I was twenty-eight years old and good at absolutely nothing. I wasn't dangerously glum - yet. But I didn't like the direction things were moving in. And the mouse in the flat was getting more than I was.
The prelude to my lights-on moment came at a Management Training Course. It ran across two days and was hosted by the most motivational speaker I've ever had the good fortune to meet. Steve McDermott. He's won a host of awards, and continues to do so. He's a Yorkshire lad and has an almost stand-up comic aspect about him. But by 'eck, he got through to me.
I read his book, and did so quickly. It's short and to the point.
This funny, inspirational book became the rope out of the hole I had dug for myself. I felt good about myself. I quit smoking, thank God. I moved house. I went on a diet. I began my first novel, which was published by Headleys a few years later.
But I have never forgotten what got me started. Perhaps it was just a kick in the pants at the right time, but I hate to think what I would have otherwise become if I had not read that book, or if Steve had not one day sat down to write it.