The Familiar: A Life in Weekly Instalments

Since the late 1980's I've written about my family life and times in humorous columns for various newspapers and magazines, including the grand old Scottish morning newspaper The Press & Journal. To my amazement the columns proved quite popular and they were first published in book form in 2009 under the title, 'The Familiar' by the Edinburgh publisher Black & White.This revised edition of The Familiar includes several new columns while others appear for the first time in their virginal form, before they were coerced into fitting a particular shape. The format however, is similar to the original, forming a single year distilled from around ten years of columns. The alternative was a whole book of columns about my teeth. Like all the best career moves the idea of writing a 'living autobiography' happened by accident. The first column was written to fill an unexpected hole in a newspaper. Quite a big hole if I remember correctly, around 1400 words which is almost half a page of a broadsheet so no pressure. The deadline was tight, less than 24 hours so I used what was to hand, namely my family's move to the country, an event we are still recovering from. Before I knew it one column had turned into a thousand. Most writers would have something better to do, but the truth is, when you get paid to air your dirty linen in public, it becomes addictive.