xxxThe following writer has been kind enough
to share his story with us.
xxxIf you would like
to contribute your story and photo to me, email them to:
xxxrob@easywaytowrite.com
xxxThank you.
xxxBruce Cooke
I was a
TAFE teacher but was forced into retirement because of
hearing loss. Instead of becoming a couch potato I
decided to try and write a book. It was about the
Australian outback and I thought it came up rather
well. I sent it off to someone for a critique, but
he spent most of his time telling me how bad I was and
how good he was. That set me back for a while but
hell, it was only his opinion so I decided to keep
writing. At the moment I’m editing the same story
and comments have been positive. To this stage I
have completed over fifteen novels and of them, I have
had seven published - four as E-books and three as soft
cover paperbacks.
My main success was writing the initial script for the
stage musical, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The
show toured all the Australian Capitals some three years
ago and was very successful.
With my books I tried all the Australian publishers but
received rejection after rejection. Sounds
familiar? They wouldn’t look at them without
an agent and an agent didn’t want to know you unless
you were published. Then I submitted to Eternal
Press, a new publishing company and they accepted my
first book titled Jungle Heat. At the same time I
received another acceptance from Whisky Creek Press who
published my mature age romance-Love in the afternoon.
Got five stars for that... Eternal Press took
another three of my books and three short stories so
suddenly I was being flooded with contracts. Then
another American publisher, Swimming Kangaroo gave me
contracts on two more of my books. They were
terrific with the help offered and the two books - The
Pursuit of Mary McBride and The Irish Retribution - are
now out in paperback. Both are Australian flavour
and I would really like to get them distributed in
Australia - particularly The Pursuit of Mary
McBride. I’m a sucker for Australian Colonial
stories and this fits the genre perfectly. As no
one in Australia knows about them, I bought thirty of
each at a discounted price and gave them to two
booksellers here in Shepparton. Most of them are
gone now but the comments have been very encouraging.
Bordering on brilliant to very good. Didn’t
hear any negative comment so that was good for the ego...
My books with each of the publishers are:
Eternal press: Jungle Heat, Friendly Enemies, Meeting at
Princes Bridge and Trace Elements. The three short
stories with them are Vietnam Holiday, Top Secret and
Journey to Tobruk.
Whisky Creek press: Love in the Afternoon.
Swimming Kangaroo: The Pursuit of Mary McBride, The Irish
Retribution.
I was a
TAFE teacher but was forced into retirement because of
hearing loss. Instead of becoming a couch potato I
decided to try and write a book. It was about the
Australian outback and I thought it came up rather
well. I sent it off to someone for a critique, but
he spent most of his time telling me how bad I was and
how good he was. That set me back for a while but
hell, it was only his opinion so I decided to keep
writing. At the moment I’m editing the same story
and comments have been positive. To this stage I
have completed over fifteen novels and of them, I have
had seven published - four as E-books and three as soft
cover paperbacks.