Once upon a time in Milton Keynes part one
Gary Cowlard, who writes under the name Gaz Callard, has just self-published his first crime thriller "Once up-on a time Milton Keynes part one".
ExCo
It is the first of a trilogy of books that Gary aims to write and publish by the end of next year.
Gary hopes to sell 2000 copies in the Milton Keynes area before Christmas.
"There are over 500,000 people living in Milton Keynes now so 2000 seems reasonable. I only have 1,970 to go as of this morning," he said. "This will enable me to take the first few months of next year off work to complete part two, and have it published by June for the summer holidays.
"I'm a 54 year-old carpenter, from Milton Keynes who would really appreciate some guidance and hopefully the opportunity to deliver a truly epic tale. "
The concept for "OUTIMK pt1" originated during the 1990s while Gary was in prison, where he began drafting ideas in a notebook.
"At that time, my life was deeply affected by addiction. In 2009, after losing everything to addiction, I was a resident in a local homeless hostel. This was where I got sober. After a period of sobriety I decided to volunteer with the social inclusion charity P3. With encouragement from my manager, Jen Devlin, I explored college courses as I couldn't even use a computer.
"This encouragement led me to enrol in an Access to Higher Education course in social care at MK College, followed by a BSc (Hons) degree in Psychology and Criminal Behaviour at the University of Bedfordshire. Subsequently, I received an offer to pursue an MSc in Addiction Psychology and Counselling at London South Bank University, aspiring to become an addiction therapist.
"During this period, I worked at the YMCA MK homeless hostel but had to withdraw from my studies due to my partner’s injury and financial constraints, prompting my return to carpentry work on local building sites. It was while working at the YMCA that I began drafting the first version of my story, approximately eight years ago.
"The idea for the book was inspired by suggestions from others to document my life experiences. However, I couldn't think of anything more boring. Another bad boy overcomes addiction BLah, Blah, Blah..thus, the concept of Once upon a time in Milton Keynes evolved into its current form.
"This book is complete fiction but some of the stories could be true-ish. I have received some great feedback from friends and their mums.," he added.