Almost There With Book 2!

Been working hard on my 2nd book, which deals with strength and mobility exercises for runners.

Prior to setting up 5S fitness (a strength & conditioning gym in Macclesfield), I was an Army Physical Training Instructor in the infantry for 6 years.

As you can imagine, during my time in the military I didn’t get much writing done. However, I have always been an avid reader and had a keen interest in writing one day.

I had some potential to start (luckily, I knew my subject well), but as my publisher stated, “far too wordy”. It seems omitting needless words is key.

My writing ability is something I am constantly working on with the help of my publisher. It’s not trying to become the next Shakespeare or Stephen King (I highly recommend Stephen King on writing), it’s about developing a style that shows personality (isn’t robotic), and specifically for me, is concise!

One thing my publisher said that really resonated for me was something along the lines of, “when the reading fatigues you, and you don’t really know why”.

Don’t get me wrong, often when I select books from the Smart Reading section of Waterstones, some subjects can be hard to keep up with. However, it’s not uncommon to read an article or book, that is in essence well written (and is not testing you intellectually), but for some reason is tiring.

My aim is to write books that tackle advanced aspects of physical performance and structural health, in a way that is totally accessible to the average individual… I want my books to be an easy read, a manual you can refer to, but also a book you can read from cover to cover.

With every book this should get easier and easier, and we are also working to improve the quality of the layout (more efficient). We recently got back a batch of pictures which have been cropped together, and I’m really happy with the outcome.