Tony Talbot Guest Post

A few months ago, I'd just finished another novel, and was wondering (maybe dreaming would be a better word) what would happen if I was suddenly granted my wish...to be a full time writer and at that a famous full time writer. Kind of suddenly discovered like JK Rowling, people everywhere reading one of my books.

What would my life be like? Imagine that...never having to leave for work in the morning and never having to drive through snow or rain or rush hour traffic. To sit at my desk all day and (to quote Steven Spielberg) 'to dream for a living'.

But it wouldn't be all regular royalty cheques and a quiet home. I know I'd get easily distracted, sitting there in an empty house. I'd be forever checking my Goodreads reviews, my Facebook friends. There'd be constant pressure to Tweet my every move. Not to mention the endless meetings and flying to Hollywood to meet with Mr Spielberg for the movie deal, and the endless parties and other things I'm sure I'd hate. Would be tough, I'm sure, having to fly to the Caribbean and lie on a beach.

I digress into my fantasy there, but thinking about how my life would change set me thinking about a story, as such things do. I imagined a housewife, bored with her life and her three children. She has everything she ever wanted: beautiful home, devoted husband and adorable kids. But still she's bored. She's always defined by how other people see how she relates to her family. She's always a wife, or a mother...never just her.
Finally, she starts writing one day, just to slay the boredom and the incipient feeling that life has more to offer her. She writes, and she writes, telling no one - this is something just for her. Eventually she writes a novel and sends it to an agent, and they accept it, but still she tells no one what she's doing.

Which is where the story starts: she's sitting at her kitchen table, looking at an advance from an agent and a publication deal that would free her from her domestic life forever. All she has to do is cash the cheque and make it to the airport, and her life is her own. The story is about how trapped she feels, and whether she'd be more free if she was suddenly flung into the spotlight.

I loved that story. I really felt for that woman and what she was going through. It might have been realistic if she just told her family what she was doing when they came home, but I wasn't interested in that; I wanted to go through what she was going through.

But here's the really terrible thing: I lost that story.
I thought I had it saved on at least ONE of the computers I use, or the memory sticks that hold my work, but I can't find it. I must have saved it somewhere because (being the tech guy I am) I always hit save before I print. And I printed two copies: one for me and one for a writing friend.
I can't find my printed copy, and I NEVER throw my work away. I have hopes my writing friend can find it and I can re-type it. I've even tried a file recovery program...but nothing.

Why not recreate it? You might ask. That's a hard one to explain...stories are ephemeral, flighty things, gone with a breeze. If I re-write it, it won't be the same story. I know I won't be able to recreate the same...intimacy...with the woman in the story, I won't get into her head the way I did when I wrote it on a whim. I won't know who she is as well as I did before.

I've never lost a story before, and it's gone as though it never existed. And I feel bereft. I've lost a story and it feels like I lost a friend as well, and they're such hard things to grasp at the best of times. I know all the arguments: hit save, hit save, then hit save again. I did. I do.
But this time it wasn't enough. Farewell, lonely housewife.

I'll miss you.

(Stop Press 18th June 2012: My writing friend found my story! Thanks Portia!)

About the Author:
Tony Talbot started writing short stories in 2008, after a dream he had and couldn't shake; Finally his wife told him to write it down or stop talking about it.

He wrote his first Young Adult novel, Over the Mountain, in 2008, and has completed several others and a growing raft of short stories since.

He lives in a village in Leicestershire UK, with an American wife he met online and a teenage cockatiel. As well as writing, he enjoys reading, playing Mario Kart on the Wii and not getting enough exercise.

Over the Mountain - 2008
Taken - 2009
American Girl - 2011
Eight Mile Island - coming 2012

Web:  http://www.tony-talbot.co.uk/
Blog:  http://www.tony-talbot.co.uk/wordpress/
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/tonytalbotwriter        
Twitter:  @authortony
Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Tony-Talbot/e/B004SUXOXS
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4645418.Tony_Talbot

What if your whole life was a lie...?

Amon Russo lives in a huge villa in a huge estate on a secluded Greek island with his super rich parents. He has a private beach, his father has a yacht and as many fast cars as he can think of.
He seems to have it all...
Until he starts to see cracks in his life.

Why do his parents keep him hidden away from the islanders?

Who is the strange girl living next door in a deserted villa?

The truth shatters Amons life, and the price he pays for finding out the truth is almost too high...

If everyone you know is lying to you...who do you trust?