WELCOME ABOARD!

A very warm welcome to a brand new venture – and thank you for sharing my dip into uncharted waters!  After almost half a century as a full-time professional writer, I have, as they say (and as any professional media man of similar longevity should be able to say), “done it all.” 

Except that I haven’t.

I may have interviewed thousands of people, written millions of words, filed countless news stories, columns and features to newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, and written nearly 30 books.  But the one thing I haven’t done during any of my three professional lives – as journalist, PR man and ghost-writer of autobiographies – is write a blog.

But needs must.  Blogs have become a very familiar part of the media scene - and commercial arena generally - as the world as we once knew it (i.e. non-internet, non-high tech) has all but disappeared.

As for me, that “needs must” is now purely concerned with my lifelong love of writing . . . and a deep-seated desire to continue to put pen to paper, metaphorically speaking, even though I have now retired.  It’s lovely not having to work for a living any more – “retirement is a good career move, Mike,” as John Shaw, ex-E Thomas Construction, once told me – but another truism is that writers never really stop writing.  (They don’t really want to.  They just . . . don’t stop.  It’s what they do . . .  they write.)

So here I am with my very first blog – purely for the love of it.  A love of writing, that is, AND a love of my home town of Falmouth . . . and of Cornwall and all things Cornish.

Who knows where this blog will lead?  I suspect it will “find its own level” before too long – eventually taking on a life of its own – but for now my thoughts stray not much further than Falmouth and Cornwall, complete with an anticipated generous dose of nostalgia, plus, no doubt, an occasional observation or two on a broader topic. 

No boundaries, no rules (apart from staying clean, decent, honest and legal, of course).  Some short blogs, some longer ones.   Some weeks with more than one blog, others maybe with none at all.   Never a “forced” blog for the sake of one – just as and when one takes shape in my head, striving to get out.

Always, though, you will be welcome to join me, not just as a reader but also perhaps as a contributor.  If ever you would like to add to, or comment on, anything I have written, please feel very welcome to email me at mike@goldenreplay.com.

That’s it for now.  Thanks for taking a look, and watch out for my first “real” blog.  Stay with me, and let’s see where we get!