One Year in Kuwait!

Hard to believe but today marks my first year in Kuwait!

It's been interesting to say the least with some real highs and lows. I think the major challenge for me, especially in the first few months, was homesickness. For much of that time, for various reasons, I was here on my own and missing my wife and kids badly. However, 'every cloud has a silver lining' they say and rather than moping about, I got down to writing. One of my complaints when back in Scotland was that I never had the peace, quiet and time to write. Well, in Kuwait, I had an abundance of all three - although the lesson there is to be careful what you wish for!

Being completely 'dry' ie alcohol free (another challenge), there is a real coffee culture and most of the big chains have free Wi-Fi so I did spend a lot of time sitting in coffee shops and bashing away on the laptop. In terms of my fledgling writing career, I can safely say the last twleve months have been a big success with acceptance of Gun Law for publication and Gold Fever well on it's way with another four books roughly drafted out.

From a writers point of view, experiencing this extreme climate has been great material for future Westerns. When would a wee boy from Scotland been able to experience temperatures of over 50 degrees Celsius in the Summer, spectacular sand storms and the awsome remoteness of walking across real desert scrub land? It's all 'grist to the mill' as my old Dad likes to say!

It now looks as though this contract will be drawing to an end so we're getting ready to pack our bags, saddle up and move on out! Next stop might be Saudi Arabia, Kenya, India or.....Lanark! But wherever we end up, one things's for sure, I'll be busy on the next Western - look out for a plot involving camels, deserts and at least one sand storm!