In your own words, how would you describe your creative work?

My creative work mainly comprises self-penned Poetry which is largely of a humorous, biographical, spiritual, self-help or observational nature but I am also now starting to convert some of my poems into songs and collaborating with one or two local musicians. I am also the appointed "Peaky Poet" in a Gravesend-based Peaky Blinders re-enactment troupe that does 'walk-ins' in authentic costumes and with imitation firearms. After the walk-in I read a poem introducing the story of the Peaky Blinders. The founder of the group is a singer and he performs a set of swing or Britpop tunes as the customers of the venue enjoy a party atmosphere.

When did you first discover your passion for art/writing/photography?

I was always into my writing as a youngster but for one reason or another fell into a job in the timber trade at age 19 and found my time limited to pursue it, especially once i bought into and gradually took over a timber merchant in Bean, Kent. I was able to use my flair for words creatively in short marketing campaigns but that was about it. But in October 2023 I had a chance meeting with a local Poet (Anthony Hart) at the bar in The Mole Hole in Gravesend and I gained a new friend and an interest in the poetry group that met there once per month. I attended my first meeting, loved it and realised that I could write poems in about 45 minutes. Thus began a new passion and I wrote almost every day from that point on and started attending Open Mic nights in the north Kent area to read my poems out loud. I had always wanted to write a book and working my way up to having enough poems for a book I found quite seamless. My debut book The Road To Poetry was self-published on Amazon in November 2024.

What's the creative process?

I get ideas from things that happen in my work or private life or just things I hear randomly or that come to me in quiet moments. I write down a phrase or couple of lines and then I expand it to a whole piece. Once I am happy with it, I type it up into Word, save it electronically, read it to the camera, post it to my social media channels, then file it and log it in an overall index of my works.

What does a typical day look like to you?

For most days of the week I get up at 5.15am, walk around the block where I live listening to things that inspire me through ear buds. I am in work at 7am and if i get any quiet spells in the day I write some lines for a poem or two, or i update my website.

What have you learned most about yourself in recent times?

That everything we want to achieve in our lives is within us and we need to overcome any fears or judgments and pursue our dreams. For example, I love going to live music and I no longer depend on anyone else to be available to join me. I have made countless new friends/soul-tribers this way and I have become even more free-spirited than I ever was. I have also overcome any fears of public speaking. My biggest breakthrough in this regard was reading my autobiographical poem The Accidental Timber Merchant to 200 of my fellow timber traders at a plush dinner in a hotel in London. I now try to help other aspiring poets lose their fear by encouraging them to stroll up to the platform or I offer to stand with them. My advice to anyone with a fear of public speaking but a pull to do it, is to imagine that you are actually being asked to do it for someone you love: this takes a bit of the personal fear out of it in my experience.

Do you have any wisdom you can share with others who are thinking of launching a creative business?

My advice would be: if you have a creative endeavour that when you work on it you feel excited, nervous, energised etc then that is the sign that it is aligned with your creative purpose in this life and pursuing it to whichever degree you can manage will unlock new doors for you.

What is on your mind right now?

Uploading some poems I had filmed of myself last night at The Mole Hole to social media in the next couple of days!

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