In last week's League Express, there was a letter from me about how the mental health of some players can suffer when they finish playing, some referees when they finish refereeing and rugby league fans in general as they grow older. My suggestion to help stop this happening, or at least slow it down, is to start spending time now writing a novel based loosely on your own life, family and family history, work, home town your rugby league experiences and whatever else interesting that have experienced in life.
Many people who I have said this to, have said it seemed a good idea but that they would just not know how to even start it. For the benefit of such people I have also written three pages of advice. I am in a good position to offer advice because since 1988 I have written half a million words in six novels that cover the years from 1962 to 2008. If you would like me to send them to you, E Mail me at
wgeofflee@gmail.com and request Geoff's RL Writing Notes.
However if you prefer to read one of my novels first or give one as a Christmas present to someone who enjoys a good laugh then visit the web site of London League Publications at
http://www.llpshop.co.uk. Click on books and
then fiction to see the details of One Winter, One Autumn, Two Seasons and Three Good Years (I suggest the latest as it is set most recently and has a background of work, family life, saving the NHS and Rugby League.)
One of the things that has inspired my writing over the years is the old saying about work that "They could write a book about this place. I t would be a best seller" and from 1976 to 1981 I enjoyed working in the drawing office at Crosrol, first at Brunswick Mill and then at the bottom of Pellon Lane!.