Train Tripping Coastal Queensland

It was Stephen King who said this about writing; "I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever." So in explaining why my latest book is a non-fiction title rather than the fiction novels that I have become known for, I'll just say this; I did it for the joy of it.

After a decade of trying to pen that elusive bestselling novel, King's statement was more than timely words of wisdom. It was a reminder of why I started writing in the first place. I like to tell stories. So after closing my laptop halfway through writing a fifth novel and saying enough is enough when it came to juggling family life, work and a writing career, I went back to simply writing what I was really passionate about on my blog. Trains. I saw a noticeable spike in the number of hits to my webpage after shifting its' focus from mainly sharing writing advice and some news on my books, to reminiscing on long forgotten railway lines in Australia and New Zealand.

Wanting to give myself a lengthy break from the pressures of writing, editing and marketing another novel, I was already planning something I had been putting off since my teenage years. And that was to travel around Australia and New Zealand by train, just for the fun of it. Train Tripping Coastal Queensland is the result of this new found energy I have to write again purely for the joy of it. With the book now nominated for the 2015 Global eBook Awards and a Number 1 Bestselling Travel Guide on both Kobo and Smashwords, I'm sure many more train tripping adventures will follow. It's impossible to push aside the urge to write when you find yourself writing about something you feel so passionate for, and this project became so much more than just a story about travelling by train from one place to another. It is the stories behind the story of why train travel was even possible to begin with on these once remote lines in Australia and New Zealand.

So what do you get when you cross a sign writer who can't spell, a tribe of cannibals, two Prime Ministers and a Chinaman who gives a massage like no other? You get a 3,362 km self-guided railway adventure that is the perfect travelling companion to appreciating Queensland's coast from the window of a train. So welcome aboard the first book in my Train Tripping series, Train Tripping Coastal Queensland. Get your ticket, and let's make tracks!

 

Available now through my Books page