Why do I write?
Some people like to do handstands, or hold their breath for ages and ages, or wiggle their double-jointed thumbs, or know how to spell supercalafragilisticexpialidocious - or just be able to say it! Well writing for me is a bit like that. It's something I do because I enjoy doing it.

But it's also a bit like playing a game. (I also like playing games. In fact I like collecting other people's games and I like making up new games!) So it really is like "playing" - I try things out, change things, try to invent new things, etc. My favourite words are - "what say" or "what if" or "let's try..."

Of course there are times when I get stuck with writing. You keep trying and trying to get a story or a poem going and it won't go. It just won't. So you shout at your brain and you say, "For goodness sake, let's get some words down on the paper!" And then your brain sulks, or it shouts right back: "Get lost! I'm having a rest here!"

But most of the time when I am writing I am just having fun on a piece of paper. 

How do I go about writing?
How I go about writing is not like they tell you you should go about writing in all the very serious TEXT BOOKS on writing. They say you should have a plan and then you sit down and write it methodically. Sorry, but "methodically" is not me. Well I do have a method, but it is much more chaotic than that.

I sort of start with an idea. My grandfather used to talk about "money burning a hole in your pocket". He meant that if you had some money you just had to go and spend it! Well writing for me is like having an idea burning a hole in my brain! It just has to get out somewhere. 

I don't always start at the beginning though. Sometimes I will write the middle of a story first, then the end, and then go back and write the beginning. And sometimes I start writing a story without even knowing how it is all going to end. When that happens, it is a bit like hide and seek - it is as much of a surprise to me to find the ending as it is to the reader!

I make lots of changes to what I write too. I like to read what I have written again and again. Each time I sort of pretend I am someone else reading it for the first time. That helps me really "hear" what I have written.

Besides writing stories I also like writing about the real world too. People call this non-fiction. (It's a silly name for it really - it's like calling a cow a non-sheep!) But I am a person who always carries lots of "useless information" round in my head. So I am always looking for an excuse to use it - so writing is a great way to do this. I find everyone is an expert on something - and if you're not an "expert" - you can quickly become one by reading about a topic and asking people lots of questions.

Where do I get my ideas from?
I get ideas for writing things from anywhere and at all times. Sometimes ideas come to me in the strangest of places, like when I am shaving in the morning (and supposed to be hurrying so I get to somewhere on time!). Or when I am watching TV. Or when I am messing about in the garden. Usually I get ideas when I am in a sort of day-dreamy mood. So I like to day dream a lot. Now your teacher might not like to hear this!

The only trouble is, when you have a good idea, it is important to REMEMBER it. I have often thought of a good idea when I am doing something else and then when I sit down to do some writing I think - "Now what was that good idea I was thinking about before?" - and I can't remember! 

So what I always do now is carry a little notebook round with me and whenever I get a good idea for writing, I scribble down a note about it. Then when I have some spare time and I am really in the mood for writing - which is most of the time - I open up my notebook and find something that catches my eye and start writing.

How many books have I written?
I think it is something like 120 - but I don't really count them. I am more interested in thinking about the one I am working on at the time. I like doing different kinds of writing too. Besides writing stories and nonfiction books, I also like writing poems (rather silly poems too!) and plays - and I also write radio and TV scripts. (I also write books for teachers!)

When did I start writing?
I really started writing writing - that is, writing so other people would read what I was writing - when I was about 11 years old. My family had a holiday "bach" at Mount Maunganui - that's a beach on the East coast of New Zealand. In those days there were very few people living there. Our "bach" was a one room ex-army hut "at the end of the road". We had no neighbours and the nearest telephone was 4 miles away. Our family used to go there for the holidays and often other families would come too. We'd put up tents and have a great time. We could run over the sandhills and down to the beach at any time.

Now one evening I was playing in the sandhills with a group of friends who were staying with us. We'd seen this boat out on the horizon earlier, but as the sun went down and it started to get dark, we suddenly saw these distress flares going up into the sky! "The boat must be sinking!" we thought! So we all raced back up the sandhills to our families. We arrived panting and all out of breath: "There's a boat in distress!"

Our families sprang into action! We all piled into our family car and Dad drove us down to the district store where there was the only telephone in the place! There the grown-ups rang the police and a police launch was sent out to rescue the boat.

The next few days, whenever we went down to the beach, we found the burnt out flares washed up. I began to think about this and when we went back home at the end of the holidays, I decided to write up our little adventure and send it in to the local newspaper. They had a children's page. Low and behold - they published my Great Rescue Story! I really liked seeing something I had written being published. That felt good so I thought, maybe I could do some more of this! And I have been - ever since!

Want to contact me?
I am a great e-mail addict so if you want to contact me - feel free to do so. Tell me what you like writing about or what you like reading about. My address is alan.trussell-cullen@learningconnections.co.nz and I also have a webpage. The URL is http://www.learningconnections.co.nz

Good luck with your writing too!

Alan Trussell-Cullen