Tom Herbert
I made my first faltering attempts at creative writing while at primary school though I did not write my first expressive piece until around the age of nineteen. It dealt with the profound effects simple preparations of a cup of tea might have on other worlds and even universes (fictitious ones of course).
Later, at the age of twenty-one, I wrote a short story about a business man, searching for a valuable pearl among the contents of a stuffed elephant during a sea voyage. Although not usually quite so bizarre my stories often contain a mysterious or surreal element. Others have a comic, romantic, or religious focus. Many feature ordinary people in less ordinary situations.
I have had a life-long interest in puppet theatre, and joined the British Puppet & Model Theatre Guild in my late teens. Consequently, I have written several plays for this medium.
In my mid-twenties I wrote my first (and so far, only) full length play for the live stage; a farcical comedy in three acts. These days it would need modifying to suit modern tastes.
More successfully, I have written several one act plays for my local amateur dramatic society, The Woolgathers of Heswall. Two of these works were performed for the annual Heswall Arts Festival. Others pieces are mainly short Christmas umbers that have also proved very popular.
After taking early retirement I wrote my short story The Unfinished Shepherd, which led me to become a member of Wirral Writers. Their encouragement and advice contributed to the development of my writing and before long I had a story short-listed in a competition run by Mags4Dorset.
Having amassed a number of stories, in August 2022 I published a collection of them in my book – A Step Beyond.
Tom Herbert.
Wirral Writers 