Always meet your heroes...

As I kick start this blog full of my inane ramblings and thoughts, I thought now was a good time to explain some of my motivations and thoughts behind my love of writing and where they come from. In many ways they relate to the things I love in life, one in particular... At the moment I am slowly but surely putting together my first novel. I have the entire story in my head from start to finish. It's just the unenviable task of putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard as it is these days)that is more daunting. When I'm not at work, or busy with life in general, I sit down and I write a chapter. It helps me to escape for a little while. Don't get me wrong, life is great but a little bit of escapism in life is so important. A few significant people in my life told me over the years that if there was anyone who should try and write a novel, that I was that guy. However it took a once in a lifetime meeting in order for me to take the plunge and start to write. I was 13 at the turn of the millennium. (This is actually related I promise!) Now if you were a 13 year old boy in the year 2000, chances are there was only one thing you were talking about. WWE (or the WWF as it was at the time) were arguably at their popularity peak with the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and the Undertaker battling it out every Monday night. I'd never really paid wrestling much attention. Then all my mates were talking about this show that was on Channel 4. The Royal Rumble. It sounded pretty awesome and I thought I'd give it a go. That ladies and gentlemen was my first introduction to the man, the legend that is Mick Foley.

Foley, who at this point in time was wrestling under his Cactus Jack persona took on WWF Champion Triple H in a street fight which to this day is my favourite wrestling match of all time. Despite knowing nothing about Mick's career, history or indeed wrestling in general, I was completely and utterly hooked. I started to watch wrestling every week and over time became the walking, talking, nerdy wrestling encyclopedia that I am today. But it isn't just my love of wrestling that I have Mick Foley to thank for. A few months later I was in my local book shop and saw Mankind (another Foley persona) smiling back at me on a book shelf. 'Have A Nice Day' was Mick's first memoir and I bought it instantly. My copy of that book has been read so many times that it's practically falling to bits. I would genuinely recommend it to anyone whether they watch wrestling or not. Mick's story takes his all over the world and ends with him achieving a life long dream. It's certainly an inspiring story that anyone can take something from. Mick's writing career continued with children's books and more volumes of his life story however as much as I love wrestling and could read those books over and over, it was Mick's foray into fiction that really caught my attention. In 2003, Mick released his first novel 'Tietam Brown'. This was around a time that I was studying English Literature for my A-Levels and reading the feminist novels such as 'The Handmaid's Tale' and 'The Color Purple' as part of my studies. I remember sitting on a plane and reading it from cover to cover in one flight. 'Tietam Brown' is such a raw, sometimes funny other times shocking piece of work that regardless of who wrote it it sits as one of my favourite novels alongside 'Carrie' and 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. I genuinely feel it is THAT good. I responded to it so much that when I did a screenwriting module at university a few years later that I adapted 'Tietam Brown' for my adaptation assignment. I was so happy when Mick wrote a second novel 'Scooter' just a few years later. Both sit pride of place on my bookshelf and I sincerely hope that in the years to come Mick will write many more novels. Reading any of Mick's books always gave me that itch and inspiration to see what I was capable of as a writer. As I mentioned earlier, I wrote screenplays during and after university but the idea of writing a full novel is something else entirely. In 2008 I started to suffer from panic attacks anything from once to three times a week. I was a wreck. Yet I found solace in writing. I started to write little bits and bobs for what I hoped would be a novel some day. It's an idea I hope to revisit at some point but it's not the novel I'm writing now. Regardless, writing helped me through a very rough time in my life as it helped me escape, even for a little while. I'm in a much better place these days. I'm in a wonderful relationship, we have bought a house together and are getting married next year. I even qualified as a counsellor after getting so much from my own counselling during my panic attacks. Last year I got an opportunity I never thought I'd get. Mick Foley, now touring with his own one man show, was coming to Newcastle. I also conveniently got a nice tax rebate around that time. I decided to buy tickets which included a meet and greet after his show. They always say 'never meet your heroes', (Who are this 'they' people talk about anyway?) and I know people who've had really bad experiences when they've been 'lucky' enough to meet someone they admire. I can safely say if you are reading this and you are about to attend one of Mick's shows that you'll be glad you did. My good friend Kimbo and I sat through his show and thoroughly enjoyed it. I took two things for Mick to sign: a copy of his DVD WWE had just released, and my copy of 'Tietam Brown'. The same copy I must have read 100 times. Mick was extremely gracious and we talked about his novels. He expressed that had he known how popular 'Tietam Brown' would become over here that he would not have used baseball as a theme throughout his second novel 'Scooter'. To be honest this didn't depreciate my love of the book but I understand where he's coming from. I asked him if he would be writing any more novels and it seems that for now Mick wants to enjoy life and focus on his family and his show. Now I have started my own book I can understand that mindset a bit more. Having a full time job and writing a book is hard work! I can't imagine what it must have been like for Mick while being a wrestler, a father and all the other various projects he has on the go.

Selfishly I hope that one day Mick writes another novel. My only regret of our meeting was that I didn't give him a copy of the screenplay that I'd adapted from 'Tietam Brown'. Even if he'd hated it would have been cool to know that the author of one of my favourite books had read something I'd written. Who knows? Perhaps when my novel is finally finished, I may get an opportunity for Mick to read it. If I'm lucky maybe you'll all get to read it and someone will be inspired enough to write something themselves. We can live in hope!