I began writing at a tender age... 13 or 14, when a local newspaper published one of my letters concerning the differences between boys and girls. I don’t remember details, but they must have been quite, how shall I put it? Yes, remarkable. Because my father, who and I share the same name, was ribbed by a number of his friends regarding what they thought were his  observations on girls.

Needless to say, that didn’t go down very well with the old man. Perhaps in consequence, my next published effort was deferred for another 2 or 3 years, when a piece I had submitted about the origin of the universe and how we all came about, (without the intervention of a supreme being I thought then, as now), placed second, with a prize of  a few shillings, in a newspaper competition. From then on, I was hooked, but unfortunately got diverted by other things.

Fast-forward a couple of decades or so later. After university and professional training, that dormant impulse re-awakened, as I became active in writing in science and medical journals and, occasionally, in news magazines. And when the Internet came along, in online sites as well.

More years on, the urge, undiminished, brings me to the face-off  with editors and publishers . But they don't intimidate. The muse's buzz keeps me tied to the keyboard.

A word or two