Past, present, future?

I returned to Suffolk last December with a very clear objective. I wanted to stop taking on paid assignments and make writing my full-time activity. Clearing my head of other people’s challenges, will I know allow me to write more creatively, and put to good use the creative writing MA I now have under my belt.

This week, I met a former colleague for a coffee at a roadside Starbucks in Norfolk, and then the next day met a friend for lunch in Needham Market. The contrast between one day and the next was stark, with one reminding me of my past, and the other hinting at my future.

‘Why don’t you do something with all those business books you’ve written,’ he said as we sat in Starbucks drinking coffee, ‘and perhaps then deliver some training to those wishing to start a social enterprise?’ He had a point and returning to familiar old ways is tempting. But it is never good to go back, and now 68 years old, I’m fast approaching the age when credibility wanes and everyone wonders why you’re still there!

The next day was a reassuring venture into my future. I visited the former Quaker Meeting House at Needham Market, with an old friend who is an enthusiastic Quaker historian. We had a fascinating conversation with the current owner, who has plans to open the building, and the adjoining burial ground, to the public. We spent an interesting couple of hours exploring the town, then had lunch together at The Limes Hotel. Needham Market features in my next book, which will be published next spring so we had a lot to talk about.

Looking back on those two very different days, it’s clear that I should not even think of returning to my old life. As a writer, I can achieve far more than I ever would as a jobbing trainer.