After a six month blog break – well it’s certainly been a busy period –  I’m blogging well back!

And this time the focus will be a wee bit different.

As me and hubby have just acquired a Motor Home, (or MoHo as we like to call it), we’ll be hitting the road and I’ll be using some of the time ‘out and about’ to fine tune a forthcoming compilation of short stories. There will be eight stories in all, so a little way to go, but hoping that regular escapes from the distractions of a home based office will get those creative juices flowing.

So watch this space with a combo of MoHo travel and writing updates, including reviews of any great books I happen to be reading on the way.

On that score, have just finished reading ‘Common People’ – An Anthology of Working-Class Writers – edited by the inspirational and award winning author, Kit de Waal. As a proud supporter of this publication I love the idea of putting emerging writers alongside established ones – sharing the same book space as well as broadly working-class backgrounds. It’s empowering, uplifting and there is some great writing.

You could argue that in all walks of life ‘cream rises’, that real talent punches through and why bother with the whole ‘class’ thing anyway? Well here’s why – the print medium and publishing, like broadcasting and a raft of other so-called ‘competitive’ professions, are still dominated by well-connected and self-perpetuating groups. They are confident in their place, understand the rules and of course rule the roost. By and large, nice enough people but it can all feel – well – a bit ‘samey’, clubby even.

As someone from a second generation Irish working class background, (who managed to push through the ‘Class Ceiling’ of national print journalism and TV broadcasting), I do believe that with enough resilience, hard work and ability it can be done.

‘But’…and it’s a big one.

The barriers remain much higher for those where nepotism, help from the bank of mum or dad, (let alone the added advantage of having the same accent and language of commissioning or recruitment people), aren’t there.

That’s what I love about the ‘Common People’ publication and the publishers ‘Unbound’. It is about opening doors, giving a chance to writers who might otherwise never get to see their work in a bookshop or library.

As it says on the book cover, ‘Working Class stories are not always tales of the underprivileged and dispossessed’. Amen to that. There are strong communities in Tower Blocks. (Loretta Ramkissoon’s ‘Which Floor?’ has one of the best opening lines ever); Cathy Rentzenbrinks celebration of the game of Darts; Eva Verde’s memories of hours lost in Forest Gate Branch Library reminding me of happy times spent in Birmingham’s Moseley Road and Yardley Wood libraries; Paul McVeigh’s ‘Night of the Hunchback’ which is both funny and haunting; ’The Things We Ate’ by Kit de Waal is a beautifully written evocation of childhood food – and so much more. I could go on as this book has some cracking contributions, a genuine celebration of talent.

Recently I’ve been back up to Birmingham  – I now live in deepest West Cornwall – to see some friends from Central TV and in particular, one of my closest pals, photographer Pogus Caesar. Actually, he’s Dr Pogus Caesar now, having been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University.

Like me, Pogus was a Birmingham B12 postcode kid, and his family came over on the Windrush in the 1950s from St Kitts. We both met at Central TV where we were working as programme producers and our paths there were quite different – I came in through the journalism route whereas Pogus arrived via photography after an earlier stint as a chef. (His food is still dead good by the way!).

A few weeks ago we were reflecting on our professional journeys and how we got there. Resilience? Yes. Luck? A bit but we made sure that we grabbed the opportunities on offer. Hard work? Bloody hell yes, yes and yes again. Focus? Yes a lot of that too and we’ve always tried to make the most of any gifts we’ve been given. We also had mentors and supporters, people who were successful and prepared to share that with others along the way.

To quote Dr Pogus Caesar : ‘I hope that my backstory can inspire others. I’ll keep on this journey as who knows where the road might lead.’

I’ll raise a glass to that and to all those people out there who think that getting their words published and on bookshelves is beyond their reach.

Stick at it folks and check out ‘Common People’ for inspiration. Now back to the MoHo for more exploration and reading.

Over and out…