What happens to a fifty-something man going through a mid life crisis?

I’ve not done much research on the subject but I would guess if he has the means he buys a flashy sports car or if he has a lot of dough, he trades his wife in for a newer model or maybe he just goes off to India to find himself.

I have done none of these things. Money has always been in rather scarce supply. I attempted to rediscover myself without doing further harm to the environment or increasing the doleful statistics on the break up of marriages. Instead, I gave up any possibility of ever being able to provide for my family again and decided to become a writer.

What did people have to say about this drastic transformation? My wife never tires of telling me that she married me under false pretences. Was it my fault that she thought I was rich because she assumed my old Renault was a classic car rather than one only fit for the scrap heap? Our friends fitted nicely into two categories. The first much smaller group deluded themselves into thinking that I had made so much money at whatever I was doing that I could give up working and retire.  By far the greater majority, the ones who knew that I had never amounted to much could, excuse the pun, see the writing on the wall and happy that their prognosis had proven accurate proceeded to dissipate in ever increasing numbers, fearful that I would bring on them a similar amount of bad luck.

So where did the process from disillusioned businessman to budding writer all begin?

How did I find out whether I could actually write?

And what have I achieved nine years later?

On the next blog, I shall attempt to answer these and many other questions that you may find useful should you also think about escaping from reality….