexuality. Kind of makes moving the US and becoming a teacher seem plain, doesn't?! But it's all in how you write and, there, Frank McCourt is fantastic whereas I am just plain dull!

Confident that I can perfect my prose (McCourt didn't write his first book until he was 66!), I downloaded some free mind-mapping software which helped me to put all my memories/thoughts on paper rather than rattling around in my brain. The problem I now have is choosing what to include and what to discard. Bugger!

This year has been a very active year of reading; I finished reading Harry Potter And The Half-blood Prince and eagerly await the final installment (due out in July, I am so sad I have pre-ordered it from Amazon). This was followed by reading two books inspired by the TV series, Lost.

Most recently, however, I finished reading Dean Koontz' semi-supernatural thriller, From The Corner Of His Eye; two kids born around the same time have come into the world with an unusual set of gifts. One can walk in the rain, but not get wet, and can also see 'other' places where people on this plane may be sick, but in the other places they are not. The young girl, incredibly artistic, can momentarily disappear, dipping into these 'other' places. It materialises that a man hell-bent on killing the boy, who just happens to lose his sight at the age of 3 years old yet can somehow 'see', tracks down the girl by mistake. By this time, however, the girl and boy's life are so intertwined that the girl saves the day by pushing the evil one into one of the 'other' place and leaving him there.

The reason why I have mentioned Dean Koontz' book is that while it was good, you can overdo it on the word count. It took me three months to read that book, mainly because I got bored at the over-descriptive narrative. As I read more, I myself am inspired to write. I'm looking to the future now - where do I go from here? Do I become a recognised author, or should I remain an office worker? Hmmm!